I created one of the most unique and exotic tanks I’ve ever made in my life for my beloved trap-jaw ant colony (Odontomachus simillimus) called the Jawbreakers. Join me as we explore the new world we created for my trap-jaw ants, as well as those of our other ant colonies in my Ant Room (the ‘Antiverse’).

I Created a Pineapple Beach Vivarium for Ants | Super Relaxing Video

OMG, guys, our AC Antiverse, i.e., the Ant Room, has entered a new era of sorts.

It seems gone are the days when one of our ant colonies lived completely on their own in an ant farm, devoid of any interaction with other creatures or microorganisms.

In our past videos, I have shown you how putting together small and big, vicious and friendly, prey and predatory creatures coexisting within their mini world can create healthy and thriving vivariums.

Easy to make, but awesome for observing nature!

We’ve entered the Era of Vivariums!

This week, you are yet again about to see how I transform one of the most famous forest tanks on this channel into a beautiful, exotic pineapple beach paludarium.

Pineapples, you ask?

Yes, I know, pretty random, right? But just watch until the end to see one of the most unique paludarium creations I’ve ever made in my life, and perhaps you can create one, too!

Plus, I got some other updates on other colonies in the Ant Room whose symbiotic setups have proven to be quite the success.

AC Family, sit back, relax, and enjoy these awesome scenes of nature in tanks as we marvel at the beauty and wonders of the small, big worlds we created and continue to create together in our AC Antiverse.

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Welcome to the AC Family.

Enjoy!

A trap-jaw ant licks the juices of hemolymph and guts oozing from the dying superworm.

I had cut this superworm up and threw it into their territories to provide the colony nourishment.

She was lucky to stumble across it, and so she now has the task of informing the colony of the bounty.

There she goes to tell the gang.

It isn’t long before a few of her sisters return to the site to join in on the feast.

This whole superworm will be enough nourishment for a colony of thousands for a whole day, which is why it’s so important for them to eat as much as they can now and finish it up before any other creatures come along to steal it because, as you know, in nature, it’s a dog-eat-dog world!

I’ll be getting into what other creatures these trap-jaw ants compete with and need to worry about in a sec.

But if you’re new to the channel, these are trap-jaw ants, known scientifically as Odontomachus simillimus, whom we on the channel have named the Jawbreakers.

They have massive bear-trap jaws, capable of opening 180 degrees and shutting with lightning speed and force.

They use this special power for various things, like cutting this superworm up, as you can see her doing here, jumping into the air, as we’ve seen in previous videos, and, of course, attacking.

I had the misfortune of being bitten by one of these ants, and I promise, it felt like I was electrocuted.

It hurt so bad!

Those jaws are one of the fastest-moving appendages in the animal kingdom!

It kinda makes me nervous because these ants, the Jawbreakers, are about to have an extreme renovation done to their territories, and I have to do it with the colony still inside, which means if I want this to be as pain-free as possible, I’m going to have to do it carefully.

I also have given them extra food today to minimize the number of ants foraging at ground level, to make my job a bit easier.

This here is a cricket, which they’ve already found and have been working on.

I think this ant is going to attempt to bring this entire carcass home.

Good luck!

Now, before we go ahead and give these lands a makeover, there’s something important I need to address first that applies to each and every single one of you, so hear me out.

A lot of you, AC Family, have been saying you’ve been subscribed to the channel but haven’t been getting notifications of these new videos.

YouTube isn’t perfect and has glitches.

If you know you’re subscribed, could you guys do me a favor and check to see if you’re still subscribed?

And if you want to be reminded of these weekly, soon-to-be twice-weekly videos, be sure to hit the bell icon and choose “ALL.”

It breaks my heart every time I see comments from you guys saying I haven’t uploaded in so long when, in actuality, I have been, every week as normal, but YouTube hasn’t been notifying you of my videos.

I have tried to contact YouTube support, but they’ve told me it’s up to you guys to check and make sure you’re subscribed and part of the notification squad.

Whatever the case, let’s move on!

So, now for the great renovation!

Here’s why the lands of the Jawbreakers needed to be changed up.

The Hacienda Del Dorado, a lush kingdom that has witnessed tales of millions of ants and other organisms, has undergone the most changes of any terrarium in the entire Antiverse.

