Greetings Ant Lovers/AC Family,

My pet fire ant colony (Solenopsis geminata), named the Crimson Knights, has reached their growth spurt stage, exploding in population, and so I have been working on the ultimate fire ant setup: a volcanic island pauldarium, complete with mountain, greenery, waterfall, and surrounding waters. Transporting the colony was a surprising process, but he best part was watching how the fire ants poured out of the volcano like lava at feeding time! Hope you enjoy this week’s explosive fire ant video! Ant love forever!

I Created a Volcano Ant Farm for Fire Ants

Guys, behold!

One of the craziest ant farm terrariums I’ve ever made.

This is an ant volcanic island I call Volcania, and within it live my thriving colony of fire ants.

You can’t see the fire ants now because they’re quietly residing within the mountain, but brace yourselves, because they’re about to burst forth, flowing down the mountainside like lava, for I’m about to feed them, for the very first time in this setup.

Below the full moon, let’s offer our sacrifice now: a tasty roach!

Prepare to be mind blown as you witness Volcania come to life, when the ants come out to feast.

This is the story of how my fire ant colony, named the Crimson Knights, found their new home in this, the most explosive fire ant kingdom I’ve ever made.

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AC Family, it’s feeding time for our beloved fire ant colony, the Crimson Knights, whom we raised from just a single pregnant queen ant, we named the Crimson Queen, in a test tube four months ago, to this explosive and aggressive fire ant colony, that loves to eat their insects.

But these ants have no idea they’re about to undergo a life-changing event, a move into the greatest ant kingdom of their lives, which I’ve been working on over the past few weeks just for them.

But guys, keep on watching until the very end, as I’ve got a very important question to ask you and will be needing your help by the end of the video!

Now before we get to moving these fire ants into their new home, we have a problem.

A lot of you guys commented that our fire ant colony, the Crimson Knights, is still too small to move into such a big space.

Well, I’ve got something to show you, guys!

A couple weeks ago, the colony residing in this test tube looked like this.

Not too many chambers and tunnels, and I could see why you guys thought the colony was too small.

But, guys, let’s open up the test tube now.

Have a look!

The tunnels now extend down to the bottom of the test tube.

The growth rate of these fire ants is alarming, and based on past experience with raising fire ants, it’s at this point when the fire ant colonies explode exponentially.

Around the third or fourth month of a fire ant colony’s life, they truly experience a growth spurt and surge in population as the queen ant’s egg-laying rate appears to double or triple depending on food.

Now, I’ve been trying to keep their numbers as low as possible by controlling how many feeder insects I give them, because I didn’t want the colony to experience this population surge while they were in this temporary terrarium, because moving them to their next and permanent home would be so much harder.

Now AC Family, I think I may have been a bit late, because I do see that the colony has created an extensive tunnel work, beyond their test tube under the dino skull, which was supposed to be their main transport vessel into their new ant kingdom.

I knew, I absolutely needed to move this colony out now, or else suffer the wrath of a renegade fire ant colony that would be next to impossible to move completely out of their holding tank without the pain of a million stings; been there, done that, don’t want be there again!

It was time for I, your Creator of Worlds, to prep the Crimson Knights’ new kingdom home, for the great emigration!

It was time for I, your Creator of Worlds, to prep the Crimson Knights’ new kingdom home, for the great emigration!

The prep for the fire ants’ move into Volcania was pretty intense.

The first thing I needed to do was apply the ant barrier.

To me, this was the top, most important priority, because as some of you may have seen in the past on this channel, fire ants are one of the most difficult ants to contain.

They’re supreme escape artists, and among all the species of ants I’ve ever kept in all my years of ant keeping, fire ants have been the top ant ninjas to always keep me on my toes when it comes to securing them into a living space.

They’re always testing for weak spots in the ant barriers I apply, looking for unforeseen spaces through which to squeeze, and soft areas of their setup to chew tunnels into.

There was no way I was going to let the fire ants find a possible point of escape.

I had to analyze every angle of the double glass lip I had installed onto all edges of the enclosure for possible escape points, especially because I’m crazy and wanted this time to house our fire ants in the most open-concept ant terrarium design I’ve ever tried.

It was an ambitious terrarium project for a highly difficult ant species to keep.

But I was up for the challenge.

Next, I had to secure the specially designed lighting rig I made at the top of the enclosure.

Since this wasn’t your traditional cuboidal tank, Volcania needed a specially designed structure to hold the lights.

And let there be light!

On.

Ahhhh sweet!

Next on the list, forming Fire Beach!

I created this special shelf so I could create a cool little beach area for our Crimson Knights, which will also be the greatest amount of flat land for the fire ants to frequent as they so choose.

