Today we peek into the secret lives of the Titans, the name given to our massive supercolony of Asian Marauder ants (Carebara diversa) in their ant kingdom terrarium home of Olympus. You won’t believe all the things we see and learn about them, their intelligence, and what they taught me after looking into their underground nest chambers!
Marauder Ants Devour a Cockroach
Don’t click away! What you’re about to see here is one of the coolest ants you’ve ever seen in your whole life! The ant, as an insect, in general, is well-known for its resourcefulness, a steadfast hard-working ethic, a great propensity for teamwork, and an undying devotion to the “whole,” the collective “hive mind” mindset. What you’re about to see today, as we take a peek into the lives of one of my top favorite ants in the entire world, the utterly savage marauder ants, will totally blow your mind!
You thought fire ants and bullet ants were scary, wait until you see what this ant colony of mine is like! AC Family, it’s time to enter the secret and intriguing lives of the Titans, our multi-queen polymorphic colony of Asian marauder ants, here on the AntsCanada ant channel!
Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the BELL icon! Welcome to the AC Family! Enjoy!
A commotion is growing among the colony above the surface of the nest. It’s feeding time again right now in the territories, and on today’s menu, pieces of the most delicious almond, which the Titans had just learned about a few minutes prior, and were wasting no time at grabbing to carry into their underground nest for further processing.
I just love feeding time for the Titans because they always take what I drop into the lands with an eagerness and zest that is somehow super satisfying. And you’re about to see soon just how crazy and even intellectual they can get at feeding time when we feed them a giant cockroach, but more about that later!
But as for now, this offering of almond chunks is being appreciated greatly by the Titans. If you’re new to the channel, the Titans here are an interesting species and colony of ants. For one thing, they’re what you call polymorphic, meaning they have different sizes and shapes of workers. Have a look!
See that large worker there? That’s a major! It sports a massive head, specialized in defense and cutting things up. The colony will be needing majors to help break up these almond chunks into smaller bits for the colony. Right now, though, it looks like it’s patrolling the area making sure no trespassers come around to steal their nutty bounty!
But this menacing major is nothing! We’ll be seeing what the Supermajors look like later! Another thing that makes this particular colony pretty sweet is that they are a massive ant colony! If you think this looks like a lot of ants, trust me on this: This is probably a tiny fraction of the entire colony who reside mostly underground in their subterranean chambers.
Speaking of which, later we’ll also be peeking into their nest chambers, so do stay tuned for that coming up, as well! I hear they make some huge underground chambers!
The reason this colony is so big is because they are actually a supercolony, meaning they have several egg-laying queens, another thing that makes the Titans awesome, but also another reason they’re so hungry all the time! They’ve got a lot of mouths to feed! With multiple queens that constantly need food to produce eggs, and perhaps thousands of ant babies, i.e., larvae to feed, these ants need to work overtime to gather enough food to feed them all!
We saw in a video last year, when they were first introduced to this terrarium, that there were at least 6 egg-laying queens in the colony, along with the sheer mass of brood the queens were producing! You guys gotta watch that video after this video if you haven’t yet!
But speaking of their terrarium, you guys might be shocked to see what their territories look like today. AC Family, don’t panic, but it seems the Titans have decided to redecorate!
So this is what the Titan’s territories used to look like. We called it Olympus, a gorgeous mountain castle zen-themed kingdom. This is what it used to look like exactly one year ago! The Titans used to come racing down hills of virgin soil, adorned with towering tropical ground plants. It was pretty, pristine in fact, the garden perfectly tended and pleasing to the eye, a haven for the Titans if you ask me!
But apparently, if you ask the Titans here, they had other plans for exterior decorating! This entire area here used to be full of those beautiful, towering tropical ground plants. Well, that’s all gone now! These ants are currently celebrating their 1-year anniversary in Olympus, and check out what their idea of pretty and pristine is!
Yikes! The ants have been busy clear-cutting the entire area of plant life, leaving only mounds of bare, exposed earth in this mountain castle kingdom of Olympus. It’s amazing how different one year of customization makes in an ant terrarium!
A skeleton of a Japanese juniper bonsai tree hung morbidly off its dead branches, like a scarecrow warning of what could happen if you enter these lands ruled by such powerful ants. I’ll tell you what I think happened to all the plants in a bit, but first, check out the castle!
The Titans love nesting under this castle monument for some reason, which brings me to what I believe the Titans have been doing to their lands, which caused Olympus to completely become a dead zone! From what I understand, the subterranean nest tunnels and chambers of Asian marauder ants are pretty extensive and are composed of massive underground caves where the ants gather in huge groups, storing food, brood, and housing the queens, etc.
I’m thinking the ants killed the plants we planted from the ground up, totally making it hard for them to root properly. So they all eventually died out.
Now, I knew that one day, we’d like to peek into the Titan’s nest to actually check out these underground caves the ants excavate in the Earth, so I placed a decal removable sticker up against the glass to block out all light from the side in hopes the ants might dig their tunnels and underground caves against it! What do you say, guys? Let’s peek inside?
