Today we live stream an ant colony feeding session of Dubia cockroaches to the “Fire Nation” our Fire Ants aka Solenopsis geminata, the “Golden Empire” our Yellow Crazy Ants aka Anoplolepis gracilipes, and the “Dark Knights” our Black Crazy Ants aka Paratrechina longicornis. The ants feast on the roaches that we feed them, as we discuss ant biology, details about each species, ant keeping, and exciting new products coming to the AntsCanada shop. Enjoy!

Live ANT COLONY Feeding!

Welcome, everyone, to another ant video! So happy for you guys to join us. I don’t know why I’m speaking in my narrative voice—oh, this is live, guys, this is a live stream! Thanks so much, AC Family, for tuning in. Wow, the comments section just went so crazy! Thanks, guys, for tuning in to another ant video.

Before we start, I just wanted to say, enjoy the content, AC Family! Thank you for tuning in. I wanted to do a live stream today because some of you guys were saying that these live streams are helpful, especially for you ant keepers, because I pack a lot of information into a single video.

So, what you guys will be seeing today is a live feeding of my ants. I asked you guys on our Twitter—the AntsCanada Twitter—which colony you wanted to see feed on these Dubia roaches. And 39% of you said the Fire Nation, while 38% said the Golden Empire. The voting was so close, so I’ll be feeding both colonies today!

Thank you, guys, for tuning in! Of course, be sure to like, comment, and share—it really helps! You know, it helps YouTube know that this video is worth sharing with new audiences. So, AC Family, thank you so much! A couple of weeks ago, we hit 1 million subscribers. I can’t believe there are over a million of you guys who love ants just as much as I do!

I’m wearing my glasses so you don’t confuse me with someone else that you might know from another channel—someone who runs around in swimwear. Very, very different person!

And of course, here we have ant love! I love you guys. Thanks for commenting. Look at all these comments; they’re just scrolling right up.

Okay, so what we’re going to see today is the preparation of these Dubia cockroaches, and then we’re going to watch the ants eat. We’re going to start with the Fire Nation, so please bear with me, AC Family, as I set up our preparatory station here.

All right, I love these live streams—they’re not so edited. Sometimes, editing can remove the realness of a scene, but these live streams… Oh, and I just—I think I just broke something!

Okay, so here are our roaches. These are, of course, Dubia roaches, very famous in the pet trade as insect food. Cockroaches make very, very good meals for insectivorous animals. What I’m going to do is try to make this real quick. I try to be humane—I quickly snap them at the head and then cut up their bodies. If I put them directly into the nest, it would be a long and painful death, but I try to be quick. I know it’s gross, guys, but these ants need to eat.

All right, a swift crush at the head. You guys might notice that in the videos, the cockroaches are still moving. It’s because they have ganglia down the middle of their bodies, so their brains are kind of not like ours in one central area. They’re capable of movement even though they’re dismembered. But they’re pretty much dead. Ants love these—they’re great food for the ants.

I say a little prayer in my head before I do this. Now, what I’m doing is cutting up the cockroach so that the ants can get to the goodies inside. All right, now that the cockroaches are prepared, they’re cut up and killed—see that? It’s time to feed. Here we go! I’m going to move you over to the Fire Nation.

Here they are—whoo! Fire ants, guys! As you know, this is the Fire Nation. They are Solenopsis genus, which is a tropical species found in many tropical countries. They’ve become invasive ants and originated in South America, just like most fire ants.

I’m going to put this down here, and the fire ants will quickly discover that their food is in here. See that? It just takes a few members to discover the food. They go into their nest and let everybody know there’s food out there. Ants communicate through pheromones, which are biochemical signals emitted from various parts of their bodies. Right now, the trending message in this area is that there’s food here. Soon, many fire ants will be here to eat. Look at them—they’re all coming out now. Isn’t that great, guys? I love watching ants eat—it’s so relaxing.

What they’ll do is start ingesting parts of the cockroaches. They’re starting to sting now because parts of the cockroaches are moving. The ants feel like the cockroaches are alive, so they proceed to sting. Ants have a sting that’s very powerful. If you guys saw our 1 million subscribers video, I stuck my hand in here, and I didn’t last 23 seconds. I had to pull my hand out because it really hurt! They have a toxin, a neurotoxin called Solenopsin, which gives them a very powerful sting.

Look at them all coming out now. Isn’t that amazing? [Music] I love watching ants eat—it’s my favorite thing. It’s so relaxing.

