Oh man! A great ant war has begun, a battle against
one of the most feared and hated ants in the entire world. Today, we declare war on Pharaoh ants. In last week's video we discovered that two
alien ant colonies had broken into our Garden of Eden, the name given to the giant terrarium
that is home to our beloved Marauder Ant colony, which you guys have named The Titans. The first invaders were some cowardly Black
Crazy Ants, that had set up camp somewhere in the Garden of Eden but they appeared to
respect the authority of our Titans so we weren't too concerned. The other ant invaders, however, were a super
army of small but menacing Pharaoh ants with many queens, whom we caught stealing and monopolizing
all food meant to feed our Titans. This week, AC Family, we wage war against
these Pharaoh ants who you believe pose an immediate threat, and my grand plan to eliminate
them from the Garden of Eden involves some cool traps and a Line of Death! We also make two incredible discoveries about
these pharaoh ants, and of course, this wouldn't be an AnstCanada video without a plot twist? So keep on watching until the end for the
surprise ending! Put on your armour, AC Family, and let's go
into battle with these pharaoh ant invaders from the outside, and show them they cannot
and will not destroy our Titans, in this nerve-wrenching episode of the AntsCanada ant channel. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the
bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Tired of nature channels not showing nature
shows. Just watch this channel. Enjoy. The events that took place last week in the
Garden of Eden were an eye-opener. Our resident Marauder ants, some newly residing
black crazy ants, and intruding pharaoh ants. Three different ant species meeting in a single
place. The ultimate drama that ensued from this meeting
blew me away. If you haven't seen last week's video you
can watch it here. Basically, through this epic clash of these
three ant clans, we discovered that ants going to war didn't necessarily mean ants killing
each other to the death. No. Surprisingly, we saw that ant wars could consist
of alpha ants grappling with weaker ants, as we saw in last week's episode, when our
majestic Titans rushed in to claim their rightful cockroach meal from the black crazy ants. But what I found the most alarming, were the
pharaoh ants. They moved in and out of the terrarium freely,
despite the presence of a baby powder barrier. This colony had many queens, and aggressive
workers, proving to be a powerful force. They possessed the ferocity to even take food
from our Titans. And that's when you spoke, AC Family! I asked you last week what you felt about
our new ant neighbours, and so many of you, expressed that although you felt the black
crazy ants weren't much a threat to our Titans at the moment, you insisted that the pharaoh
ants were, and had to be dealt with immediately. I don't blame you, guys for feeling so strongly. Pharaoh ants, whose name possibly arises from
the mistaken idea that it was one of the plagues of ancient Egypt, have become a major pest
of residences, commercial bakeries, factories, buildings, and hospitals worldwide. They're a true metropolitan ant, having invaded
nearly all parts of the world by way of human activities, likely the transport of goods
on which they secretly hitch rides. Nobody knows for sure where Pharaoh ants originated
from, but it is suspected they came from Africa. Although they are a tropical ant, they've
still managed to thrive in colder climates like the US and Europe by living inside heated
buildings. They've also been known to be carriers of
harmful microbes like salmonella and e. coli. There's no doubt, pharaoh ants are tough,
resourceful, and big trouble in a little package. And it seems this supercolony of pharaoh ants
has had their eye on the Garden of Eden. Every time I place food into the Garden of
Eden to feed the Titans, the pharaoh ants come swarming instantly, slipping stealthily
in and out of the terrarium with ease, despite the presence of a baby powder barrier, claiming
the food before the Titans couldever get to it. They also defend this food aggressively. One night, I watched as the pharaoh ants ate
all the chicken wing bones I placed into the Garden of Eden. Chicken wing scraps were always one of the
Titan's favourite food, but now no Titan was seen in sight. Only the pharaoh ants feasting, while the
black crazy ants hovered around, too afraid to get close but wanting to. Suddenly, something caught my eye. There, AC Family. Look! It was a pile of dead Titans! Had they been attacked and killed by the pharaoh
ants and dumped here? This was the final straw! The pharaoh ants needed to be eradicated,