Ok…! I went in and pulled on the sticker… Actually, wait! You know what? On second thought, no!
There’s something I would like to do first in case the ants are disturbed by us giants looking into the recesses of their most private darkened chambers and come boiling out above ground! The territories, first and foremost, needed a serious facelift!
Let’s do this! I put on my surgical gloves for protection! Although these ants don’t have stingers like our fire ants, Asian marauder ants do have one hell of a bite! It hurts and leaves marks, even the ones from the tiniest workers.
These ants can strip meat right off the bone, so these gloves would help—“help” being the operative word! I knew stragglers would eventually find their way to my bare skin… hopefully not in my underwear this time!
Next, I went straight in for the dead bonsai tree. I tried to do this carefully so as not to disturb the ants. I wanted this dead tree out as it was a bit of an eyesore. As I began to carefully cut the tree from its base, I immediately began to feel ants swarming from below.
Ahhhh! So much for trying not to disturb the colony! The Titans were right on to me and began to run about in alarm, searching for the giant blue gloves that had come to disturb their home. They were mad and ready to attack, and they certainly did!
As expected, I got bit! I took the time to carefully pick the successful biters off my arms. They were not happy that I’d come to cut their dead tree down. I didn’t want to uproot this tree in case the roots were giving their nest structure somehow. But overall, I knew this renovation of Olympus was going to be tough!
The Titans were everywhere and ready to get me no matter what! But, regardless, I was determined to keep going.
The next step was to add some activated carbon to the digging medium to help neutralize any impurities in the soils. This is a technique I learned from terrarium-maker YouTuber Serpadesign.
I thought it was brilliant for use with ants, especially because these ants tend to be on the sensitive side when it comes to toxins and chemical substances. It would help keep the soils clean, just as it does for aquariums.
Next, I wanted to place in more decorative rock but did this with the utmost care not to squish or cave in any underlying caves below. I also placed the rocks on already-existing structures so as to create the least amount of disturbance underground. In the wild, these ants favor creating nests under large rocks and tree stumps, so these rocks would be perfect for the new Olympus.
And after four long hours of rearranging and renovations, this is what the new ant kingdom looked like! AC Family, behold!
The new ant Kingdom of Olympus! Olympus now had a sort of different theme. It was a lush, tropical rocky cliffside, with some special features that make it better suited to the extreme lifestyle of the Titans!
Let me show you why! First, take a look at all the plants here. They’ve been carefully selected for one reason. Can you guess why?
Well, it turns out all but one of these plants are epiphytes, meaning they grow on the surface of another plant or tree and derive their moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water, or debris accumulating around it! This means then, of course, that they don’t have an extensive root system, and therefore can still survive even if the Titans decide to nest under them!
Here at the top of the hill, we have some bird’s nest fern, a favorite epiphyte of mine because they are easy to grow. These three are growing in some soil plus sphagnum moss. They’re called bird’s nest ferns because of their nest-like appearance, as you can see when viewing them from behind. Check out that one growing on the branch like a true bird’s nest! Love that!
Here’s some Spanish moss, which of course doesn’t grow in soil at all—it just grows from these branches and hangs there like tropical curtains framing the territories well. Here’s another bird’s nest fern, and above it, one of my favorite air plants, tillandsias!
Tillandsias are attractive epiphytes that help make any terrarium look tropical. I personally love them in my ant kingdoms! Now, these two maranta plants are the only plants that aren’t true epiphytes, but I’ve planted them towards the sides and the lower area of the lands to decrease the chances of the ants mining their large caves beneath them.
They’re an attractive plant that I find, for some reason, does well within ant setups. Perhaps they thrive off ant poop? Who knows? I also love their look and tendency to grow low on the ground. Let’s hope they survive the Titan lifestyle!
Which brings me now to my absolute favorite part of the territories—the pit! These sunken lowlands have been designed to look like a true forest floor. Have a look! And apparently, it’s not only mine, but it’s clearly also the Titans’ favorite place to frequent above ground.
Though it looks pretty basic, it was actually the most complex part of the territories to design. First, I needed to add some startup moss growing from my moss stash and lay it down on the soil. Let’s hope it decides to continue growing here in this area.
These soils will be the most moist part of the lands, so I’m pretty hopeful it will like this environment at the pit. Next, I had to sprinkle some dead, decaying leaves to not only give it that forest floor feel but also start the process of enriching the soils for the marantas and offer food for soil creatures.
In fact, I took that dead bonsai tree and cut it up to create an awesome leaf litter layer throughout the territories! No need to waste a thing, right? And with the excess tree, I placed it as decoration on top of the castle. We might as well use everything!
And just like that, AC Family, the new Olympus stood majestic and beautiful, but functionally better suited to the Titans. What do you guys think of it? Could you live here if you were a Titan?
Well, interestingly enough, what I’m about to show you next was truly awesome! Are you ready for an interesting surprise? Turns out more than just ants live here now. After examining Olympus, I noticed a few creatures living amongst the ants.
