NEW VIDEO: I Stopped an Ant War by Adding a Tree Into My Giant Rainforest Vivarium


Welcome to an extraordinary journey through Pantdora, my 1,000-gallon cloud rainforest vivarium. This unique ecosystem, spanning two levels including the lush Orchadia above, is a vibrant home to diverse plants, fungi, and creatures. As a new conflict arises with invasive red ants threatening the harmony, join me as we delve into the strategies designed to preserve this delicate ecological balance. Dive into an adventure where life, war, and survival intertwine, here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel. Get ready to explore the complex interactions within this glass-enclosed tropical paradise.

I Stopped an Ant War by Adding a Tree Into My Giant Rainforest Vivarium

Oh no! A war is brewing and I must stop it! This is Pantdora, my 1,000-gallon cloud rainforest vivarium, a tropical ecosystem within glass. It’s connected to another giant vivarium on the floor above called Orchadia, forming the treetops of the rainforest. Both worlds house a plethora of plants, fungi, and creatures, and my job is to study all the life within this bountiful rainforest, but this new war of armies threatens everything I’ve worked hard to create. A quickly multiplying colony of red ants was spotted in our rainforest, having been imported unknowingly into Orchadia via one of the plants. They look strikingly like fire ants, and are an invasive species, and just last week, I discovered for the first time, these invasive red ants were now heading down the vines into Pantdora, where seven native ant species were peacefully flourishing. The war between red ants and the seven armies of native ants had officially begun, but I had just the plan to stop that catastrophic war from happening. Welcome to my Ecosystem Vivarium Series, where sometimes it’s war vs. war to achieve peace, here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel. Please SUBSCRIBE to the channel, and hit the BELL ICON. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy!

Red Ant Attack

I watched the red ant wandering excitedly over the summit of the Hallelujah Tree Stump. A dwarf ant emerged not knowing that an adversary was conducting a dangerous ocular. I don’t know when or how long or how many times the red ants had come all the way down here to scout Pantdora, but this was not a good sign. Not much is known about these red ants, whose scientific name is Tetramorium insolens, nor their nesting habits, but it is said that they have been observed to live in and around vegetation, and I suspect, since they came into our rainforest by surprise via the tree decor of Orchadia, that they nest in wood. My guess was they were looking at the Hallelujah Tree Stump as a potential next home. Snap, the resident sun skink was basking, not noticing the red ant, crawling all around. He didn’t know it, but he too would be impacted by an invasive species like these red ants moving in because these red ants were a threat to our seven native ants in Pantdora: i.e., the Asian Bullet Ants, Carpenter Ants, Dwarf Ants, Spiny Ants, Weaver Ants, Gnome Ants, and Giant Trap-jaw Ants, all of whom had important jobs in the Pantdoran ecosystem, and to put it simply, losing biodiversity in an ecosystem due to invasives is bad news for all living members of that ecosystem. I knew I couldn’t let these red ants move into Pantdora to wreak havoc, but guys, I had a plan that just might work. Listen to this.

My Plan

Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched Orchadia slowly change from the lush garden that it once was at its creation, to now a sort of sparse and dry collection of sticks and foliage. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that good either. Many plants had died and failed to thrive up here. It still looked like a tree canopy, but sort of resembled a dry season, shriveled, and self-preserving state of estivation that trees in my area undergo in the summer months. Thing is, it wasn’t the summer months yet, and we were midway through the wet season, so technically this canopy should be nearing its peak lushness right now. In addition, the canopy is the most biodiverse layer of the rainforest, so Orchadia was supposed to be a haven for life. I anticipated that countless creatures from Pantdora would want to wander up here and fall in love with the living space, but so far only a few have done so, and many creatures, like the Weaver Ants which were introduced up here, decided to ditch the tree tops for the lush life of the Pantdoran rainforest floor. Many of you have noticed the minimal reporting of new updates up here in Orchadia, and now you know why. It’s just been quite ‘meh’ up here in the trees. Though not a total failure, Orchadia really needed a new breath of life. So my plan: revamp Orchadia, and give it the best chance at biodiversification so it becomes a hub for animal and plant species, and hopefully keep the red ant invaders from moving down below. If we could somehow make Orchadia a much more desirable place for the red ants to live, they wouldn’t have a need to move down to the rainforest floor, where they could cause havoc. This operation was not going to be easy, but it was the best idea I had at stopping a potentially catastrophic Ant War from happening. It was time to make Orchadia great again!

