Speaking of world premieres, there's actually
some news that might make you guys very happy. AC Family, making their world debut on this
channel, behold, I am pleased to introduced to you, our brand new... Please SUBCRIBE to my channel and hit the
bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! Ant Kingdom to be. AC Family, I present to you, the green, mossy
floating island haven, I've called "Avista". This island of soil, rocks, and greenery was
named after the legendary floating city above the clouds, inhabited by a race of Birdmen,
from the animated TV series ThunderCats. And boy, do I have some incredible plans for
Avista's population of life on and in its rich, pristine soils. I love the carpet of green moss, which is
quite spongy and soft to touch. At the very apex of this floating island stands
a grand sumo bonsaied banyan tree, of a surprising 11 yrs in age, like a wise archaic matriarch
towering majestic and strong over the entire land. For this very reason, I call it the Great
Tree of Wisdom. Wire braces help give the Great Tree of Wisdom
some structure. Below ground, it's roots are strong, running
deep, and hold all of Avista together from beneath. A border of shiny white stones marked the
entire island's periphery. In fact, I just loved the rockwork of these
territories. There were three large boulders on the island. This one here towards the top of the hill,
another here adjacent to it, and a third on the opposite side of the island. I also noticed baby plants sprouting with
optimism in certain favourable places. All together Avista was a magnificent piece
of nature on its own. Now AC Family, are you ready to hear my plans
for this floating island? Alright, so the reason I call Avista, a "floating
island" is because I intend for this entire bonsai centerpiece to be my very first true,
open-concept ant farm! Yes, for the first time on this channel, this
ant farm will be completely glass-less, so nothing will separate us from the ants that
live on this island, no walls, just open air between us and Avista's inhabitants. I don't even intend to add water around or
beneath it. Just air all around. The idea sounds crazy, right? Well, AC Family, you know us by now. We are the creator of worlds bold and impossible,
right?! But you may be asking, if we add ants onto
this floating island, what will keep them on the island, and not crawl out onto this
dresser and loose in the Ant Room? Well, I'm about to solve that issue right
now. The island of Avista sits inside a glass tray. When we're done, Avista will be suspended
above it. But here now, I mix my special concoction
of baby powder and rubbing alcohol, in a 1:1 ratio. This barrier will help keep all ants straying
away from the lush island within the glass tray, which I plan to keep bare and dry, so
ants won't want to nest or hang out in this lower area much. And now it's time to paint the borders of
Avista with this barrier. Here we go. When this barrier dries all creatures will
slip off it, like an impenetrable dry cloud. One final preparation I need to do, is to
create a starting point for digging holes for the ant colony that will be moved in. I don't have to do this, as ants are more
than capable of digging tunnels on their own, but it would help give the ants a valuable
head start and speed up the process of moving into Avista's soils. Pressing in a hole here, and here between
these two rocks. Let's hope the ants choose one of these two
holes as their starting point for their subterranean nest. There, alright. Now that all preparations have been set, it's
now time to meet our new Avistans. AC Family, behold! Here is a test tube, within which has been
living a very special colony that was raised from just single captured parents during their
nuptial flight. Are you excited to meet them? Hmmm so am I. AC Family, let's do this! Placing the test tube onto the floating island
of Avista. Alright and now it's time to remove the cover
keeping the colony in the dark, to expose them to the bright lights. And now to remove the cotton! 1 - 2 - 3! There we go, AC Family. I'm super excited to present to you, the ever
adorable and diminutive ants, known as Pheidole ants, a.k.a. Big-Headed Ants. Aren't they just the cutest ants ever? They're super small, and this is the closest
this 4K camera can capture them! What you guys are seeing here is actually
the ants' first experience of the outside world, outside this test tube in which the
colony was founded! They've never known a world other than this
founding test tube. Now the reason they are called Big-Headed
ants is because these tiny ants are polymorphic, meaning their workers come in various sizes,
including majors and supermajors with huge heads. You can see some majors inside but they will
be coming out for us for a better look shortly! Look at them exploring the mossy carpeted
territories! They are just absolutely adorable! And oh, it looks like a few of the ants have
an exciting message to relay to the colony. They rush into the test tube and seem to be
doing their best to get other members of the colony excited, too. Yes, AC Family, just as I had hoped. I believe the Pheidole ants have discovered
one of our starting holes. Yay! The move is officially about to begin. Other ants have gone on to explore other areas
of the island. Now as the ants are emmigrating into Avista
soils, let's go over why I chose to take in these ants. Remember a few weeks back when we explored
the rainforests of St. Lucia in the Caribbean? Well, we spotted a colony of local Pheidole
ants and I asked you in a poll if this was a type of ant you would like for us to try
to keep? 88% of you voted yes! So, your wish AC Family was my command. A friend offered me this test tube within
which he raised a very promising colony of Pheidole ants. Though the species we saw in St. Lucia is
a different species from these ants here, like all Pheidole, these ants are also impressively
polymorphic. Speaking of which look, AC Family, wandering
out to the mouth of the test tube is a major! Look at its giant head, oh... spoke too soon! She went back in. It seems the majors all hang out together,
like a big-headed ant posse, huddled in the same chamber, and like a girl gang within