I decided to use white sand because our Crimson Knights deserve their own luxurious white-sand beach, and because it will allow the volcanic mountain and ants to truly pop.

Now I wanted to make sure to never water these sands and keep them dry so that the ants don’t decide to try to nest in it, nor start piling it up in ant hills to allow for an escape.

Now to add some greenery, I decided to add some dried sphagnum moss for a needed pop of green.

Now, some of you may be wondering why not use real plants, but I didn’t want to use real plants for two reasons.

One, having plants in here would ruin the sense of scale.

It’s a diorama, which means the illusion is to create what looks like a huge and vast landscape but shrunken down, and adding plants to the entire work would ruin that sense of scale.

Plus, real plants require soil and I don’t want the fire ants to move into the soil because I have a special place for them inside the mountain which you guys will see soon.

I am certain actual living moss and some tiny plants may start growing on this mountain at some point, but for now, the sphagnum moss would add the needed greenery to the setup.

The volcanic smoke comes from a fog machine set on a timer which will help periodically humidify the lands, just how the fire ants love it.

I wanted to see how the volcano looked with the smoke on, as it helped me decide where to place the clumps of moss.

I didn’t want to completely cover the entire volcano with moss as that would make things look a bit unnatural.

I’ve noticed that in nature, oftentimes, most of the vegetation grows towards the foot of a massive mountain, while the topmost areas are bare rock or ice.

I wanted to mimic this natural flow of mountain greenery in Volcania.

And soon, I was happy with the final look of all the greenery.

I still wanted to keep most of the mountain bare to give it that gaunt, Lord of the Rings Death Mountain-type feel.

Now there was one other important element I needed to add to Volcania to truly make it the epic volcanic island dream home for our Crimson Knights.

Every island needs an ocean.

I lay out some black sand onto the water’s floor.

The black sand would help further give the illusion that Volcania sits on a great sea floor and further add to its grandeur.

And now, my favourite part: Adding the waters!

Burst forth, oh Sea of Fire, and bring life-giving waters to these dry lands!

I delighted in watching the water levels rising and dusty currents forming as water flowed through the setup for the very first time.

I realized in this moment how much I’ve missed having aquatic and paludarium setups, as it’s been a few years since I’ve been able to.

I knew I wanted the setup to be partially aquatic because as some of you may have seen in the past, fire ants love water and can float on its surface, and even scuba, bringing down air bubbles for breathing with them.

I have found great success in the past incorporating water into my fire ant setups.

Now guys watch this.

What I was most interested in was watching this!

Have a look at this particularly special drain.

I couldn’t wait to see the water rise and start to fall into it.

Here it comes!

And draining in!

Yes, so satisfying!

Now, guys, I was super excited to see this because check out where this drain leads!

A sump, basically a subtank filter.

I added some filter sponge and floss into the first compartment for mechanical filtration, basically to catch all the debris that might make its way into the sump.

Now, this is the very first sump I’ve ever made or tried and it’s an awesome way to filter an aquatic setup because it eliminates the need for external filters which is how I used to do it in the past, while also adding a greater volume of water to the system to help keep water quality better, longer, as well as for another very big reason which I will reveal to you later.

Anyway, I loved watching the water spill into each compartment of the sump, but I was extra eager to watch this last compartment fill up.

So awesome!

And now, guys, for the ultimate test to tie this entire volcanic island paludarium together!

When the pump was completely submerged, I plugged it in, and voila!

A mountain spring waterfall!

Yes, it worked!

Our Crimson Knights would now have freshly filtered waters from their own personal waterfall.

I loved the sound of the waters cascading down the rock surface.

Within the sump, I added a bag of activated carbon to help absorb any toxic elements in the water, I also added a bag of filter balls to house the necessary bacteria which will help neutralize fouled-up water, as well as two bags of ceramic rings.

And once in, the waters were ready to begin the cycling process for filtering.

And now all was set!

Volcania was ready to go.

Let me give you a quick official tour around the lands, before we move the ants in!

This here is what Volcania’s mountain slope looks like.

The ants have lots of area to explore as they travel down this mountainside and onto the lower areas at the foot of the mountain and Fire Beach.

The foot of the mountain was truly impressive, and I think the majority of the time this is where I will offer the Crimson Knights’ food, as well as directly on Fire Beach.

Check out how cool and epic Fire Beach looks!

Oh, I couldn’t wait to see fire ants wandering this area.

Have a look!

What I loved about this lower shelf was how up close I could get personally with the fire ants, without a pane of glass to separate us.

This would make cleaning, maintenance, and even filming the ants so much easier and better!

Now let’s move up towards the top of the mountain for a sec.

To give the illusion that this was a volcano, I had little canyons cut out into the mountain to help channel the fire ants forming their trails to and from their food below.

