NEW VIDEO: An Ant War Broke Out After Adding 6 Ant Colonies Into My Rainforest Vivarium


Welcome to Season 3, Episode 3 of my Ecosystem Vivarium Series, where I sparked the greatest ant war ever seen in my giant cloud rainforest tanks, Pantdora and Orchadia, by adding six new ant species to challenge the Gnome Ants’ monopoly—celebrating 6 million subscribers with this epic showdown. Ant love forever!

I started the biggest Ant War in my giant cloud rainforest vivarium. I felt Pantdora and Orchadia, my two connected tropical ecosystem tanks, required a greater biodiversity of ant species, especially because one of the ant species within, i.e Gnome Ants (Pheidole parva) have completely run a monopoly of the rainforest. In an attempt to balance the ant ecology out, I decided to add six more ant species into the vivarium. The result was a war, greater than anything the rainforest had ever seen.

 

 

An Ant War Broke Out After Adding 6 Ant Colonies Into My Rainforest Vivarium

The craziest ant war has broken out in Pantdora, my 1000-gallon rainforest floor vivarium. A glass bridge attaches Pantdora to an upper tree canopy vivarium called Orchadia, and both tanks combined host a vast array of creatures, plants, and fungi living within it. But things have greatly changed.

You see, the aim of this personal biological project was to study wild ecosystems in cloud rainforests, and there was always something I’ve really been wanting to do. Cloud rainforests are supposed to be some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, especially in ant diversity. And though there were a few ant colonies already living in our rainforest, ecologically speaking, there still wasn’t enough of them. On top of that, one ant species, a small ant with supermajors with large heads, that I’ve been calling Gnome Ants, has been completely monopolizing the ecosystem, having exploded in the forest with no competitors, no population limiters—just full dominion over the soils.

Now, I’ve really been wanting to challenge this “ant monopoly” and increase the species diversity by adding more ants of different kinds into our rainforest, and this week, something happened that made me decide it was time to enter a new chapter in the rainforest’s story of the ants.

Guys, we officially hit 6 million subs on the channel! Thank you, AC Family! To celebrate this epic milestone of 6M, the moment to execute my grand ant idea had come. Here I have five special and powerful young ant colonies scheduled to move into our rainforest, and a sixth ant colony in another holding container, but I’ll be saving that colony for last! Some of these ants have powerful bites, others a sting that feels like a bullet, others with huge supermajors, some that spin webs, and my personal favorite—the beast of all ant colonies, ants that dominate the trees they live in. It was time to create the biodiverse ant haven I’d always dreamed of by adding all these ants in.

But little did I know, throwing six ant colonies together into the vivarium did not create the ant paradise I thought it would. What I actually did was create the perfect ant battleground over resources and territory. Ladies and gents, this is the insane story of how I added six ant colonies into my Giant Rainforest Vivarium and was taught a harsh lesson: that Mother Nature doesn’t always come to play nice, here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel, 6 million strong.

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I watched the trail of Gnome Ants, whom I’ve named “The Gnomads,” which I recently found out are a species called Pheidole parva, traveling along the soils of our rainforest. Despite there being other ant colonies in our rainforest, like dwarf ants who live in the giant Hallelujah Tree Stump, golden carpenter ants who frequent the vines, a newly introduced black carpenter ant colony in the treetops of Orchadia who still haven’t moved out of the AC ant farm in which they were raised, and some other ants, the forest has truly become overrun by the Gnomads. Which is okay, because these ant species are non-invasive, but it’s not ideal. Having a wide diversity of ants in an ecosystem is a true sign of ecosystem health, and so I felt our cloud rainforest was ready now to support a new influx of ant biodiversity.

I made sure to carefully choose species that I believed could co-exist well, but I had no idea what was about to come.

My five colonies were all ready to be moved in, but before that, I’ve been dying to show you the sixth ant colony that I will be adding into our rainforest as well, and this has been the hardest thing to keep secret! I’ve been raising a sorority of five weaver ant queens caught earlier this year, whom we followed and watched cooperatively amass their brood, and use their larvae to spin themselves a silk chamber. You see, these ants are one of the most incredible ant species, who I feel are the Bentley of the ant-keeping world. These weaver ants build nests in the leaves of trees and shrubs using the silk from their larvae to glue the leaves together.

