Welcome to Part 7 of my Ecosystem Vivarium Series, where we introduce an apex predator into my 1000-gallon cloud rainforest vivarium, Pantdora, to study the wild lives of tropical ants and exotic creatures!

I created my dream tank, a 1000 gallon cloud rainforest vivarium, called Pantdora, and it’s purpose is to study how tropical ants and other exotic creatures live in the wild. I already added an initial team of animals into the terrarium, but it was missing a very important player in the food chain: an apex predator. In this episode, we release my chosen apex predator into the Pantdoran rainforest, and the result was pretty awesome. Hope you enjoy this week’s episode, Part 7 of my Ecosystem Vivarium Series. Ant love forever! This video was shot in 4K Ultra HD resolution.

I Released an Apex Predator into My Giant Rainforest Vivarium

This is Pandora, my 1,000g cloud rainforest vivarium. It took a week to build, months of pre-planning, and a lifetime to dream about. And my, what a biological dream it is! I created it to study what life is like for ants and other animals out in the wild, to uncover their roles within an ecosystem. And so far, it’s been an insane ride of discovery that has only just begun. Last week marked the dawn of an event called Gaia, the Great Animal Integration Advent, where I added an initial team of animals and creatures into Pandora who proceeded to settle into the forest, breed, and occupy their respective niches. But that team of creatures was only the first batch of colonizers. There was still a major player missing from this ecosystem: an apex predator, a carnivorous animal at the very top of the food chain whom no other creature in the ecosystem eats. And the time had finally come to add that apex predator to patrol Pandora and do its important work at controlling populations of prey animals within.

I approached Pandora with my chosen apex predator and proceeded to release it into the vivarium, but nothing could have prepared me for the insane chain of events that would follow the release of this apex beast into our rainforest. Welcome to the craziest story of what happened when I released an apex predator into my giant rainforest vivarium—part seven of my ecosystem vivarium series here on the AntsCanada channel. Please subscribe to my channel and hit the bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy!

My heart was racing as I laid its container down onto the soil. “Come out, my beloved beast. Welcome to your new home.” The beast remained in its shadowy container, unwilling to come out. “Uh, hello? It’s okay, you can come out. He’ll be out anytime… guys?” Uh, okay, maybe not. Our beast was a bit shy, refusing to step out into the light. I could kind of see him moving around and checking out the new environment and smells, but still no desire to emerge. These were actually great working instincts. After a good 20 minutes of waiting, I decided to gently tip his container a bit, and he slid out, then instantly jetted away under some driftwood before I could catch sight of him. Darn! I was really hoping for a much clearer view of him entering his new kingdom, but no worries—I knew we would catch him out in the open soon, and I know you guys will totally love him. I bet he was probably enjoying the abundance of prey insects and roaches in those shadows—roaches happen to be his favorite food.

Two young roach nymphs lay struggling on their backs, trying to right themselves up, having fallen into a strange place. Their movements awoke a sleeping monster nearby. Using teamwork, they flipped themselves over using each other’s bodies. One roach scurried to hide while the other decided to wander their new location. “Hmm, what a strange place,” the roach thought. “I wonder what great things we can find here?” The roach particularly loved the moist floor and began to lick up the wetness to hydrate. For a while, the roach continued to waddle around, drink, and explore. “Should I go this way? No, doesn’t smell right.” The roach eventually joined its sibling within the shadows of some moistened paper towel. “Hey bro, isn’t this place weird?” “Yeah, super weird.”

Lady Death Strike, my female Huntsman giant, waited patiently in the shadows. Patience was her talent, and she had waited almost two weeks to feed. Another few moments would be a total breeze. But little did she know she was going to be a very important player in an incredible world she would soon be living in. Now, where is our predator? I searched Pandora’s rainforest floor. He could literally be anywhere, but I trusted he would emerge on his own terms. I was right.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the marauder ants that used to dominate these lands were now nowhere to be seen. They used to be seen trailing the wood of the Hallelujah tree stump, but now, nothing. All their regular foraging trails had been deserted. Interesting. Well, I figured it was nothing to worry about, seeing as over the past week the marauder ants had consumed a cricket, a grasshopper, and even an entire house gecko as seen in the last episode. They were probably satiated and resting inside the tree stump, but I told myself I’d stay vigilant because the colony of invasive Black Crazy Ants had also recently moved into the tree stump, and who knows what could be happening within the shared stump that I couldn’t see.