for the safety of our Titans! In fact, I realized that the safety of all
our ants in this ant room were at stake! Who was to say that the pharaoh ants wouldn't
also choose to invade the Hacienda Del Dorado, the kingdom of our Golden Empire? Or the connected villas of our Dark Knights? Perhaps even our most aggressive fire ants,
the Fire Nation, were not safe from these pharaoh ant raids. You guys called for it, and AC Family, I fully
support your call to action! It was time to go to war, a war against these
ruthless Pharaoh Ants. We needed to save our Titans! OK, so are you ready for this? Here was my plan. Phase One: Locate the site of colony! I needed to know where the pharaoh ants were
stationed. For sure they had moved into my place recently
from the outside. Highly nomadic and known to form extremely
long foraging trails, pharaoh ants cover some amazing distance when they travel. I followed the trail of pharaoh ants and it
took me up the glass, across this bracket to the west side of the Garden of Eden, down
the glass, and across this entanglement of wires. From here the ants formed a trail up my curtain,
across the air conditioning unit, crossing this shelf, along the doorway of my bathroom,
down this long stretch of wall, up this door frame and surprisngly into the Cavern of Darkness,
a hole which leads through the dry wall accommodating the tube of our Dark Knights. My goodness! The pharaoh ants were living between my walls! Alright, and now for Phase Two: The Line of
Death. Stopping all food provisions into the Garden
of Eden for a couple days, caused for only a few pharaoh ants to be seen wandering inside. I needed there to be as little pharaoh ants
as possible before using my secret weapon. Now I've never featured this secret weapon
on this channel before because I've never needed it, until now. AC Family, behold. Diatomaceous Earth chalk. I've used it to effectively battle cockroaches
in the past, and it has never failed me, not once. This powerful stuff is composed of microscopic
fossilzed remains of plankton called diatoms. Under a microscope these diatoms look like
shards of glass, and AC Family get this! Once these particals of diatomaceous earth
get onto an insect, it punctures them, absorbing vital lipids in their exoskeleton, and the
insect dies of dehydration! What's totally amazing is that diatomaceous
earth is actually non-toxic, and unlike regular chemical pesticides, there is no potential
buildup of tolerance like there is to poisons because the method of killing is PHYSICAL,
not chemical. In fact, you've probably even eaten this stuff
before, perhaps even today! They add diatomaceous earth to a multitude
of grain-based foods like cereal, oats, bread, flour, rice, and muffins in order to kill
beetles which typically infest grain-based foods. But warning: Don't eat this pest chalk, because
companies can blend in other materials into it which could be harmful if ingested. For those of you who have followed this channel
for awhile now, you know that I make it a rule to never kill ants, even if they're pests,
but I feel this could be classified as a dire situation requiring some extreme measures,
because the safety of all our pet ants is in jeopardy. I proceeded to outline the periphery of the
terrarium with the chalk. I made sure to go all the way around to the
back. I also made sure to chalk the wires of the
lighting. No ants could now cross these chalked areas
and survive. Another thing to note, though was that this
chalk barrier was only effective for a couple days because the moisture in the humid air
of Manila, where I live, renders the diatomaceous earth chalk ineffctive after awhile. This chalk needs to stay dry in order to work. And now for the most critical phase, AC Family:
Setting of the Traps. I prepared a pair of acrylic containers each
with holes on opposing sides. In one hole, I fixated a piece of polyvinyl
tubing. The tubing of one of these containers was
placed against the wall near one of the pharaoh ants' foraging trails, and the tubing to the
other, pressed up against the adjacent trap. And now to add our bait. In our first trap, a delicious cockroach,
irrresistable to any prospective pharaoh ant, and in the second trap perfectly suited to
our alien ant invaders, Mars chocolate. I made sure to wipe the tweezers along the
outside of the tube to get the smell of the bait all over it. Also, I had to place the covers on these traps
so the smell of our bait, would fill the inside. We needed our traps to smell tantalizing! Next, we required some messenger pigeons! Informant pharaoh ant workers to squeal, and
tell the colony of the tasty food inside our traps. With a cotton ball I gently collected a few