Living in Southeast Asia, they are native to my area, and are the apex ant species in my yard. I had big plans for this Weaver Ant Sorority to introduce them into our rainforest once they had a good set of workers going, but these queens were truly going to surprise me with their prolificacy.

Now, the problem was, every time I’ve tried to grow a colony of these ants from just queens in my home, the colonies failed. So this time, I took a different approach. I decided to try wrapping their container in some leaves on a tree in my yard, and tied the whole thing up with some wire. I felt that, for raising these weaver ants from scratch, Nature still seems to do it best, so I took the gamble and hoped the queens and their first set of workers wouldn’t move out of this leaf wrapping I made, and would simply choose to live and grow here until I was ready to move them into our vivarium.

A few days later, I began to spot workers wandering out of the nest. This was a good sign the colony had so far chosen to stay put and were actually braving the elements in the tree I placed them in. A few weeks later, I was delighted to discover that the leaf nest was bigger, with a lot more ants now. The workers had sealed more surrounding leaves onto the structure with silk. I couldn’t believe the plan was actually working! I could have harvested this nest now, but I decided to wait several more weeks.

A few weeks later, I returned to the nest and was shocked! The nest was huge, with so many leaves pulled in and glued together with silk. Old leaves had begun to die off and the entire leaf mass was just covered in an active swarm of weaver ants. I could have totally harvested this nest now that the colony had grown to such a huge size, but I decided “Hey, why not wait a few more weeks?” We were getting close to 6 million subs at the time, so I felt I could harvest the colony whenever I was ready to create this episode.

And so, this week we hit 6M, and I returned to the nest. I screamed when I saw it. It looked like the colony had hundreds of thousands of angry weaver ants, protecting their monstrosity of a leaf nest! Wow! I knew this could not wait any longer! Now was the time to cut it from the tree. So I went in with our garden manager and cut the branches around it, and as quickly as possible, stuck it into a glass tank. We were all laughing, though, as we weren’t quite in lethal danger because these ants don’t have stingers. But they are still super aggressive, and will bite hard while spraying formic acid into the cut, which does hurt. The operation was truly an adrenaline rush of venom-less but painful pricks!

I picked up the colony and brought it up to the Ant Room and was mind-blown by how big they had grown in seemingly such a short time.

And just like that, our five-queen weaver ant colony was contained and waiting in their holding tank within our Ant Room. I had goosebumps approaching the tank. The workers were a bit dazed as they sat in limbo, in this new strange dimension. Perhaps their queens, somewhere inside the massive basketball-sized nest, recognized the scent and ambiance of the Ant Room. But overall, the colony knew they were in a foreign place. Have a look at them! Workers stood, mandibles wide open in an aggressive stance, willing to attack at the slightest movement. This species is very visual and could definitely see me through the glass. They were particularly protective around the nest openings, places where the ants could slip between the leaves. The ants came in different sizes, from small to large.

Watching the weaver ants moving around the outside of their leaf nest was spellbinding. In a trance, I couldn’t look away from the swarm of weavers. To think that at some point in their evolution, the ants decided to stop using their silk to create cocoons and use it instead as glue to bind leaves together to build a nest. Can you imagine the strength it takes to pull massive leaves like this together? Weaver ants are some of the most extraordinary ants on the planet due to these amazing structures they build in trees, and I was so honored to have them back on the channel to celebrate a milestone.

They were, however, clearly dazed by their sudden shift in reality, and I could see them wandering the top of their glass tank in search of an exit. Hang tight, my precious weaver ants. I have the perfect kingdom waiting for you to rule in just a few minutes.