But other than that, I had noticed that Pandora was a wonderful biological world, now thriving with life in all corners of the rainforest. A movement in the leaves caught my eye. “Hmm, what is that tiny thing?” As soon as I saw the protruding eye, I shouted in delight. It was a newly hatched baby cricket! Awesome! The baby crickets were now emerging from the egg bed I planted during Gaia, and how cute they were! They were tiny versions of their parents, whom by now were all dead from either being eaten, drowned in Pandora’s pond (more about that later), or old age. They were seen wandering all areas of Pandora now, including the mosses. This baby took a nibble from the moss, which totally reminded me of their parents who also loved to munch on moss.

But it was imperative that these baby crickets learn about the world as quickly as they could because Pandora was more than just a place of cool leaves and mosses. I noticed another baby cricket lying on its back, having just been freshly killed. Poor little one. This baby cricket nearby lay frozen in its spot as a black crazy ant went zipping by, carrying the newly killed baby cricket it had sprayed with formic acid. These lands, though abundant, were also dangerous for the crickets—a lesson they would need to learn quickly.

Speaking of babies, though, here was the baby grasshopper we’ve been following for two weeks now. He’s a lot bigger and growing quite fast. It seems he has learned the necessary life skills to thrive and survive Pandora’s rules of survival. Some creatures that definitely weren’t afraid of patrolling out in the open included this young millipede, who actually possessed hydrochloric acid and hydrogen cyanide; this baby snail mimicking a tiny pebble against the glass; and these pretty creatures—the metallic emerald cockroaches, whom I always saw frequenting the vines around Pandora. They love chewing on the vine skin. I couldn’t get over how beautiful these roaches were as they mimicked inedible beetles, giving them the confidence to be so out there. This is a classic example of Batesian mimicry, where one organism imitates the appearance of another to avoid predation. No predator would bother swallowing a hard-to-eat and likely foul-tasting beetle. The roaches have the last laugh—these ones, anyway.

The two baby roaches crouched quietly behind the wet paper towel. Lady Death Strike began to wonder if her senses were accurate. She could have sworn there was food crawling around. Hang on… she knew it! She began to feast. The roach should have remained with its sibling at the paper towel, but it was too late now—the roach’s fate had been sealed. She nonchalantly began to inject her lethal cocktail of cytotoxins, which help break down the roach’s tissues, and neurotoxins, which attack the roach’s nervous system. Fortunately, her bite isn’t harmful to humans, but for this roach, it is being paralyzed and broken down from the inside out—another average spider meal.

Oh, wait—times two! Both roaches now in her grasp. The second one had decided to wander away from the paper towel. She had bitten it, but it slipped onto the floor, and with her long dextrous arms, she played soccer with it for a bit before picking it back up to relish two delicious roaches in a lethal embrace. The newly caught roach tried its best to slip away, but you can’t slip away from Lady Death Strike—she was hungry. Watching spiders eat always inspired a huge degree of respect mixed in with a dash of fright. Predators, as fun as it is to watch them feed, are no playground.

But other than nourishing her, there was an important purpose to providing her this double-roach meal. As she began to wrap her food in silk, another Huntsman—a male—had secretly been placed into her holding container as well. This was Kiro, and he had been sent to this place to fulfill his ultimate life purpose. The next move would now be his, and the setup was perfectly executed. Lady Death Strike was now busy with her mindset on feeding on her delicious roaches, so I knew our new apex predator would eventually come out, and I knew exactly where—right at the Hallelujah tree stump. The reason? Because just above the stump were the UV and heat lamps, which our predator needed to warm up and soak up the necessary light wavelengths.

And after just a few hours of him settling into Pandora, I could see evidence of his presence—look, poop! And a big piece of it, too! What I found amazing was the living creatures it attracted—mites, springtails, microscopic beetles, flies, and other creatures were having a total feast on these species. It’s amazing how one creature’s waste can be another creature’s buffet. The creatures will help break down this poop and create excellent fertilizer for all the plants growing around the rainforest. I couldn’t believe the biodiversity Pandora had in terms of soil creatures. We definitely have had a healthy soil ecosystem in Pandora.

To further build on the health of Pandora’s ecosystem, I continued to add more and more creatures into the vivarium as I caught them. I found this cute caterpillar and released it into Pandora. It slinked around and explored the vast lands. “Have a look… oh my, now where are we?” it thought in plural as it waved its head around at the smell of new plants it could chew up. Not sure if this caterpillar would survive Pandora, but we’ll see—it eventually took a nap high up in the vines. I also released some fruit flies, a mating pair of house flies, and more grasshoppers. My plan was to continue building on Pandora’s fauna profile like this until prey insects were surviving enough to actually breed within the vivarium. It would take some time, but I knew we’d eventually get there.