the girl gang, if the ants can get one of them to wander out, I bet the rest of them
will wander out, too. Looking into the test tube, I noticed the
colony's graveyard site, and also noticed brood - a larva and batch of eggs. How sweet! As soon as the ants start moving out the brood,
we will know for sure the ants have officially initiated the move. Oh, look! It seems our major has come for a second look
out into the promising expanse beyond. Will she be brave enough to take that first
step. And oh! The ants have started to bring out the brood,
it's gotta be time to follow the crowd! And no. It seems the major is not convinced. I think the reason the majors and even the
queen are among the last to leave is in case their new location proves to be a bad place,
I mean they just discovered it a few minutes ago, the VIPs can be safe. Having these large ants move en masse uses
up energy and makes the ants much more conspicuous to predators. The majors and queens are greater colony investments. But low and behold, a few minutes later, a
major comes back to inspect this trending message of a new and better home just beyond
the test tube. She steps out cautiously onto the moss and
yes, off she goes to check out the new home. I love watching ants move in, and what's funny
is look, some ants are bringing some of the brood back into the test tube. I find this happens sometimes, because some
ants feel the old home is better but when more and more ants start pheromone marking
the soils beyond as the greater priority of colony transplant, all ants will be transporting
the brood in the same direction. I actually find it super amazing that the
ants initiate such a big moving operation with only a biochemical language. Of course, as you may already know, ants communicate
exclusively through pheromones which communicate specific messages to ants in the area. Right now, it seems the ants have laid down
a "Let's move out" pheromone, as well as a "This way to the new home" pheromone, a "Here's
where we're moving into" pheromone, and "Bring in the babies this way, ladies!" pheromone. And hey looks like the "Majors let's move
out!" pheromone has been laid. Sorry, in my head I imagine the majors and
supermajors have an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice! But I knew it! Once one of the majors started moving out,
the rest would soon follow suit. One even goes back to tell other majors to
pick up their stuff and go! AC Family, isn't it just satisfying to watch
ants move? It's truly one of my favourite things to just
sit and watch! Especially this colony! Have a look at these majors, they all don't
have the same size of big-head. Some are smaller and look at that one. Hers is huge and darker! These largest majors are the supermajors and
appear more and more in the colony the larger the colony gets. Those massive major heads are full of muscle
and these huge ants specialize in cutting open or up hard food items like exoskeletons
of insects and seeds. They also specialize in defense! Basically, they're super important to the
colony and I find they have a sort of semi-VIP status, I guess. But AC Family, look, here comes the true VIP! The queen has emerged! Alright! And she's off, doing her best to crawl discreetly
through the shadows within the moss, and plunges down into the safe darkness of the hole. Success! The first queen is in! First queen you ask? Yes, and here comes the colony's second queen. This Pheidole ant colony is a polygynous one. She follows the path and heads straight into
the hole following her co-queen. AC Family, I bet you're asking now: Could
there possibly be a third queen? Yep, and here she is in all her glory! She heads out, as the ants guide her down
the path with the help of pheromones, into the new nest hole. Ok guys, perhaps some of you might be questioning
the unthinkable, that perhaps this colony has a fourth queen ant? Could it be? Well... yes, and here she is, but you may
notice that this queen is a bit special. First off, if you look carefully you will
notice that she wears a broach on her head, a phoretic mite clinging on, and her abdomen
is indented. She's injured and pest-ridden, but despite
this she appears healthy and dives down into the nest hole. I'm actually not worried about her because
my friend mentioned that this colony has survived for three months, starting from just these
four queen ants captured during their mating flight, and placed into a test tube to found
a super colony together. Had the mites been the blood-sucking dangerous
kind, the ants would have all been wiped out by now. The mite on that queen's head is truly a broach,
a harmless mite that will likely fall off now that the colony is moved into more hospitable
conditions. But I do love that this new camera can now
catch these tiny details, and it makes me now wonder if phoretic mites are just as common
a parasite as fleas or ticks on our large animals. Anyway, now that I knew the colony was emmigrating
entirely into the soils of Avista, I decided to leave them alone for a few hours to move
in peace. Coming back a few hours later, I checked the
test tube. There were a few ants hanging out but the
test tube was evacuated, and replaced with scavenging springtails. Well, that's good to know that Avista already
had it's team of Spring Cleaners! Now to check the hole they moved into, and
wow! They've covered it up with soil. Interesting move. I suppose it was a smart move, a precautionary
move. For sure their hole wasn't deep enough so
concealing the entire colony in, ensured the safety of the colony who were all concentrated
in a single, confined area. Alright, now that we knew the colony was completely
moved in, I could safely remove the test tube. And hey, well lookey here! AC Family, that's an earthworm up on the surface! Wow! Hey, I wonder if the ants would try to eat
it! Let's see. And no. That's cool! The ants see them as friends. Actually, this worm wasn't all! Look here, I also saw a tiny isopod, right
there next to the worm! It was awesome to know that Avista already
had its soil conditioning organisms! But still that's not all, over the next few