Let me move and drink. There we go. See that? Now what they’re going to do is fill their crops. Ants have two stomachs—a social stomach and their own personal stomach. What they do is fill up their crop, or social stomach, and then head back to the nest to feed everybody else. They feed the babies, the queen, and each other through a mouth-to-mouth process called trophallaxis. Trophallaxis is something that many social insects do, like termites, bees, wasps, and ants. It allows them to transfer food mouth to mouth.

If you look over here, you can see these ants bringing a piece of food back to the nest. They feel it’s small enough to bring in and work on it in the privacy of their home. It’s important for the ants to process this food ASAP because, you know, a bird could come by and snatch their stash. They really have to protect this bounty and process it quickly. They’ll eat it on the spot, bring some into the nest, and some will just hang around, ready to defend the food.

Solenopsis geminata, or fire ants, actually consist of many species. There isn’t just one species of fire ants; there are several. It’s a common name given to red ants that bite. Most of them belong to the Solenopsis genus. However, the term “fire ant” has also been used for ants belonging to other genera, like Myrmica in North America. Myrmica rubra, for example, is a red stinging species often called European fire ants.

Recently, Solenopsis fire ants have been trending because of the hurricanes that struck the United States and other parts of the world, like the Caribbean. These ants float on water, forming living rafts. For those affected by the hurricane, I hope you continue to recover and that the damages weren’t too bad. If you haven’t seen our video Ants vs. Flood, you must watch it. It explains how fire ants form rafts, and it was incredible to film.

Look at them bringing pieces of legs into the nest. This cockroach here looks like it was pregnant—it has eggs. The ants are even eating the eggs. Wow, it’s amazing to watch them eat!

Scientists often perceive an entire ant colony as a “superorganism.” You can look at ants individually as separate creatures, or you can see the whole colony as a single organism. Each ant functions like a cell in a body, working together for the greater good of the colony. It’s fascinating to see the similarities between an ant colony and the cells of a body. We have an older video on this topic called Superorganism, which explains this concept in detail.

Look at them carry this cockroach leg! Isn’t that fantastic? Isn’t that great, guys?

Now, I have some exciting news! We have new products coming out. Our first large hybrid nests are launching soon. We’re phasing out our smaller, 3D-printed nests. The new nests are bigger and not 3D-printed—they’re manufactured. When I saw the design, I was like, “OMG, this is my dream ant farm!” I can’t wait for it to launch in the store. For those of you who’ve been waiting to buy our hybrid nests, hold on just a couple more weeks. The first design will be the Formica Hybrid Nest, and I can’t wait for you to see it.

We’re also working on new AC Outworlds. They’re bigger and have cool features, like ventilation holes and different ports that can accommodate an air pump for airflow. Lots of cool ant-keeping goodies are coming in the next few weeks, and I can’t wait to share them with you!

All right, I’ll let you watch the Fire Nation eat while I set up for the Golden Empire. Enjoy watching these ants!

[Pause for a few moments.]

All right, a lot of you are asking about the mantis. I’ll update you on that as soon as we move to the Golden Empire. For those who don’t know, last week’s video introduced a predator into Hacienda Del Dorado, the terrarium of our yellow crazy ants, the Golden Empire. We’ve introduced a predator to cut down their population because they’re growing like crazy!

Don’t forget to hit the like button and give this video a thumbs up. Be sure to comment as well, and if you haven’t subscribed yet, please do! These ant stories are epic, and I love sharing them with you every week. Someone commented in a previous video saying, “Maybe you’re running out of ideas.” But trust me, you can never run out of ideas with ants. Their lives are endlessly fascinating.

Thank you for tuning into this live stream! It really means a lot. Please hit that subscribe button to join the AC Family. We upload a new video every week at 8 a.m. EST.

Recently, I came back from a place with no internet, so I couldn’t edit a video this week. But I wanted to do this live stream so we could still have a video up for you guys. I’m working on setting up a 24-hour live stream, but internet speed here in Manila, Philippines, is a challenge. Once it improves, I’ll set it up so you can see the ants in high quality. Trust me, it’s coming!

Thank you so much to those donating. I didn’t realize live streams could accept donations, but I recently turned that on. Your support, whether through donations or just watching the videos, means the world to me. It’s amazing to see so many people appreciate the lives of ants and insects, which are often overlooked. It makes me confident that this generation cares about edutainment and nature videos.

Now, while the Fire Nation continues to feast, I’ll take you to the Golden Empire. Ready? Let’s move!

Behold, AC Family! We have here Hacienda Del Dorado. Look at how lush it is! Let’s see if we can find the mantis. Where are you? For those who don’t know, there’s a female praying mantis in here somewhere. She’s very good at hiding. Yes, she’s still alive. Surprisingly, I removed that network of binding because it turns out she doesn’t need it. She’s very good at being elusive to the Golden Empire.