My eyes then moved over to the other side of Pandora, where I caught sight of Lady Katie, our brown leaf katydid, which I recently discovered is actually a type of bush cricket. It was funny to see her out and about at this time of the day because usually, she’s hidden behind the moss wall where she sleeps until nighttime when she wakes. But here she was, out in broad daylight. I wondered why. Little did I know, I would soon find out that she had been unwillingly awoken and forced to leave her bed of mosses—and that the reason was moving in the bushes… oh, well there you are! I didn’t expect you to be all the way up there! It was our apex predator, and I caught it peeking out its head to spy on me. Do you see it? “It’s okay, my friend, I won’t hurt you.” I don’t even think it knew I could see it, but now that I knew where it was hanging out, I knew exactly what to do to make it feel more at home and come out into the light.

Suddenly, the rains blew through, and it retreated back deeper into the bush. Now was my chance to make an important key move. Back at the Huntsman holding container, something totally crazy had occurred—the spiders had come in contact with each other, and it seemed as though Kiro had killed Lady Death Strike! He stood above her body and looked as though he was now feeding. This was not what he was supposed to do and not part of the grand plan. But turns out, we may have underestimated Kiro’s competence to successfully execute this ultimate purpose. Look—Lady Death Strike was still eating, and Kiro’s fangs were not sunken into her back like it first appeared. Lady Death Strike was alive! In fact, Kiro was doing something much more important than eating—he massaged his pedipalps and was hyperfocused on the task at hand. These Huntsmen were mating, and if you’ve never seen spiders mate before, prepare to be utterly mind-blown!

I’m glad the roaches I provided Lady Death Strike had successfully gotten Kiro safely to this stage of the breeding process, as many males at this point fall victim to their females before even getting here. She was properly distracted now. Now, check out the incredible mechanics of Huntsman spider reproduction like you’ve never seen it before. See this organ? This is the male’s embolus. Only male spiders have them at the end of each of their two pedipalps, and they carry his sperm. When he was ready, he reached around and his embolus would inflate like a balloon full of his little soldiers, which he would deposit into her genital openings using a sharp spur, which retracts once deposited. Then he proceeds to massage the embolus. When ready, he switched over to the other side and repeated the process on the other genital opening of the female, and once done, proceeded again to massage his pedipalps. Most people have never seen spider mating mechanics with such clarity, and if that’s you, well, you learn something new every day, right?

Kiro continued to do this back and forth, massaging his pedipalps between sides as she continued to feed on her roaches. The ultimate plan had worked so far, but little did Kiro know, his true and ultimate fate had yet to be fulfilled. The moment she finished her meal, his energy was 100% invested now in the passing on of his genes, until he would no longer be able to move. The breeding process would continue for the next hour and a half before Kiro’s ultimate and final destiny would be fulfilled.

I had to move the UV and heat lamps slightly towards the bushes because this was where he was probably choosing to bask and also hide. So in order that he didn’t have to travel too far from his hideout, I moved the UV and heat lamp a bit closer to the moss wall—not directly over it so that it would burn the plants, but just near enough. If all goes well, our predator will emerge to bask. Now, as I was fixing the lights, I glanced at the banyan vines of the canopy, which we recently learned were alive, sending out air roots and leaf buds. The vines were actually shifting position now and detaching at certain parts, like an ultra-slow-motion moving creature with a mind of its own.

But being up in the canopy, I noticed something truly spectacular—have a look. Ants! But these ants were not marauder ants, nor were they Black Crazy Ants, nor were they the dwarf ants we spotted in a previous episode, and not the first giant trap-jaw ants either. These were acrobat ants from the genus Crematogaster! How were Crematogaster in here too? My only guess was that they were transported into the tank through the vines. And sure enough, looking back at previous episodes of ants running on the vines, I failed to realize that they had been here since day one. How insane that a sixth species of ant was actually residing in Pandora! And even more amazing—since the vines were collected from my neighborhood, these acrobat ants were likely the possibly undescribed species we may have actually been the first in the world to discover, the results of which we are still awaiting. How cool, right? If this is a new species of ant, let’s call them Crematogaster pandori.

Anyway, just ten minutes later after moving the lights around—behold, there he was! Our golden dragon emerging to bask. Isn’t he cute? He’s a sun skink, the same sun skink from part two of the series, collected from the forest edge in my yard. Isn’t he stunning? And my, has he grown! A fly came whizzing by and he attempted to catch it, but it left before he could strike. What an avid hunter he was—Pandora’s current apex predator. The ants traveling the vines didn’t bother him, as there was no penetrating those tough dragon scales. When I tried to get a closer look at him, he disappeared back into the bushes—he was still a bit shy. But little did I know, we would soon be making an official deal together, which would make all the difference in the world.