worker ants and threw them into the traps along with the bait. The idea was to get these ants to find the
food, and excitedly run back home to tell the rest of the colony to come and eat, and
look! It seems the ants were acting exactly as planned,
having discovered our bait and feeding on it. They will soon make their way back to the
colony, leaving a pheromonal trail all the way home, which will help direct the ants
to the food and into our traps. Let's hope this works, AC Family! I decided to come back later to check and
see if our plan was working, and I sure hope it would. Our Titans were counting on us. A few hours later, I came back to check on
our traps. Good news! It seems the ants had discovered our bait! Yes, the plan was working. Not a lot of ants yet, but it was just the
start. Not many eating the chocolate yet, but it
was ok. It was only a matter of time before the ants
would come biting down! Let's come back later. Returning to the traps, I was anxious to see
if the ants had come swarming! Let's check it out! Yes, tonnes of ants! Look at them seething! In addition, ants were now tasting our choclate! Ants ran with full bellies back to the nest,
but I wasn't going to remove the traps until it had at least 1 queen in it. My aim was to try to dispose of the queens
as much as possible. And actually, here! I spotted a queen inside the first trap. She still had wings but it seemed one wing
was missing. There was no way to tell if she was one of
the fertilized egg-laying queens or if she was just a virgin alate, but it was good enough
for me. Time for Phase Four: Removal! I blocked both entrances to the first trap
and removed it from site. Here you go, Pharaoh ants! How about some chocolate. It tastes out of this world! Sliding the chocolate over, I placed a fresh
new trap with another freshly killed cockroach inside. I knew it wouldn't be long before the ants
would come discovering this roach, too and start swarming inside the new trap. Let's come back later and see. Let's check our traps, AC Family! Ants eating the chocolate, and yes ants also
eating our roach. So now we knew the system worked! I plugged up our chocolate trap and slid over
the roach trap, and in its place, a new trap, this time with some cut up superworms. I wanted to change up the bait because I didn't
want the ants to get bored of our bait choices. I found the ants would send more workers out
on site if the food was new. I just loved how our plan was working! So I continued this trap removal and intallation
method over the next couple of days until I was able to remove a significant number
of ants. Now AC Family, get this. I happened to make two very interesting discoveries
during this trapping process. First, I found when the ants were eating protein
bait, insects and such, the trails to and from the bait were fairly uniform and orderly. But as soon as the ants were eating chocolate,
the trails were berzerk! Ants broke off the trails and some formed
sub trails, while others just seemed to generally be lost. It was as if the ants were drunk! Haha! Look. Interesting right? Perhaps we can study this in a future video! The second discovery I made, was downstairs. So my ant room is on my second floor, but
down in my kitchen towards the door leading to my balcony, I happened to spot an ant trail
of pharaoh ants. Another pharaoh colony?! The trail extended onto my kitchen floor. I had to find out where these pharaoh ants
were coming from? I followed the trail up and found the ants
were emerging from a space in my balcony door frame leading outside. On the other end of this trail, the ants traveled
along the foot of my counter and then somewhere inside it. And that's when it hit me! This wasn't another colony. It was the same colony. AC Family, this pharaoh ant trail went all
the way from my balcony door, into my counter, and from there somehow into my walls, and
all the way up to the second floor and emerging into my ant room. Can you believe it?! Can you imagine how much distance these ants
were traveling relative to their size, just to get the food! That is quite the distance! And what blew my mind even more was that,
this could also mean this pharaoh ant colony could possibly be bigger than any of us ever
imagined! I live high up on the 15th floor but I bet
this pharaoh ant trail was actually stories long, extending into other condo units of
my building on multiple floors. Like an invisible giant entity, this pharaoh
ant colony was extending its silent tendrils into all areas of my building, moving at will
floor by floor, collecting food along the way to grow its colony bigger and bigger. Who knows? With multiple queens constantly giving rise