The ants could use these quick canal routes down the mountain and thereby look like lava, at least that was the idea.

Not sure if it would work the way it did in my mind, but I was hoping so!

There were actually a multitude of possible ways they could make their way down the volcanic rockscape, and my hope was they would adjust their navigation path depending on where the food was placed.

The mountainside features a tonne of interesting plateaus and even caves for the fire ants to explore.

From a waterfall, to rock cliffs, to a giant freshwater pool, to a personal white sandy beach, Volcania provided the perfect fire ant haven for our Crimson Knights, and I couldn’t have been more proud of the new ant world we’d created.

Volcania stood tall in the Ant Room as the biggest ant setup I’ve ever made.

And now comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for.

It was time to move the ants in.

I lowered the temperature in the Ant Room by 2 degrees and closed all the blinds to blot out the sun’s scorching rays.

The cooler it was in the Ant Room, the easier the fire ant moving process would be, as the ants would be slower and not as aggressive, making them easier to work around.

With the room completely darkened and cooler, it was time to begin the emigration process.

My heart was pounding in my chest.

And now to show you one of the best parts about Volcania as a fire ant home that I haven’t shown you yet.

My past fire ant terrariums failed to allow us to see the fire ants nesting inside the digging medium.

We were only limited to observing the fire ant activity above ground because we couldn’t see the ants’ underground nest chambers, and to me, watching ants within their nests is one of the best parts of ant keeping.

And so AC Family, behold the back of the mountain!

Oooh, this part of the design excites me the most about Volcania.

Let’s shine a spotlight on it so you can see it a bit better.

A pane of glass creates a nesting chamber for our Crimson Knights to enjoy inside the mountain.

My hope is the colony will create its intricate tunnels and chambers right next to the glass so we can observe them nesting, as well as the cool tunnel patterns they make.

Fire ant nests are supposed to be some of the most beautifully designed nests in nature.

Now there is a lot of space here for the fire ants to nest, and it was our job to convince them that this entire nesting area was the best and most ideal nesting space for the ants, so that they don’t try setting up nesting sites in other areas of the setup, nor attempt to break out of the setup in search for a better nesting area.

Of course, the ants’ entry and exit point to the nest is this large opening here, at the mouth of the volcano.

Alright, and now it was time to fill this entire space up with digging medium.

I used coco peat because lately I’ve found great success with it as a digging medium for ants.

With a trowel, I evened out the coco peat.

Next, I poured in some water to moisten the initial area where I wanted the ants to start to dig.

This moisture would encourage the ants to start tunneling into the digging medium and truly make this space a nest.

Alright, and now all was set.

Like the glowing heart of Volcania, longing for its lifeblood, the territories were ready to welcome their precious fire ants home.

I approached Fire Alley anxiously.

So here was the challenging part.

The main goal was to remove the dino skull then block the entire opening of the test tube beneath it with cotton, hopefully trapping the majority of the colony inside.

Only problem was, as mentioned, the colony had already created tunnels branching out of the test tube, which I wouldn’t be able to trap and bring into Volcania.

I had a plan to rescue any remaining stragglers, but my hope was that the most important member of the colony, the Crimson Queen, was not in any of these shallower tunnels outside the test tube.

If she was, then that would make things extremely complicated.

Alright, the moment of truth, guys.

I covered my gloves with as much baby powder as I could.

We were about to go to war, AC Family, a bloody war I’ve fought many times in my ant-keeping life.

Alright, and here goes nothing.

1 – 2 – 3.

I quickly removed the dino skull and instantly assessed the situation for a brief period.

I could see a pile of brood at the opening of the test tube and that’s it.

So I slapped on the cotton, and pushing the test tube up from the bottom I slid the test tube out and plugged the hole with a thick wad of paper towel.

Done!

I then quickly rushed to Volcania and carefully dropped the test tube into the nest area.

And just like that, the colony was now in!

The fire ants were going crazy!

Look at them.

They raced around in their chambers not quite knowing what happened.

The colony was safe but gravity had shifted, and light was entering the nest.

I hoped the queen was somewhere in here.

Ants came pouring out of the open test tube exploring the strange new space to which they had been magically teleported.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about all this was I wasn’t stung at all, not even once.

This was a first!

The ants were currently in a bit of a panic, which was understandable, but I was certain that in no time, when the ants began to calm down, their mood would transition from fight or flight to curious, and indeed, they did.

The workers went back to organizing the brood.

Oh, look, a major!

Sweet!

This means supermajors are coming soon!

Outside the test tube, the ants clamored about in excitement, realizing they were in a very favorable place, nice and moist, dark, and soft for them to dig.

I was sure they would be digging into this coco peat quite soon, which was exactly what they did!

Yay!