It was once the home of a huge supercolony of yellow-crazy ants, an OG colony of this channel, called the Golden Empire.

But out of nowhere, the Golden Empire was crippled by a plague of blood-sucking mites and had to be relocated to rehabilitate.

They now live in an epic AC Ant Farm setup, along with teams of beneficial creatures living with them in harmony.

With the Hacienda Del Dorado now vacant, the next ant colony in line for a larger space was the Jawbreakers, this colony of Trap-Jaw Ants.

They turned out to be the perfect colony for this enormous glass structure because they don’t like heights and don’t climb glass, so keeping them contained was a breeze.

And so today, four months later, this is what the Hacienda Del Dorado looks like.

Look!

The plants had grossly overgrown.

The leaves of this Green Nephthytis have totally reached the mesh.

Yup, this plant’s gonna need a cutting or it’ll completely push against the mesh cover and grow out of this tank!

Also, here, the swampy marsh near the waterfall has grown a bit stagnant.

Water from our waterfall has found a leak hole in our plastic catcher, which is so exposed now.

It used to be covered in moss.

And so did the rocky wall of our waterfall.

A lot of that moss had died out.

Guess growing conditions weren’t suitable for the species.

It has thrived on this beach plateau of the pond, but as you can see, the lands were in need of a serious makeover!

All that exposed plastic was cringe!

But despite how unattractive the Hacienda Del Dorado had grown, animal life within it has continued to flourish quite well.

Time to meet some of the creatures the Jawbreakers live with!

Check it out!

In the pond, there are these cute little cherry shrimp and rasbora fish.

They help keep the aquatic environment clean.

Now, remember the vampire crabs I introduced to the AC Antiverse five months ago?

As you saw in a previous video, I decided to put some of them in the Hacienda Del Dorado.

Check out this one eating organic bits from the top of the waterfall rocks.

It’s amazing how it managed to climb up here!

By the way, our vampire crabs need a name, so please take the time to vote for a name here, based on my top 5 picks from you, the AC Family, in a previous video.

Thank you, AC Council, for your input!

In case you’ve seen a famous BBC video where ants were wiping out a population of land crabs from Christmas Island, don’t worry.

That doesn’t happen all the time.

In some cases, ants can get along with crabs.

Case in point—the vampire crab inhabitants of the Selva de Fuego, the epic paludarium kingdom of one of the most meat-hungry and aggressive ant colonies I’ve ever owned—the Fire Nation fire ants.

See?

A Fire Nation worker ant crawls on this crab in search of anything organic it can eat, trapped in spaces of its exoskeleton.

Like a cowbird on a cow, this crab could offer a hidden treasure on its body.

It’s an interesting symbiotic relationship because the crab benefits from the ants cleaning areas it can’t reach on its exoskeleton.

And the crab eats up any garbage or dead ant bodies the ants dump into the river, thereby keeping the river cleaner.

The crab also benefits from the protection of a massive stinging colony of Amazonian ant warriors living all around.

The crabs and the fire ants are friends in a sweet biological partnership.

Now, speaking of biological relationships, another territory is proving to benefit from this mixing of creatures as well.

The Canopy of Vortexia, our tree-top forest, home to our aggressive Weaver Ant Colony, the Emerald Empire, has developed into a wild jungle of a world.

A month ago, I upped the bioactivity of these territories and introduced a colony of Dubia roaches and superworms to roam around the land.

Today, the creatures all live occupying their particular niches.

The superworms and roaches feed on the leaf litter, eating up decaying leaves from the trees.

And every now and then, the weaver ants will hunt the weakened individuals.

Check out this cockroach nymph they’ve hauled up into the trees and are consuming just under the nest.

Talk about strong legs—these weaver ants possess serious strength!

Woops!

If one ant lets go too early, they could drop this massive carcass.

Thankfully, they take shifts holding the roach so they can rest while it’s being consumed.

But, as the Creator of Worlds of the Antiverse, I had to make some edits to plans.

Remember the Death Sprites, our microhylid frogs, last used to keep the population of the Jawbreakers in check?

I’ve decided to move the final frogs out because I would like the Jawbreaker population to get much bigger.

They’re now living in this temporary holding cell.

Does this glass enclosure seem familiar to you?