hours, I actually managed to spot several other creatures occupying the various microenvironments
of Avista, including a tiny spider moving high above in the leaves of the Great Tree
of Wisdom. How interesting. I assume this spider came with the tree, but
I don't know if it will end up staying on Avista, especially with all these big-headed
ants around. We'll see. I also spotted a miniature millipede and even
a tiny caterpillar, but wasn't fast enough to catch them on camera. I do look forward to spotting more Avistan
co-inhabitants that we don't yet know about. But for now, AC Family, it's time to initiate
our AC Family tradition, and offer our new ants a house warming gift. Here is my superworm bin, and like picking
a fattened goat for the celebratory feast, I plucked a superworm from the superworm colony. Now AC Family, after cutting it up and placing
it on the island, the Pheidole ants had come swarming their new feast. Majors and workers were out to feed on the
delicious superworm meat, but then I noticed something funny. AC Family, check this out! Here was the hole they had moved into, but
strangely, look, no trail from this hole to the superworm. What? How odd. Where were the ants emerging from? I looked around to find the hole from which
the colony was surfacing. And voila, here! Right next to the superworm. AC Family, the ants were emerging from that
very first hole we made! The ants had incredibly dug an entire tunnel
from the blocked up entrance hole to this hole. Wow! These ants are so fast at tunneling! I look forward to see where else on the island
they decide to create a nest exit, and from the looks of things, these ants don't create
conspicuous ant hills. Alright AC Family, I think you know what's
next. It is time to give this cute Pheidole colony
an official name! Leave your name suggestions for this colony
in the comments, and I will choose my top 5 favourites for us to vote on in a future
video. Alright, and there was one last thing I needed
to do to make this entire, new ant kingdom, the floating island of Avista complete. I said I was going to make it a floating island. Now that the colony was all moved in to the
soils, I took two jars filled to the brim with soil. Then, I lifted Avista up and placed these
two soil-filled jars directly under the two drainage holes at the bottom of the bonsai
pot. These two hallow pillars of soil could now
provide the ants with extra space to expand their nest, because with four queens and a
healthy appetite, I have a hunch this ant colony will grow pretty fast, and they'll
surely appreciate the extension of digging medium. And so AC Family, just like that, the floating
island ant kingdom Avista was complete. To me this open-concept living and bioactive
ant farm was so cute, super satisfying to the eyes, and despite being a sort of nano
ant farm, still offered us a lot to look at and discover, and fit in perfectly within
the Antiverse. What do you guys think of it? Do you like it? I watched the inhabitants of Avista on the
first day well into the night. I couldn't believe we were now owners of yet
another ant colony, the cutest ants of the Ant Room. I look forward to giving you continual updates
on these cute Pheidole ants. Who knows, if they end up outgrowing Avista
here, perhaps I may need to create a connection bridge to another floating island. Wouldn't that be something? But for now, let's leave the ants to spend
their very first night out of their test tube, within the cradling soils of Avista. Let's wish this colony well and hope for their
continued success. Lights off. Now over the past few weeks, we've welcomed
two new ant colonies to the channel. Here in the Antiverse when a new ant colony
arrives, we welcome them with open arms to join our collection of ant kingdoms. But what about if old ant colonies whom we've
had to say goodbye to in the past, returned from the dead? AC Family, you won't believe this, but earlier
this week, one of our past and declared deceased ant colonies, one I as well as many of you
loved to death, has come back to life from the land of the dead. And so AC Family, you guys will not believe
who's come back to us, to rejoin our Antiverse of ant kingdoms. AC Family, I am overjoyed at what's coming
up next! One of our several colonies from the past
whom we have lost will be making an epic return to the Antiverse! So hit that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL icon
now so you don't miss out on who's coming back, and hit the LIKE button every single
time, including now. (AC Family did you enjoy today's episode? I love these cute Pheidole ants. What do you guys think of them? I cannot wait to watch this quadruple queen
supercolony grow and populate our floating island ant farm of Avista. So...) By the way, if you're new to the channel,
I've created a special playlist for you here, if you would like to watch the complete story
line playlist of all the ants in the Antiverse. You can follow their journeys from the very
start so you can better appreciate how far the ants, as well as all of us have come! Forget Game of Thrones, you'll be shocked
at how epic the real lives of ants are. AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you hear, if you would just like to watch extended play scenes of the ants moving into
their new home. It is super therapeutic and satisfying watching
the ants moving in so do check it out! And now it's time for the AC Question of the
Week! Last week, we asked: What determines gender in ants? Congratulations to S_McCool who correctly
answered: The gender of ants is determined
by the number of chromosomes. Congratulations S_McCool you just won a free
Hybrid Nest 2.0 Tetramorium version which newly released at our shop! In this week's AC Question of the Week, we
ask: What made the fourth queen unique
from the other queens? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could win a free ebook handbook from our shop! Hope you can subscribe to my channel as we
upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and
SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more! It's ant love forever!
AC does not wear well. The guy is infectious, then you get over it.
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