My new fire ant colony, now officially named the Phoenix Empire, is super cute and growing steadily, but what they really want and need at this stage is protein. Today we offer my fire ants their very first mealworm meal, and even get to observe how they react to a live mealworm. Their reaction may surprise you! Hope you enjoy this week’s ant episode!
Ladies and gentlemen,
Meet the Phoenix Empire, this four-week-old fire ant colony.
Sure, they don’t look like much of an empire at the moment, but believe you me, these pioneering fire ants are set to become a great ant kingdom of immense power and conquest.
But in order to get there, the Phoenix Empire here will need to be resourceful, work together, care for one another, and most of all, collect all the right foods to nourish the queen and the growing colony.
And so today, our fire ants are in for a treat as they discover for the very first time what meat tastes like.
Welcome to the AntsCanada Ant Channel!
[Music]
Subscribe to my channel and hit the bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family—enjoy!
They don’t know it yet, but today is a very big day for these fire ants.
They’re going to get a taste of meat and even make their first contact with live prey. Their reaction may surprise you, so keep on watching until the end.
Within this test tube, we have our humble team.
We have the pioneering generation of fire ant workers, known as nanitics.
The nanitics work prestigiously, licking clean and organizing all the brood—eggs, larvae, and pupae.
And of course, giving birth to all these ants is the great and mighty queen—the sole egg layer of the colony.
By the way, guys, our queen here awaits us to name her. Please take the time to vote here for her official name, and I trust you will make it a good one.
Thank you, AC Council, for your input!
Now, guys, look at how amazing this queen is!
Even with workers all around her, she still takes it upon herself to do her part in helping raise the young.
Here, she feeds this larva through trophallaxis, regurgitating what’s left of her self-made soup, manufactured from her own body tissues.
It’s kind of like ant breast milk!
But she’s definitely running dry on it now, as it pretty much substantiated this entire colony into being.
Still, I find it awesome that the queen is still working even though she doesn’t have to.
Another cool thing—see those little black rock-like things on the cotton?
Those are called meconia—they’re fecal pellets excreted by the larvae.
So get this—ant larvae don’t poop for their entire lives, except right before they become a pupa.
From birth, a larva’s food waste collects inside the larva’s body, creating a pellet—a meconium—which is excreted right before pupation as a neat, compact, slow-to-mold packet of poop.
Can you imagine only pooing once as a kid right before teenagehood, and it being so compact that it’s rock hard?
Welcome to ant infancy!
Or should I say… in fancy?
Okay, moving on!
Now, the Phoenix Empire here is on a very important mission at this stage.
Their goal? To grow the colony as big as possible, as quickly as possible.
In nature, only the largest and fastest-growing fire ant colonies survive.
And to do that, they’ll need some serious food collection.
Last week, we gave them their very first taste of sweet honey, which the workers gobbled up and distributed to the entire colony through trophallaxis.
It was a beautiful moment to witness.
Since then, I’ve been feeding the colony bits of sweet jelly, which you can actually see through the semi-transparent bodies of the larvae.
Now, although these sugary foods provide the colony with all the essential energy needed to work hard towards their goals, what these ants are really looking for now… is meat.
Protein will be the real game-changer and help the colony truly explode in population.
Protein helps the queen produce more eggs and helps the larvae grow much faster.
And so, AC Family, it’s time to give the ants what they’re looking for.
Let’s give them… some prey!
[Music]
Behold!
What you see here is what will be the newest addition to their living space.
It’s an AC Test Tube Portal from our shop at AntsCanada.com, a very useful piece of equipment for feeding young ant colonies like the Phoenix Empire.
Though it looks complicated, it’s basically the Phoenix Empire’s new feeding pit.
I’ll need to plug up three of the four holes, and this last hole will accommodate this test tube adapter with a tiny hole to act as the colony’s new nest entrance.
Don’t worry, you’ll understand once we’ve connected the ants to the setup.
And now, it’s time to move in their dinner—this baby mealworm!
It’s been pre-crushed to make consumption easier for the ants.
And hang on—all of you guys wanting to see the bloodbath of a live mealworm feeding, don’t worry.
You’ll see what the fire ants do to a living mealworm in a bit.
Pre-crushing and splitting the mealworm so its guts spill out increases the chances of the nanitics getting the goods.