to tireless workers, this colony could in fact be absolutely massive, simultaneously
reaching into many of the buildings and homes in my neighbourhood. The implications were endless and just mind-boggling! These pharaoh ants were indeed the true definition
of a supercolony! After all our trapping, believe it or not,
AC Family, it eventually got to the point where no more pharaoh ants were seen. And so began phase five: Precautionary Maintenance. With vinegar, I wiped down all the areas where
the pharaoh ants were trailing. I did this several times in order to break
down the ants' chemical trails. I also fortified the baby powder barrier in
the Garden of Eden. As for any pharaoh ants remaining inside the
Garden of Eden, I made sure to lay down some bait and remove them from site once they came
swarming. And as of this morning AC Family, I am happy
to announce, that the pharaoh ants that once threatened our Titans, were no longer around
to cause trouble! I placed a cockroach into the Garden of Eden
this morning, and it filled my heart with joy to watch as our Titans came swarming in
to claim their rightful meal. It was hilarious to see some black crazy ants,
also rushing in trying to get to the roach, but our Titans, being the alphas were not
having it! Check out how they kept all the black crazy
ants at bay! Now, AC Family, are you ready for the surprise? As for the pharaoh ants, some of you may be
wondering what I did with all the pharaoh ants caught in our traps. Did I kill them? Well, in last week's video, so many of you
expressed how much you wanted me to capture the pharaoh ants and place them in their own
setup, to become another ant colony to join our growing family of ant colonies within
our ant room. And so, your wish, was my command. Phase Six: Captivity. Turns out, I coverted all the traps into miniature
terrariums, using soils borrowed from our Garden of Eden so they contained all the springtails
and microorganisms needed to break down waste, and connected them all together via tubing. And when I say, tubing, I mean tubing! These ants love to travel? Well, I made sure they had all the traveling
space they needed, and what's ironic is that parts of their new home consisted of our Titan's
old towers. I cannot wait to give you an official tour
of their setup, AC Family, in a future video! After this entire ordeal, with our ants all
safe for now, and a new ant colony to join our family, I am truly relieved and excited
for what's next. It seems these pharaoh ants which the world
has learned to loathe can be controlled, without the use of harmful pesticides. It just required an understanding of how these
ants behave and live. It seems although they are called Pharaoh
ants, they were still actually slaves to their own biology. Thank you for watching, AC Family, and until
next week, it's ant love forever! Alright, AC Family isn't this just incredible?! We managed to successfully control our pharaoh
ant problem plus acquire a new ant colony in the process. Oh, and this new Pharaoh ant colony needs
a name! Please take the time to vote here, for an
official name for our pharaoh ants. My top 5 picks of names suggested by you,
the AC Family, in last week's video. If you found this video entertaining and informative
it would mean a lot to me if you could hit the LIKE button, share this video with your
friends, and leave me a comment. Oh yeah, and if you're not subscribed yet,
hit that subscribe button and slap that bell icon to keep updated on our weekly ant videos. AC Inner Colony, I've left a hidden cookie
for you hear, if you would just like to watch some extended play footage of our Titans enjoying
their meal this morning while warding off their black crazy ant neighbours! And now it's time for the AC Question of the
week! In last week's video we asked: Name one thing black crazy ants and
pharaoh ants have in common? Congratulations to Arda Mudarso who correctly
answered: They are both polygynous, meaning
they have more than one queen. Congratulations Arda, you just won a free
ant t-shirt from our shop! In this week's AC Question of the Week, we
ask: List any one of the phases of our
ant trapping process in this video! Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could win a free ebook handbook from our shop! Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we
upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, & SUBSCRIBE
if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more. It's ant love forever!
We all know Ants Canada .. His ad ridden click baiting titles are distasteful but regardless we all know of him and his videos so I don't see a reason to post it here if it's in every ant sub..