But first, I had to add in our other five ant colonies so they could settle in before the weavers moved into the space. My strategy was to give each ant colony its own separate space that I believed would be best suited to the species and set them up for success. So let’s meet the ant colonies and add them all into our forest now, one by one…

First, giant ants with jaws of steel! Meet Odontomachus infandus, giant trap-jaw ants. These awesome and menacing ants with huge bear-trap-like jaws on their face are no ants to take lightly. Their jaws open 180 degrees, and once tiny trigger hairs situated in the middle of the jaws are touched, the speed and force at which the mandibles shut is one of the highest of the animal kingdom. Think the force of 12 SUVs if one of these trap-jaw ants was the size of a human!

There’s their queen! She’s larger than the workers and is the one laying all the eggs. What a literal beast of an ant! She also has a potent stinger to go with those damaging jaws. They were collected from outside and actively hunt down small, soft-bodied insects, as you can see with this worker who still has half a termite soldier attached to her leg. I tried introducing this species in the past, but the queen disappeared, so I was happy to give giant trap-jaw ants a second shot at life in our rainforest.

I had the perfect spot for this giant trap-jaw colony prepared: a new area adjacent to the pond, surrounded by vegetation that descends deep into the ground and into this spacious and mossy cavern underneath the mossy hill. I felt this subterranean pit would be the best place for these giant trap-jaw ants, and hopefully, the ants felt so too. I placed the container into the pit and removed the lid, then proceeded to place the paper towel along with the colony and brood onto the mossy floor.

And just like that, the giant trap-jaws were in Pantdora. The workers, at first, were wandering around trying to figure out what was going on. They’ve had a confusing 24 hours. But it wasn’t long before they realized they had been placed into an exciting world and began to mobilize. The workers quickly scanned the vicinity in search of a safe and suitable spot to create a nest, at least temporarily. They couldn’t have all the precious brood just exposed like this to surrounding dangers, so every second counted. They needed to find a dark, humid, and secured area into which to move the brood and the queen.

I watched as the ants tested different spots for compatibility. Some ants ventured deeper into the cavern. When one of the workers had picked up a larva, I knew they had found a place. Look at how spiky their larvae are, just like their jaws. The cocoons were also transported, and I laughed seeing young larvae waving their bodies in the air as if to say, “Hey, don’t forget me! I’m getting dry over here!”

I watched the giant trap jaws slowly bringing the brood into some darkened corner of their new cavern. But looking back at this time-lapse, I noticed something grim. Some of the loose larvae were moving, but not on their own. Upon careful inspection, I soon realized they were being carried away. The Gnomads were kidnapping the young, and the giant trap-jaws, being so large, had no idea! Nooo! Poor larvae. In fact, I saw trails of Gnomads moving in for the egg and larvae abduction, to take these helpless babies back to their nests to devour live. How tragic. In the ant world, being large isn’t necessarily an advantage, and being tiny can actually be in your favor. At least the majority of the colony would be secured and safe once the transport was done, but this altercation with the giant trap-jaw ants wasn’t the last we would see of the Gnomads, who were clearly not welcoming of the new neighbors and were determined to protect their monopoly over the Pantdoran soils. The ant war had officially begun.

Our next colony is another smaller species of trap-jaw ants, but just as awesome and more ferocious than their giant counterparts. I used to have a two-year-old colony of this species, called the Snapdragons, but released them back into the wild sometime after building Pantdora. Can you spot the queen? She’s right there, also slightly larger than the workers. I find these trap-jaws to always be super active. They had a lot of brood and were a promising colony. By the looks of things, the workers were more than ready for a move.

I decided to place these trap-jaws on the opposite end of the vivarium, far away from the giant trap-jaws, but I had no idea at the time, it was right amidst a trail of some unwelcoming passersby. In went the trap-jaws, which startled the tiny ants at their feet. When I went in to look closer, only then did I spot the Gnomads, but they were smart to travel through tightened tunnels below the trap-jaws, who could smell their pheromones by now. Both ants were aware of each other’s sudden presence, and my heart began to race.

Suddenly, a trap-jaw came antennae to antennae with a Gnomad, and no strike. Woah! So far, no aggression between the two parties, but the Gnomads appeared to grow in concern over this second set of rainforest guests, and then before I knew it, the first brave Gnomad went in to attack. The trap-jaw felt something brushing along its feet, and when it realized a squirrel-sized ant was advancing to attack it—Bam! Sliced away! Woah! Those jaws were enough to send any ant into oblivion. The trap-jaw ant looked for more, but the Gnomads had seen enough! They were not willing to contend with an ant this dangerous.