It isn’t recommended to feed a prey item that might injure the nanitics because, at this crucial point, every worker matters, and any ants killed during battle hurt the chances of colony success.
Okay, so let’s unleash the ants!
The plan was to remove the cotton blocker from the colony’s test tube and attach the test tube end to this test tube adapter.
I did this as quickly and carefully as I could.
Done!
Let’s watch.
It took a few seconds before curiosity began to wander out into the bridge of the adapter—and finally into the great feeding chamber.
The mealworm lay fresh in its juices.
I am certain the ants could smell it.
One brave ant stepped onto the floor and made its way to the mealworm.
The ant smelled the carcass and at first shied away, but soon… started to dine.
[Music]
Excited, it made its way back to the colony, leaving a pheromonal trail leading the other ants to the mealworm booty.
It wasn’t long before word spread to the entire colony, and ants were all over the mealworm, chowing down on the delicious mealworm guts.
Back in the test tube, the queen and workers were getting excited.
I’m sure the queen was eager to have her first taste of that tender mealworm meat.
The workers eventually attempted to carry back the entire mealworm to the nest, but they had problems maneuvering the mealworm.
So they eventually decided to just leave it there and dine on location.
Hey, cut them some slack—they’re noobs!
Minutes later, the colony had all returned to the nest and were busy distributing all the meat they’d consumed, regurgitating it up for the larvae to eat.
Which I’m sure they loved—I mean, look at this larva, which continued to swallow well after the worker had fed it!
And of course, our royal highness, too, was fed by her loving workers.
And just like that, the colony had consumed their very first protein meal, which will offer the colony the building blocks they need to explode in population.
Several days after this meal, the colony was nursing a brand-new, bigger pile of brood.
There were more eggs, larvae, and pupae now—thanks to the mealworm meat.
More workers had been born.
It was awesome to see the colony so fruitful and prolific!
Now, if you’re wondering how the Phoenix Empire would react to a living mealworm—yes, I tried it.
But I knew exactly what would happen.
The workers cowered away.
They were terrified of it and wanted nothing to do with the moving mealworm.
Again, these are noobs, and I don’t think the aggression so typical of regular fire ants has kicked in at this point.
I feel that once the Phoenix Empire grows in numbers, and this new generation of fire ants—which will be larger and more strongly built due to being better nourished—starts to outnumber and replace the frail and timid nanitics, we’ll start to see that savage fire ant aggression we all know and love… or hate.
I truly appreciate that a lot of you guys seem to enjoy watching the evolution and progress of this fire ant colony from its genesis—its humble beginnings.
I really care about these ants, even if they’re not much at the moment.
Regardless, it’s great that we can watch together as this young fire ant colony rises to become the mighty empire we know they’re going to be one day soon.
And until then, I’ll be sure to film the entire fire ant journey and, with your help, usher the Phoenix Empire to become the greatest ant colony in the antiverse!
Thank you for watching.
It’s Ant Love Forever!
AC Family, isn’t the Phoenix Empire awesome?
I think I laughed when I saw the nanitics wouldn’t dare touch the living mealworm.
But knowing fire ants, that behavior is going to change real quick!
So much is in store ahead, so if you haven’t yet—smash that subscribe button and bell icon now and hit “All” so you get notified at every upload!
Because I believe notifications seem to be broken, but the YouTube Support Team is on it.
Also, don’t forget to hit the like button every single time—including now.
It would really mean a lot to me.
Thank you, guys!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here.
If you would like to watch some extended play footage of the Phoenix Empire chowing down on their mealworm meat, click the link in the description.
And now, it’s time for the AC Question of the Week!
Last week, we asked: What is the name of the process of mouth-to-mouth food transfer in eusocial insects?
Congratulations to Atlas Blue, who correctly answered trophallaxis!
Congratulations, Atlas! You just won a free Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook from our shop.
In this week’s AC Question of the Week, we ask:
Why does an ant colony need protein?
Leave your answer in the comments section, and you could also win a free eBook handbook from our shop!
Hope you can subscribe to our channel as we upload every Saturday at 8 AM Eastern Standard Time.
Please remember to like, comment, share, and subscribe if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more!
It’s Ant Love Forever!