The Vine Problem

But, meanwhile as I was drawing up plans for Orchadia’s revamp, there was one other thing that was completely bothering me. Several weeks ago, I noticed that something was pulling down the vines that were strung up the glass bridge to assist creatures climbing up to Orchadia. Whatever creature was pulling the vines down had to be quite heavy in order to do this. The only large creature in our rainforest was Godzilla, our spectacled caiman, but there was no way he was climbing high enough to do this. Something large had to be gaining access to these vines extending through the glass bridge, pulling them down. I ended up installing and stringing a new vine through, up the glass bridge, but two days later, I came back to Pantdora to discover this. The vine had been pulled down again! Something was doing this and it was honestly annoying. By hook or by crook, I was determined to find out who our vine-pulling culprit was. Little did I know, the true vine-destroying culprit wasn’t at all whom I was thinking. We had to make Orchadia great again! Now, over the past few months, I’ve noticed that some plants failed to adapt while others absolutely thrived and even fruited, like this large banyan tree. Orchadia was actually largely experimental and my first attempt at recreating the canopy layer of a rainforest, and though I was happy with the initial layout and look, the perfectionist inside of me still felt I could do a better job at making the space look more like the tree tops. So, my plan this time around, was to add more of the banyan tree species that was doing well, so it could give the space more long-lasting greenery, but also make the whole space look more unified, like it was all part of a massive tree, instead of a bunch of varied plants that resembled a landscaper’s curated garden of epiphytes. I went out in search of the same species of tree, and more importantly the right shape and size, for what I had in mind for Orchadia’s revamp. I eventually found this tree. My team and I loaded it into my truck and brought it home. It was massive and definitely needed some cutting back and I knew installing it into Orchadia would be a logistical challenge of the century. Before adding it in though, there was something I needed to check first.

Arcadia

Throughout this terraforming process, there were creatures already in Pantdora, that I needed to make sure would not jump out of the tank, be brought out of the tank unintentionally via decor that I would be removing, as well as, get injured during the revamp process. I surveyed Orchadia to take a mental note of where every main creature was. There were a ton of crickets and roaches that were living here, but there were certain members I needed to watch out for. I spotted the pink weevil we’ve been following for months in Orchadia. It had relocated to the vine leaves. Nearby, was a long-horned beetle enjoying a spa moment by the fog. As I watched it relaxing in the mist, I then spotted a peculiar little orange ant. There were a few of them on the vines. Wow! I had never seen this species of ant in Orchadia before. I wonder if they were a new colony that was born from a queen that was unknowingly introduced in here, whose workers were only now appearing. They were drinking from extrafloral nectaries provided by the vines. How awesome that even to this day, we were discovering new species living in Orchadia. Suddenly, a calico weevil appeared on the scene and found itself in a predicament as it was sort of boxed into place discovering the larger sleeping longhorn beetle. “Oops, I don’t mean to…Ahhhh!” The longhorned beetle kicked it off the vine. I spotted the frogs all sleeping in key spots around the trees and black carpenter ants wandering the vines collecting mealybug honeydew. Seeing all these unique and beautiful Orchadian creatures still inhabiting our canopy, plus a whole other new ant species, inspired hope within me for Orchadia. Despite Orchadia struggling to thrive, these creatures chose to stay, and not descend down into the more enticing world of Pantdora. They all felt the canopy was their home, and it was for them that I had to ensure Orchadia became the lush and lively tree kingdom they deserved. It was then that I spotted something that made my heart drop to my stomach. Oh no! The red ants. I spotted a red ant carrying a young worker in its mandibles. This was bad! Ants do this to take young, inexperienced workers to a new nest location. The red ants were in emigration mode moving to a new home. I checked the vines and thankfully didn’t see a trail of red ants moving down to Pantdora yet, but I knew the fact that they were in the middle of a nest relocation operation meant they weren’t happy with where they had been nesting, and had officially found a better place somewhere. Where, though? I could only guess, but with them being emigrational, I had to move fast! Now was the time to launch Operation: MOGA. I went into Orchadia with my team. First, I had to remove some decor to make way for the new banyan tree which would take a lot of space, making sure the whole time to check them for frogs, beetles, geckos, ants, spiders, and other such creatures. To remove this piece of driftwood, we needed to saw off some branches. Roaches were emerging from literally everywhere as we worked, and I was actually quite shocked to see how many were hiding in unforeseen spots in the vivarium. Next, in went the platform on which would sit the new banyan tree. I needed the tree elevated so the foliage would extend along the largely empty top portion of the vivarium, giving that upper space some needed greenery. And then came the insertion of the tree. We immediately identified that it needed to be cut back quite a bit in order to fit. Slowly but surely, we managed to fit and work the entire tree into the tank. I then added a soil layer here, and I’ll get more into what this is for later. With the trimmings, I planted them deep into the soil and hoped they would take root, and knowing the voracity of banyan trees, they likely would in no time. And then some final touches, and after over 3 hours of work, the new Orchadia 2.0 was complete.