Yup!

This was the former home of my Gooty Tarantula, but now marsh-ed up.

I can’t decide, though, whether I should keep these frogs or release them back into the wild where I got them, seeing as they’ve successfully completed what I needed them for.

What do you guys say?

Vote here, AC Council!

Alright! And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for—

The Pineapple Beach Paludarium!

Let’s begin the transformative process of the Hacienda Del Dorado.

This was going to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever created on the channel.

First on the agenda of business was to chop these overgrown Green Nephthytis plants.

Here we go!

For those who may be concerned about the plants, don’t worry, because these leafy plants are resilient.

Even if I clear-cut them, they’ll grow back.

Plus, I’ll be replanting these cuttings into a pot and using them to decorate my home.

See? They have roots!

All other clippings I’ll be using to feed the creatures of the AC Nucleus, our composter and breeding chamber of bio-activating soil creatures.

Next, I wanted to remove some of these big driftwood pieces…

And carefully move this massive driftwood piece closer to the back.

I instantly saw that the Jawbreakers had been disturbed and were now scrambling around.

I had to be extra careful not to get bitten nor destroy their current nest tunnels too much.

And after three careful hours of work, the new Hacienda Del Dorado was complete.

AC Family, behold!

The newly refurbished Hacienda Del Dorado.

Isn’t it just beautiful?!

It was an exotic and tropical paradise.

Ooohhh, I can’t wait to show you around!

OK, first and foremost, let’s look at all the new plants!

AC Family, I want to address the pink pineapples in the room!

My favorite plants here, of course, are these gorgeous and vibrant red pineapple plants, known scientifically as Ananas bracteatus.

Their radiant colors gave energizing explosions of reds and pinks to the lands—something I’ve never done before, but it looks totally amazing!

I see them almost as plant pets now! Haha!

I also installed a variety of epiphytic bromeliads, which are relatives of the pineapple.

These are air plants called Tillandsias.

I just love the look of them!

I installed some vein plants, which add a glorious complementary mix of dark greens and reds to the lands.

I also planted Peperomia, growing in patches all around.

I planted some Calathea in the marshy swamp to help keep this area cleaner.

I also removed the plastic shelf and filled the marsh with Java moss, so that more water could cascade into this marsh area, get filtered naturally by the Calathea plants and moss, and spill into our pond.

Doesn’t it look just stunning?!

Ahhhh, mossy swamp heaven!

Speaking of waterfalls, I improved that area too.

I planted little bits of Java moss along the rocky waterfall, which has proven to do well in our other paludarium, Pacmania of Jabba the Hutt, our Surinam horned frog.

My hope is that it continues to thrive and cover this rocky wall.

I left the bird’s nest fern inside, as well as some of the old Green Nephthytis plant.

But another of my top favorite things about this new design, guys, is what I see as the icing on the cake.

This white pebbly pathway completed the entire pineapple beach look of this paludarium.

Doesn’t it all look pretty unique?!

Unlike any paludarium we’ve ever made before!

It actually reminds me of a river beach I once visited in Borneo.

Habitats like this actually exist in the wild!

And look—our inhabitants seem to enjoy the newly rejuvenated lands.

The shrimp,

the fish,

and the snails

are enjoying their waters, which they can probably tell by now feel cleaner thanks to the secondary marsh filter they have now!

And so are the crabs.

Looks like this crab decided to take advantage of the renovations happening and stole the Jawbreakers’ superworm during all the commotion!

What a sneaky fellow!

Okay, maybe that’s your housewarming gift, Mr. Crab!

And, of course, the stars of the show, the Jawbreakers, also showed signs of settling into these new lands.

I could see most of them digging their tunnels now, and many individuals taking a stroll around, exploring their new lands with wonder.

As a housewarming gift, I gave them another superworm, which they proceeded to feed from and rip, rip, rip chunks of flesh off to take home into their underground chambers.

So, I think it was safe to say this new renovation project of the Hacienda Del Dorado and species mixing has been a great success!

Wouldn’t you say?

Over time, I truly enjoyed watching all the inhabitants going about their business in these great lands, which offered various microhabitats for the inhabitants.

We have a canopy of wood and bromeliads above,

an undergrowth of plants and pineapples,

a marshy swamp area,

a rocky waterfall,

and a pond.