By late afternoon, I caught sight of our golden dragon’s sidekick. “There she is!” It was our resident house gecko, out early to begin hunting. She had lived here now for about a week and was also looking pretty fat. Looks like she had eaten a good amount of prey insects. I was happy to know our gecko was doing well, unlike the gecko before her. House geckos are usually very hearty little buggers—I catch them running around my home. And speaking of which, some of you guys may be wondering where in tropical Canada is my home that I’m able to catch all these lizards and such? Well, I was born and raised in Toronto, but moved out to tropical Southeast Asia 12 years ago, where I ended up staying. And by then, AntsCanada.com had already been trademarked and the channel already established, so I kept the name AntsCanada. No matter where I’m based, I’m still Canadian, eh?

It had been two hours since the spiders had begun to mate, and I came back to the holding container to a shocking sight—this time, Lady Death Strike was on top, and sadly, Kiro’s ultimate fate had been sealed. Lady Death Strike had finished her roaches, now a crumpled ball at the bottom of the tank, and was feasting on Kiro. I was a bit traumatized at the sight of watching Lady Death Strike consuming her former lover, but inside, I knew this was all part of Huntsman life. Kiro had spent every last bit of energy he had left to breed with Lady Death Strike, and at the end was pretty much unable to move or defend himself. Female Huntsman spiders, like in many spider species, eat the males after mating. In doing so, it further provides the female extra nourishment for the difficult and demanding upcoming task of producing her egg sac, during which time she will be 100% focused on laying eggs and nothing much else. After Kiro had given up his genes during the mating process, he went on to give up his very life in order to nourish his lover and provide her the best chances for bringing their future children into existence. Though my human mind couldn’t readily swallow all this, I knew inside that this was the honorable Huntsman way, and how it’s been for them for millions of years.

Lady Death Strike began to wrap Kiro in more silk—she was soon going to be ready to be relocated to her next very special location. I marveled at the beauty of Pandora at night as the mists blew through. Pandora truly transforms every time night falls—it’s almost ethereal. Have a look.

The full moon was out, and so were all of Pandora’s awesome nighttime creatures. Lady Katie was out looking for vegetation to feed on, isopods were emerging to forage the forest floor for decayed leaves and organic matter, and all the roaches were now out to play. The emergence of all the prey animals was a literal feast for our guest gecko, who scaled upside down along the canopy, hunting for insects. I truly loved watching her hunt and couldn’t wait to add more house geckos to join her, as these lizards usually live in social groups, often seen hunting together.

It was then that I spotted a trail of Black Crazy Ants, hot in action. They excitedly raced along the back of the Hallelujah tree stump. Hmm, what were these Black Crazy Ants up to? I followed their trail and noticed they were moving to and from a central hole in the stump. How peculiar. They initially moved into the top of the stump last week, but were now seen emerging from the center of it. It must be quite the labyrinth inside that stump, and it was a bit concerning to know that I couldn’t actually see what was going on inside it. For all I knew, there was a giant ant war happening within it, and that’s why I hadn’t seen the marauders much in several days. There was also a colony of termites living in there, as well as who knows what else. It was also quite eye-opening to me to know how many species of animals can actually pack into a given space out in nature. I had no evidence to believe yet that the Black Crazy Ants were a danger to our marauders, but little did I know, I would soon find out about the whereabouts of our marauders as well as lay my eyes on something totally horrifying in Pandora the next morning.

The next morning, I stumbled upon the most horrific death. Ugh, an earthworm! It had been split in half and was dying. Now, the other half was here. It looks like something had ripped it apart and left it to die. Ugh, yuck! I hate worms, and seeing a dead one split in half wasn’t any better. I bet our sun skink did this and decided to ditch the worm after killing it. Anyway, the soil creatures, or maybe the flies, will lay their maggots onto it, so I left it there. In terms of the other earthworms placed into Pandora, I could see evidence of them doing well—their casts formed mounds on top of the soils, which were excellent fertilizer for Pandora’s plants.