Final Touches

Kermit stood still stunned at his new tree kingdom before him. AC Family, behold. The new Orchadia 2.0. So what do you think? Now this is more of what I envisioned a canopy should look like! Branches and leaves filled the space making it look lush and biologically abundant. I also removed some of the epiphytic plants that made the space feel a little too curated, in other words, to make it look less like how a human might design a canopy and more like how Mother Nature would. This unified look created a better appearance of a cross-section of tree top, and I rejoiced at how gloriously dense the new tree foliage was, the perfect habitat for any tree-dwelling creatures. Also, about the soil and leaf litter I added to one side, I felt one of the contributing factors to the rapid success of Pantdora, was its rich soil layer. It ensured plants had nutrients to thrive, more water and moisture could be retained, and a greater collection of soil creatures, who play an important role in the success of an ecosystem, could be established. We really needed this additional soil layer locally in the canopy region. In the wild, the canopy layer actually does have quite a bit of soilish layers like this, where rich compost collects, due to falling leaves and organic debris, and plants, animals, and fungi make full use of these naturally formed treetop areas of soily compost. I felt this canopy soil layer, composed of organic soil and tonnes of leaf litter, would greatly benefit Orchadia’s ecosystem. I stood watching the canopy for hours, and stayed to watch it rain, comforted by the sounds of the raindrops hitting the new leaves. It warmed my heart to watch our new tree world drink as a brand new and beautiful canopy. But as much as I loved the new Orchadia, I wondered if this revamp would be enough to keep the red ants from migrating down to Pantdora. Only time would tell, but it turns out, Mother Nature had a secret plan of her own well underway.

Secret Plan

The next day, I came back to a big discovery. Crickets. A full team of crickets were munching away at the remaining vines like celery. It seems they had a taste for the green munchables deep within the vines. So it was you guys all along! These crickets, I tell ya! They eat everything. But, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that this was actually a great thing! I never really have seen the red ants climbing glass. They were always climbing wood and vines. Not all insects possess the sticky foot pads capable of climbing smooth vertical surfaces like glass. These red ants were not glass climbers and were accessing Pantdora via the vines. It was almost as if our rainforest was helping us, in her ingenious way, sending cricket messengers to cut the vines over the past several weeks, in order to keep the red ants from descending into her delicately balanced lush lower lands. Orchadia was in a mystical way saving Pantdora from peril. I chose to allow the crickets to chew the remaining vine. Timber! I guess for now, only the creatures that can climb glass will have access to Orchadia from below. Those that can’t will remain in Pantdora, and any creatures in Orchadia, like crickets and roaches will simply live and breed up here, and fall in sporadically, kind of like Orchadia being an automatic feeder for Pantdora, which will be super helpful once the sun skinks get real big and start eating all crickets and roaches in Pantdora. And then another surprise! Look at what else I discovered. The red ants had decided to move back to their old nest. Woohoo! Our plan worked! I could see a trail with a worker carrying a young worker back to their old home. And hey, actually, this was the perfect opportunity to find out where in Orchadia the red ants were nesting! I followed the trail down the branch, and behind a darkened fork in the driftwood, I discovered the red ants were entering a secret hole. Wow! So they do nest in wood! Wait until my myrmecologist friends hear about this. Now at this point, I could have totally removed the red ants from our rainforest, by simply removing this entire driftwood piece from the vivarium, but after some thought I decided: You know what? Although these red ants are considered invasive, I don’t think they’re a danger any longer to Pantdora, now that they have no way to go down there, and furthermore, there is still some scientific value in having an invasive presence in our rainforest. You see, invasives entering an ecosystem does happen in the wild, and it’s up to that ecosystem to push back against the invading species, and keep them from destroying the ecosystem. The healthier and more robust the ecosystem, the greater chance it has to combat invasive species. Like a virus entering a human body, an ecosystem has its ways of fighting back against potentially hazardous agents, and as we have seen, it can be quite eye-opening to see how Nature finds unique ways to solve potential problems. Life, as they say, finds a way. I decided to keep the red ants in Orchadia for now, and simply watch to make sure they don’t get out of control. I believed in the strength of our ecosystem and overall, I was so happy that our rainforest was safe and great again. But now that our new tree world was in place, I was surprised to discover that adding the new banyan tree into Orchadia had transformed our canopy way more than I ever imagined. Whoa! What’s that? And that? Man, the new Orchadia 2.0 was an entirely new world now, that I couldn’t wait to start exploring. Isn’t Mother Nature the best at surpri… [gasp] Ummm… Vote in my Community Tab to affect this story!