In terms of all the stragglers back in their old home, and there were many, again I had hoped the queen wasn’t in here, but my hunch told me she wasn’t.

The most I could do was place a covered water test tube inside and hope the rest of the ants move in as these sands dry out now that the moistened test tube is no longer around.

If the queen is still here in these old lands, they will move her in here, too.

But I believe we’ve successfully secured the bulk of the colony in Volcania.

If this colony continues to grow, it means our Crimson Queen is indeed somewhere in here.

The ants hadn’t begun to explore the outside of the volcano just yet, so to help them out, I placed a stick to encourage them to climb to new heights and explore the amazing world we’ve prepared for them outside.

I knew it was only a matter of time before some curious ants began to wander out of the mouth of Volcania, and when they did, it would be the start of a truly amazing adventure!

I covered up the nest area to allow the ants to settle inside the mountain in peace and stepped back to surprisingly discover the magnificent full moon suspended beside the mountain, signaling the upcoming feast of the Crimson Knights’ perfect move into Volcania, as the mountain suddenly burst ablaze, in all its volcanic glory.

Our Crimson Knights were home!

[The Feeding]

The first ant scouts began to make their way out of the mountain to explore the uncharted world they never knew lay beyond.

They had wandered up the stick we placed for them and stepped onto the virgin lands with great curiosity.

This was a moment of great exploratory adventure for the ants, something ants love best.

I shrieked in delight as an ant attempted to journey down one of the canyons down the mountain.

Man, I wonder if this is how God feels when he sees someone following their greatest life path.

The ants bravely began to explore lower on the mountain mapping out all caverns and surfaces around the opening of the mountain where they now lived.

They had a lot of territory to explore still, particularly in the Volcanian lowlands, which was where I intended to place their homecoming gift and sacrificial roach.

Here you go, Crimson Knights.

A juicy, freshly killed roach for not stinging me tonight, its blood spilled all across the rocky floor, the scent of which would soon reach our fire ants in the heights above, and now it was all a waiting game.

It did seem like the ants had a very long way to travel in order to find the roach, but I didn’t fret, because this is a test all ant colonies in nature must undergo.

Food just doesn’t fall right at a colony’s doorstep, which is what I’ve been doing so far for this colony their entire lives.

In the wild, if you wanna eat, you gotta hunt, and these ants have all they need, programmed by nature into their instincts to get their food.

And suddenly, my heart stopped, as one ant stumbled upon our delectable offering.

The smell of roach blood had lured the ant into the lowlands, as it gave a quick inspection and taste of the dying roach.

Yup!

Sound the alarm, ladies!

I found food!

She immediately began to cover the area with pheromones.

When she was done, she rushed back home following the pheromone trail she had laid on the way here as a guide for when she needed to return to the nest.

During her long trek back home, she would leave a special pheromone laid onto the ground to direct her fellow sisters to where the food prize lay.

It was already attracting curious ants down to check things out.

I watched wide-eyed as she climbed her way up one of the caverns on her way home, bearing the great promise of food in the abundant world below.

Little by little, ants began to make their way down the mountain, until just 15 minutes later…

Boom!

A feast!

Yes!

The ants had found our gift offering, and the best part: check out the trail coming from the top of the mountain!

Just as I had dreamed, the ants formed trails down the mountainside, like beautiful streams of lava.

Oh, it was so satisfying to watch!

AC Family, this was all such an awesome dream come true!

Volcania was truly one of the best ant kingdoms I’ve ever created.

I knew that as this colony continued to get bigger and bigger, the flowing trails of lava pouring down the mountain would become thicker and much more numerous.

The ants still had to discover their sandy beach, their epic waterfall, and the deep waters that surround their great island, but for now, this was a great initiatory start.

Feeding time was truly like watching a volcano erupt!

Volcania was a true success, and as I watched our Crimson Knights making their way down the mountain, finding the most effective route to and from the prey, my heart couldn’t be more full, admiring the great new kingdom we had crafted for our ants.

Now AC Family, if you enjoyed this episode, please remember to hit the LIKE button as it really helps a lot, to let YouTube know you enjoy these ant videos, and if you haven’t yet, do hit that SUBSCRIBE button so you don’t miss this continuing ant story of the lives of our Crimson Knights and ants of the Ant Room.

Thank you all for watching and supporting the ants.

It’s ant love forever.

Oh wait!

Hang on!

I almost forgot.

Earlier I mentioned the sump, and how adding greater volume of water would be beneficial to the entire system, and at the start of the video I said I’d be asking you a very important question.

Well, AC Family, it’s this:

I want these waters to be frequented by a water beast or community of beasts.

What aquatic beasts should we add to these waters?

Speak now, my AC Council!

Hope you can SUBSCRIBE to the 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!