I watched as the Gnomads tread carefully along, below the trap-jaws, who were not afraid to threaten any Gnomads with open jaws. It was crazy to see the Gnomads so cautious like this. They were usually aggressive, cocky even. But now, after just that one bite from the trap-jaw, they were unwilling to go into further battle, as they crawled slowly beneath them within the protection of their underground tunnels.

The trap-jaws were more preoccupied right now with exploring their new surroundings and finding a safe spot for them to nest and transport the brood to safety. I don’t think the Gnomads were willing to kidnap their kids, either. Soon, the trap-jaws began to unload the brood, arranging them carefully under the paper towel. When they were done, and all the brood had been moved safely, the colony proceeded to check the soils for the best places to tunnel so they could set up their official nest.

But as for the Gnomads, seeing this ant here grabbing some debris to further block holes in their tunnels, it was clear they knew the trap-jaws were not a battle they were willing to fight—a new threat to their monopoly.

I felt a bit disturbed by what I saw, and had mixed feelings as to whose side I was actually on. But as the caregiver of this rainforest, I knew I had to stay neutral in the face of such wars. Little did I know, this ant war was about to get crazier.

Next up, the ants with the sting of a bullet. These are Asian Bullet Ants, such a sleek and divine species of ant with black cocoons. Now, not to be confused with South American bullet ants, these incredible ants, native to Southeast Asia, are some of the most unique ants I’ve ever kept. They’re smart and seem to act more individualistic, with each worker having a strange self-awareness and less of a hive-mind mentality. They act more like a pack of wolves, and I think there is a good reason for this.

Let me ask you, can you find the queen? Have a look!

Did you spot her? Well, if you didn’t, you’re not wrong. It was a trick question because Asian Bullet Ants are a queenless species. That’s right, no queen. Instead of having an egg-laying queen like most ant colonies, the one laying all the eggs is a dominant worker ant, known as the gamergate. As the gamergate, she is the only ant allowed to mate with males infiltrating the nest looking for her, and she also has to continually fight new and upcoming challengers, vying for her coveted spot of primary egg layer. And in fact, look over there.

Two ants in a tight embrace. But they aren’t hugging things out. They are wrestling in a contest of strength and pheromones. One of these ants is the gamergate, having laid all the latest eggs of the colony, and another is one of her daughters or a sister, who felt she was ready to take on the challenge of becoming the new gamergate. Or another possibility is that their gamergate had recently died, and these two alpha workers were now fighting to become the new gamergate. Other worker ants stood on the sides, waiting to see who would win in this heated battle of the jaws, stingers, and pheromones.

But it looks like this ant here seems to be losing. One of the workers is pulling on her leg. The final verdict was dropped: This ant is the gamergate, and this ant is the loser and must be seized immediately. I don’t know if they’ll execute her, but all I know is, being the gamergate is no easy task, and this system of colony structure ensures that there is always a reproductive member of the colony for years and years, regardless of whether or not the gamergate dies. Any new gamergates, however, must wait for males to come around, enter the nest, and mate with them in order to produce more worker ants, so hopefully, this winner here is the old gamergate, so that this Asian Bullet colony can continue to grow once inside Pantdora.

For this colony, I wanted to give them this entire lower floor area, seeing as this species likes to forage over leaf litter and open soils. I created a starting hole for the colony to begin their burrow, then carefully placed the colony into Pantdora. The ants began to search for a safer place to keep the brood, but meanwhile, the colony was quick to relocate them to a spot under the paper towel. Many of the ants were immediately off exploring, running through the leaf litter and flocks of springtails and soil creatures. It was just amazing to see these ants in their true element, and look, tandem running! This species is known for this tandem running behavior, where they follow each other tightly, sometimes in long chains of workers. So awesome! It’s been years since I’ve kept these ants, and I had almost forgotten just how cool they are. I knew this lower area was perfect for the Asian Bullet Ants, but the question was, would they survive the dangers of the rainforest?