I looked up to the bushes, and there was our golden dragon basking again in the morning light. As I attempted to get closer to it, it decided, “Nope, I’m leaving,” and it disappeared into the bushes. Just when I thought I had spoiled my chances, an idea came to me, and I pretended to walk away. Slowly, I waited on the other end of the room for it to come out, and sure enough, after 15 minutes, our dragon’s head peaked out. Now was my chance. Instead of just walking up to the glass like I normally did, I moved slowly, watching the lizard’s body language, preparing myself to stop at the slightest sign of fear. To my surprise, I got pretty close without it disappearing back into the bushes.

“Beloved Golden Dragon, welcome to Pandora. I am AntsCanada, your creator of worlds, and I mean you no harm.” To my surprise, the lizard looked as though it was listening. Out there, you have to worry about cobras, pythons, egrets, and monitor lizards, and your next meal is never guaranteed. But here, in these lands, I can promise you safety, where no creature in this rainforest will be able to eat you. You will remain the apex beast of these lands for as long as you show me signs that you’re thriving in this kingdom I’ve made for you. For I acknowledge that you are not my pet but a partner to help me learn about the incredible world from which you come. So feast on all the insects you like, drink from the freshest of waters, and bask in your favorite spot undisturbed. I am your friend.”

“Bye, my cute lizard.” I was surprised to see that he was more relaxed now, and at that, I began to back away slowly to show him that I was not a predator to eat him. Amazingly, in the following days, I spotted him out a lot more. He was still very discreet and tried to move unseen, but I was able to catch him foraging the rainforest floor as well as attempting to take on some of the larger prey insects like our slant-faced grasshopper. Watch him—bam! And into the shadows of the driftwood. Hilariously though, I spotted the slant-faced grasshopper later that day, chilling on its favorite philodendron leaf, which meant our sun skink probably let it go when he realized it was way too big for him to swallow.

As time went on, I continued to improve Pandora by adding new mosses, planting new plants, sowing new seeds, and adding more prey creatures and other fauna like this gorgeous rhino beetle. I’ll have to add pieces of fruit for him and the fruit flies as a periodic ecosystem event, talked about in part three. But while he is alive, he’ll be great at digging new burrows every morning, which can be used as hiding spots and homes for other creatures. I even managed to catch another house gecko from my kitchen and released it into Pandora. It immediately hopped in. I watched her flick off a few curious Black Crazy Ants, which I’m sure she’s used to, especially these annoying ones which share her niche. She then dashed away to begin exploring her new kingdom, which was big—oh, so big, and it smelled like prey was everywhere. She will eventually run into the other house gecko and may even try to mate with her, as these parthenogenic lizards do, and this would stimulate one or both house geckos to produce eggs. Hope it won’t be long before we start seeing baby geckos running around. I’ll keep my eye out for the egg clutches.

And about the ants—To my delight, the marauder ants were seen beginning to emerge again from their regular place in the Hallelujah tree stump, and even the top of the stump, strangely. Okay, not sure what’s going on, but I guess the colonies within are moving around in the stump’s inner labyrinth. I’ll continue to keep an eye on the ants for any signs of an ant war happening, especially because now we’ve discovered yet another species of ant in the Pandora mix.

For those of you wondering about the whereabouts of the invasive fire ants from part five, I suspect they’re underground still and alive because I noticed one of their mounds had an open entrance. And trust me, I’ve been checking that entrance every day for fire ant foragers emerging, but have not seen any. I’ll keep you all posted. I hope they don’t have a queen. And as for the giant trap-jaw ant queen from the last episode, I checked up on her and she’s still alive and caring for her young, probably capturing some baby crickets to feed them.

It had been another insane week in Pandora, and now that we had our apex predator patrolling the ground by day and our house geckos hunting in the canopy at night, I felt our rainforest ecosystem on land was much more complete now. But AC Family, there was still a part of Pandora that was lacking. Now that Pandora’s land portion was populated with life, the underground cave water system at the foot of the springs was still pretty lifeless. Aside from this, the waters were a death trap for insects like crickets, and I needed creatures to feed on their bodies so they wouldn’t completely foul up the waters, which brought hydration to many ants and creatures. Now, I had allowed for the filter of these waters within the rocks to cycle and build up its necessary bacteria over the past several weeks to be able to support the aquatic animals I had in mind to live within these waters. And AC Family, the time had come to finally populate Pandora’s amazing aquatic world with life as well. This was going to be fun.

Lady Death Strike, my beloved Lady Death Strike, you’ve done well. You’re ready now to be transported to your new resting place. Welcome to your new home of Pandora, up in the skies for now, where it’s warmer for you, so you can lay your eggs. I have big plans for your future within Pandora. Rest well, your greatest moments are yet to come.

Vote in my community tab to affect this story. Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8:00 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.