I can’t seem to find her right now, but she is there—I know she is. So, here’s the Golden Empire, guys! I’m going to try to situate you in one spot here. I want you to have front-row seats to these ants eating. Let’s see… I think this is too close. Let me try to get you the best view here. All right, looks like I’ll just have to hold the camera. That’s fine.

Now we’re going to add this male cockroach that I recently cut up. Let’s add it right here—what do you guys think? Right there? Or maybe here? All right, let’s put it here. The Golden Empire is ready! See that? They’re ready! Let’s add a wing, a head, and a leg too.

Now, of course, this here is the Golden Empire. The species is Anoplolepis gracilipes, also known as yellow crazy ants. These ants are amazing! I just came back from a place called Palau, a very isolated group of islands in Micronesia, out in the Pacific. While exploring their terrain, I was surprised to find that yellow crazy ants dominate the islands. They seem to be the most successful ant species there.

This surprised me because these ants are invasive, even here in the Philippines. They originated in West Africa and have since conquered almost every tropical country in the world. They became famous online before this channel even existed because they were notorious for affecting the land crab population on Christmas Island. That incident was featured in a BBC special, which popularized yellow crazy ants.

Interestingly, in Palau, where they also have land crabs, the yellow crazy ants don’t seem to affect the land crab population. It’s fascinating because Christmas Island appears to be an unfortunate situation for those land crabs.

Wait, do you see that? There’s a male! Where did it go? There it is, with wings! That’s a male yellow crazy ant. Isn’t that crazy? No pun intended! A male elate means there are probably queen alates developing as we speak. Oh boy, I don’t know what I’ll do when they have a nuptial flight. Those queens might mate in here, causing a bigger population explosion.

Look at them carrying those body parts around! It’s so cool to watch. As I was saying earlier, the yellow crazy ants are polygynous, meaning they allow multiple queens in a single colony. This contributes to their success in invading new areas. When queens work together, colonies grow larger and faster, leading to greater colony success.

Look at that ant carrying a leg far away. Isn’t that amazing?

For those following the evolution of this terrarium, it has changed so much over time. It’s almost unrecognizable compared to when it started. If you check the very first video of Hacienda Del Dorado, you’ll be shocked at how much it has evolved. Creatures have also popped up in there over time. I’ve seen so many baby millipedes walking around. Look—there’s one right now! It’s a small pink millipede that will grow into one of those giant black ones we introduced in a previous video called Ants vs. Millipede. Check it out!

And there’s the Golden Empire. They’ve also recovered from a mite infestation that I thought would kill them. Thankfully, with several adjustments to their living conditions, they were able to eliminate the mites.

Now, where is that mantis? I tell you, praying mantises are so intelligent—they’re like tiny aliens with incredible vision. Be sure to check out last week’s video about her. It’s one of my favorites on this channel, but it didn’t get as many views as I expected. Maybe not everyone is getting notifications when we upload. If you’re subscribed, make sure to hit the bell icon to get notified every time we upload a video. YouTube only informs you about videos that perform exceptionally well unless you hit the bell icon.

All right, let’s move back to the ants. Look at them carry that cockroach leg! It’s fascinating how they work together.

For those of you asking about the Titans, I’ll update you soon. If you look at the terrarium, the weeds have completely overrun it. I need to cut them back. The ficus is also growing new vines everywhere, and I’ll need to trim those too. Sometimes, I spot one or two Titan ants foraging. They don’t always come out, but when they do, it’s fascinating to watch.

Let’s check on the Dark Knights. Yes, here they are! Let’s feed them. I wasn’t planning to feed them since they received the least amount of votes, but let’s do it anyway. I’ll crush a cockroach and add it to their setup. See? They’re already coming out! These are black crazy ants, Paratrechina longicornis. They’re non-aggressive but very active and also have multiple queens.

Look at them swarming that cockroach—it’s dinnertime! Isn’t it awesome? [Music]

Now, about the contest! For the 1 million subscribers video, I’ve been waiting for a month to choose winners so everyone has a chance to participate. To enter, visit the AntsCanada Facebook page, like it, and answer the pinned question. You could win a complete ant setup or other cool prizes from our store!

All right, AC Family, this live stream has been running for over 30 minutes, so it’s time to wrap up. Thank you so much for tuning in. Look at them eating—it’s amazing! Don’t forget to comment “ant love forever.”

Thank you for all your support! If you need any ant-keeping supplies, visit AntsCanada.com. We have lots of easy-to-use, effective products to help you start keeping ants. It’s been a dream of mine to promote ant love, and your support means the world.

Thank you, AC Family! Ant love forever. See you in the next video. Bye-bye!