In fact, there actually was no guarantee any of these ant colonies would make it, as we’ve seen with past ant colonies that have thrived and died out in these lands. It was up to the ants now to do their best and survive in our rainforest.

Soon, the ants had discovered the hole we made. I watched the ants entering and exiting the hole. They seemed to be digging out the tunnel to make it larger, and ew, what’s that booger-type thing they pulled out, covered in soil creatures? Soon, in went the first cocoon! Yay! But then I saw them: the Gnomads! It was one worker at first, who went back to call the others, who came pouring onto the scene, entering the tunnel they were working on! I bet they were feeding on the cocoon.

I guess that’s why the Asian Bullet Ants, in the end, made an executive decision not to nest in the hole, and instead nest here, at a back location under the driftwood. Guess I couldn’t argue with them. That’s where they chose. I didn’t mind this, as the ants knew what the best conditions for their colony would be, and the hole I made was apparently not Gnomad-proof. Once again, though, the Gnome Ants were pushing back against all these ant newcomers, but they were certainly in for a rude awakening very soon!

I couldn’t wait to add in the next two colonies, but first, I went back to check on the weaver ants, and was shocked by the sight.

Oh boy! This colony was mad! They were swarming. The true size of the colony was showing now. Have you ever seen such a terrifying ant swarm? Some ants had sandwiched themselves between glass surfaces, trying to get out. Thank goodness this was a large species. I noticed workers tearing up the silk walls of their nest, which was a sign that the ants were adjusting the nest structures to better suit the new environmental conditions.

Perhaps the lower air movement within the tank compelled the ants to fix ventilation, but the colony itself was on some crazed mission—a mission to escape out of their holding tank. As much as I couldn’t wait to release them into our rainforest, I absolutely needed to make sure the other colonies were completely settled in first, because I knew that once I released these weaver ants into the forest, they would be foraging everywhere, and the other colonies would be in danger if they were still exposed.

It was then that I spotted one of the coolest stunts these weaver ants perform. Check it out!

I noticed the ants began to form their iconic body bridges. This is a cool behavior weaver ants are known for, and I oftentimes don’t know why they form bridges like this because frequently, the bridges dissipate as quickly as they were formed. But this swarming colony was totally in bridge mode! I was thrilled when I spotted them forming this bridge chain. And then there were two bridge chains that began to reach out to attempt to join. Can you believe this? Chains of ants using their bodies! And my guess was they wanted a quicker way to ground level, maybe? We would soon find out.

Eventually, the two bridge chains did manage to connect, and the elongated chain of bodies lowered to the ground. Super cool! In this moment, watching the ants cooperate like this toward a common goal made me realize why I loved ants so much. Each ant is eternally selfless, operating for the whole, hand in hand, toward a common goal for the collective success of the entire family. I knew I wasn’t wrong in deciding to dedicate a channel and 15 fulfilling years of my life to showcasing the magnificence of these creatures, that most people rarely even notice or think about, but who can teach us a lot about the world and ourselves, if only we took the time to look closer.

Oh, so I guess the whole purpose of the chain was to lift up this big clump of moss! What on earth for? Anyway, I knew I needed to wait until this swarm died down before adding the weavers into our vivarium, but meanwhile, I gave them a large roach to distract them, which they seized from all sides and stretched out to death before consuming it.

It was time to move on to our final two ant colonies, and our next colony was also a type of weaver ant, with a spiny twist.

Meet this colony of golden spiny ants, belonging to the genus Polyrhachis. There’s the queen, the largest member of the colony. They are categorized as lesser weaver ants, as they too use their larval silk to construct their nests, but instead of leaves, they use random bits of debris and material collected from their surroundings. They are the same species as a large multi-queen spiny ant colony I also used to have, known as the Gilded Warriors, but like my old trap-jaw colony, I decided to release them back into the wild post-Pantdora. But I was happy to bring spiny ants back to the channel now and felt they were perfect for the rainforest.