I do feel like, with all of these amazing niches, we can still stock this vivarium with more creatures.

What do you guys think?

Leave your suggestions for other creatures you think we can add to these lands and watch them integrate into this amazing community of life.

I was thinking possibly a species of frog that won’t eat our crabs nor our ants, and perhaps a species of lizard that won’t eat our ants nor bother our crabs, but can eat crickets or roaches, perhaps.

Whatever the case, I’ll definitely need to do more research before deciding and can’t wait to hear your ideas, AC Family.

And so, once again, our projects have been pretty eye-opening!

We’ve built some pretty awesome biological partnerships in these worlds within glass we created, and it is just so awesome to know you guys are joining me on this never-ending journey of discovery and creation.

I also love that a lot of you watching are getting into this hobby of keeping various ants and creatures.

I know you guys are capable of creating amazing worlds like this in your home.

If you’re wanting to start with an ant colony, I suggest starting small and simple.

My website AntsCanada.com offers some easy-to-use homes, in which you too can build complex communities of various creatures living with ants.

Just a reminder though—if you’re going to mix larger species together like crabs and frogs and such, you need to research every species carefully.

Ensure every creature has its own space and needs met, so that there isn’t any overbearing competition for space or resources, as well as an imbalance of sorts.

I love this new Era of Vivariums we’re entering, AC Family.

It’s a new and holistic mindset for the keeping of the wildlife we care for.

I’ve actually been doing a lot of research lately on permaculture, of all things.

I’ve recently become a farmer myself, and no, not just ant farms, but actual farming farming. Hehe!

And one of the things I’ve come to realize based on permaculture principles is that for an entire biological system to work, you can’t just isolate components of the system and expect it to thrive forever.

Instead, you need to include all components of the system for it to be sustainable.

This means you can’t have just ants in an ant farm and expect them to thrive forever.

Some strong ants might, but there would be pieces missing.

The ants need their posse of beneficial creatures like springtails, isopods, and beneficial mites to help them out in life.

Imagine us being placed into a foreign world, where we need to survive on our own—without stores to sell us food, garbage men to deal with waste, doctors to heal us, or internet and television to educate us.

But if all of that was placed into the world, we’d all thrive.

I’ve learned that wildlife is kinda the same.

There’s a whole economy of relationships happening out in Mother Nature, and we get to see evidence of it more and more in our Ant Room lately.

It’s funny—if you leave ants in a clean ant farm long enough, beneficial creatures just end up finding their way in and populating the ant farm anyway.

That’s how strong the bond between these creatures that naturally share a space is, and that bond, to me, is such a beautiful thing to witness.

As was said in one of my favorite movies of all time:

Life finds a way.

Thank you for finding your way to this video and channel, guys!

I hope to see you again next week.

It’s ant love forever!

AC Family, did you enjoy today’s episode?

Man, I love the new Hacienda Del Dorado, and it’s now one of my favorite paludariums of all time—cue Kanye West interruption!

Guys, also please hit the SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON for notifications now to keep updated on all my videos about the true stories of the lives in our Ant Room.

And don’t forget to also hit the LIKE button every single time, including now!

It would really help a lot!

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that AntsCanada.com is having its big AC annual holidays Promo: the 20-20-20 sale.

That’s 20% off all Hybrid Series ant farms and gear packs from now until January 2020, plus a free copy of our newly updated “Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook,” right now at AntsCanada.com.

Click the link in the description to get your AC ant farm today!

I would love for you all to enjoy keeping ants with me!

It’s truly such an educational and fulfilling experience!

AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here if you’d like to see what creature I discovered in our Nucleus when I placed some clippings inside!

You may be quite shocked just as I was—so go check it out!

And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week!

Last week, we asked:

What helps a Gooty Tarantula stick to glass?

Congratulations to BrunoVentura22, who correctly answered:

The setules, microscopic hairs in the paw tufts.

Congratulations, Bruno! You just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!

In this week’s AC Question of the Week, we ask:

What is your favorite thing about the new Hacienda Del Dorado’s design?

Leave your answer in the comments section, and you could also win a free e-book handbook from our shop!

Hope you can subscribe to the channel, as we upload every Saturday at 8 AM 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! 🐜❤️