This species commonly builds their debris nests in trees, along tree trunks, onto rocks, and pieces of driftwood. I was interested to see where they would ultimately decide to create their nests in our rainforest, but my guess was they would love building their debris nest here against this soily area on the great tree trunk and moss wall.

I carefully placed the colony in. The ants immediately began to explore the upper foliage and vines. How awesome! I can’t believe I waited this long to add Polyrhachis to our rainforest. They fit right in! A team of ants stood watch over the brood while other ants began walking with the larvae, ready to glue-gun debris once a suitable spot was found. The ants began to transport the brood beneath the paper towel. So far, I was quite happy with where I had placed all four of the six colonies. Have a look! They were well-spaced out, and other than the Gnomads retaliating, moving the new ant colonies in was going well. I removed the paper towel, and the ants relocated the brood to a secret spot they had found in the moss.

Up next is a special species dear to my heart. A tiny worker had separated from the colony and was about to die of natural causes at a place away from the main colony, which was nestled somewhere below the paper towel. Sadly, this worker would not be enjoying the colony’s future home, but its massive colony beneath will. So what species is this ant, you ask?

Well, when I first set up Pantdora, an awesome colony of Marauder Ants, we named the Terra Raiders, were unintentionally introduced into the forest by way of the Hallelujah Tree Stump, and they ruled our rainforest for a long time. They possessed massive supermajors on which minors would ride along their truly impressive trails. They lived in the stump and in the soils, eating dead insects they collected along the rainforest floor. Until one day, a plague of parasitic mites wiped the colony out completely in less than a week! The heat of the summers also made it hard for the colony to recover from such a plague, and saying goodbye to such an iconic colony in Pantdora truly saddened me.

But guys, it’s time we bring the Terra Raiders back! Given there were colonies here, here, here, and here, I felt the best place to introduce this fifth colony was back here, somewhere close to the foot of the Hallelujah Tree Stump, where they had plenty of soil and where the old Terra Raiders used to nest. I placed a starting hole for the colony to find, then placed the colony with the paper towel in.

Immediately, I had a glimpse of the queen, who had workers riding her big egg-filled abdomen. But the workers came pouring out onto the soils. It was their job now to find a better place to nest, as all of this openness and exposure to the outside air was angering the queen. “Find the new lair!” she demanded, as she crawled into the darkness below the paper towel.

They heard the queen and were on it! The ants proceeded into a frenzy, as they sought to locate the best place to nest. A major and a supermajor began to patrol the premises to ensure everyone was safe. The ants had yet to discover our hole. Two supermajors came to massage the queen’s gaster, which was still in the process of blasting out eggs, in spite of these high-pressure moments. These massive supermajors were like the queen’s personal guards. But suddenly, another camp appeared on the scene: a couple of Gnomads, running off, and I knew exactly where they were going—or rather, whom they were calling for backup.

I noticed the Marauders had found the hole, and it looked like they were going to approve of it. The queen was growing more and more uneasy, with new eggs coming at any moment. But they couldn’t just start moving in the brood, as this hole needed to be inspected and deemed safe many times over before they officially started making the move inside.

“Hurry!” a major shouted. “We must move now!” All the brood had been transported below the paper towel, but the ants knew the young were still vulnerable here. And then I saw them. The Gnomads had killed a Marauder ant worker and were moving in as an army to take on the newest intruders. My jaw dropped when I saw that the Gnomad lines and the Marauder lines were officially meeting! What?! And wait… where were the Marauders going to in such a hurry?

I followed the trail and discovered the Marauders had found exactly what they were looking for: a spot under the driftwood to nest. “Hurry, sisters! We found a place!”

News of the newly discovered nesting site made its way back to the colony, and the ants immediately began to pick up the brood to transport them across the long stretch of soil toward the secret location. Checking back on the time-lapse, I did notice that while the Marauders were inspecting our hole, Gnome ants had made their way into it, perhaps in attempts to drive the Marauders away. But now, it looks like the Marauders had found a new place, and workers stood in threat position, facing the oncoming Gnomad forces. “Any closer, and you will die!” the Marauders menaced.

But the Gnomads were not afraid of these small, measly Marauder ants, as they continued to move around the Marauder trail. The Gnomads began to assemble and pour in by the droves and moved in confidently to attack. After all, they had supermajors to go in for the kill, but I don’t think the Gnomads realized that so did their opponents! Some Gnomads crept in through secret tunnels below ground, while others made the advance above the soil line, and then—BAM! A major came barging through, which shocked the Gnomads. The brood was now moving in too! With my heart beating loudly in my ears, I watched the epic ant battle unfold.

The Gnomads were fighting to protect their throne as rulers of Pantdora. The greatest war to ever happen in our rainforest was unfolding before my very eyes!

And then a Gnomad worker dashed off screaming when the first supermajor appeared on the scene! What a tank of an ant!

“Bring in the supermajor… oh, what?! OK, never mind…” There was no way the Gnomad’s supermajors could take on a Marauder supermajor. The ants marched confidently forth with brood in mandible. A Gnomad had wounded a Marauder ant and then let go to attack another. The ants would come face to face and lunge with mandible attacks, as the Marauder ant, lethally wounded and dying, lunged with a bite which sent off the Gnomad. A Gnomad supermajor came in with open jaws and crushed a Marauder worker by the throat, killing it, while another Gnomad came in to attack from behind! They seized the worker to finish it off.

But in an unexpected turn of events, a huge mass of darkness caught my eye. The queen was moving in! She could not wait any longer, and the colony had decided to move her in now, before the battle got bloodier and harder to navigate through. She passed through swiftly, surrounded by workers, into the darkness below the driftwood. Luckily, she was unharmed by the Gnomads.

The Gnomad supermajors were absolute warriors, taking on two Marauder ants at once, and rampaging around if they got away from its clutches, jumping right back into a group of Marauders with a thirst for blood. While all of this was happening, the Marauders continued to move in the brood, and soon the sheer numbers of the Marauders were beginning to become overwhelming for the Gnomads, which helped the Marauders grow in confidence at staving off the oncoming Gnomads. The Marauders were not willing to back down and lose this battle against the scrawny Gnomads.

The Marauders were now marching in by the droves, making the long journey across the soils of Pantdora, including the ever-majestic supermajors. There was just no way to overpower them now. I noticed the Gnomads had lost their bravado, opting not to take on any of the Marauders. It was then that I suddenly began to feel somewhat guilty, that I was in a way responsible for the decay of the Gnomads’ longtime dominion over the forest, which was my initial intention, but I never realized it would happen through bloodshed like this. Both sides had their losses. This ant still stood guard, despite the fact that it was soon going to die from bleeding to death. It did it out of love for its family. It was hard to watch, but I had to remind myself that ant wars like this happen in the wild all the time, and that survival of the fittest reigns supreme on this planet, as it did in our slice of rainforest. It was a harsh reality, and Nature’s way of ensuring only the strongest life forms survive to carry and pass on the genetic mantle of life into the future. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen and was somehow deeply affected by the war.

I eventually found that the spot they were entering within the driftwood continued further into a deeper and darker location. I was worried, though, because this driftwood piece into which the Marauders were nesting was the same driftwood piece under which the Asian Bullet Ants had chosen to nest. I wondered if the two colonies would meet.

Whatever the case, I had to accept that although the rainforest had a greater ant biodiversity now, exactly what I sought to achieve, with it came possible tensions and altercations between the ant superpowers, and I would just have to see how this ant war would play out.

It was now time to add our sixth and final colony.

I approached Orchadia and placed the holding tank inside. My heart beat loudly in my chest prior to opening the tank. I peeled off the first layer of tape that sealed the weaver ants inside. OK. Here goes nothing. I took a deep breath and opened the glass tank, and just like that, the weaver ant colony in all its furious glory had been unleashed.

The ants swarmed out from within their leaf nest and began pouring out of the glass tank into our rainforest. The sight was both spectacular and terrifying! When the idea of this huge swarm eventually making its way down the glass bridge to Pantdora came to mind, I began to question if I had made the right choice. I sure hoped so, but it was now up to the ecosystem—the giant cloud rainforest haven we built—to find its own balance in the chaos.

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