See if you can spot one of them! There! It looks like we have millipedes, AC Family! These baby millipedes will help break down decaying vegetation, which is excellent for the system. It seems the ants see them as friends and don’t bother them. Great choice, as they are toxic and produce cyanide!
Now, let’s see how sharp your eyes are, AC Family. Tell me if you spot this next awesome creature. Did you see it?
On the moss, I spotted this cute fella that likely came with one of the plants! It’s a bagworm, a caterpillar of a moth that creates an awesome protective home, which it carries on its back, made of debris all glued together using silk. Guess it has loved the leaf litter we sprinkled on the forest floor and put it to good use!
It acts as an awesome shelter for the bagworm in case of danger, and also a great disguise, as the ants completely pass by oblivious to the worm’s presence! Otherwise, this worm would be a tasty morsel for the Titans. Nature is so sneaky!
Whoops! The home seems quite heavy. Nothing the bagworm can’t handle, though. Besides bagworms, the territories actually also have earthworms and nematodes, which are also great for the system as they help break down organic matter!
It was great to know the Titans had this good support team of other creatures to work together with to ensure these territories continue to thrive. The ants themselves produce a lot of garbage from leftover food and need these other creatures to help clean up.
Speaking of which, now it’s time for something truly incredible! AC Family, it’s that time again—feeding time! And what I have in store for the Titans will bring about an epic show for you that will blow your mind!
The ants seemed preoccupied and unaware that it was feeding time. They were pretty busy at the moment excavating tunnels and disposing of leftover garbage from yesterday’s almond meal. They seemed to be forming trails along the forest floor pit, where I was intending to drop their meal for the evening.
I couldn’t wait to see how the ants were going to feed on tonight’s entrée: a giant cockroach, dropped into the pit! Wait until you see the Titan swarm! Ooohhh, I couldn’t wait!
But first, the appetizer—some superworms! A few Titans discovered it, and it wasn’t long before more came to the party. And then even more! Take a look at that major going to town!
This superworm had been pre-killed and cut in several places of its body to decrease its suffering, but due to the nature of the insect nervous system, it was still capable of twitching and moving. And a lot of people have told me that insects don’t feel pain, but there is no proof of this.
In my opinion, of course they feel pain! I’ve watched live insects twitch in a pit of fire ants, and if you’ve watched our cockroach giving birth video on this channel, you’ll know what I mean!
Alright, speaking of the roach, it was time to offer them a chopped-up roach, which the Titans swarmed immediately! This is their favorite! But you guys will totally trip out at how brilliant these ants are at dealing with these huge roach chunks!
Prepare to witness the Titan swarm! There’s the other half of the roach! Yummy! Check out how quickly the ants appear on the scene in this quick time-lapse video! From above, the entire forest floor pit is carpeted with swarming ants.
The sight was pretty awesome! In the wild, I’ve seen this species swarm like this, and I always find it amazing to see it happen in Olympus, especially now in the new territories.
The two pieces of roach were rather far apart, but check out how the ants bring them into the nest! At the moment, here was one of the main entrances into their nest, and I already saw that ants were carrying chunks of dirt from inside the nest. Others were carrying dirt to other places…
Hmmm… what could they be doing, you ask? At the site around the roaches, you could see a few of the workers were already beginning to manipulate the dirt around the roach pieces. This is the start of their master plan!
Just wait, AC Family! Some ants stood guard for thieves as the rest of the colony worked hard all around. Ants had started to pile soil onto this roach piece, and the ants had already managed to break off smaller parts of the roach to cooperatively transport them into the nest for further breakdown.
Amazing teamwork! And into the nest the roach leg goes! It always staggers me to see the Titans feeding this eagerly!
These shots from here on in are not time-lapsed! These are just hungry marauder ants on a mission! Look at them! Even if this roach were alive, it would definitely not have been able to stand a chance at survival against the horde!
And there, AC Family, is the roach’s head, and from the looks of things, it looks like they’re going to attempt to pull the huge thing to the nest entrance. They’ve already begun ripping off chunks of meat from the inside and taking home the roach bacon!
They’ve ripped off another leg piece, and oh, they’re taking it down another nest entrance, it seems. As for the other nest entrance, it seems ants are taking soil out.
Ants were also beginning to build structures along the pathway to the nest. I assumed they were making it easier somehow for the roach chunks to slide towards the nest. I knew their master plans would unfold before our eyes over time, so I continued to watch.
It was important that the marauder ants get this huge roach underground and into the nest as quickly and efficiently as possible because if this were in the wild, birds or other creatures could smell this fresh meat and steal it from them.
This roach could feed hundreds of thousands of ants for a couple of days. Getting this roach into the nest was a matter of survival! They had already done a great job with the other chunk, which was now half sunken into the ground.
Wow! Not only were they burying the chunk, but they were actually pulling dirt from under it, so it sunk into the soil and, I’m guessing, into one of their nest chambers!
At the nest entrance, it appeared the ants were busy making the internal tunnels larger, but for some reason, they kept the actual entrance of the nest small.
Hmmm… I wonder why?
The ants were beginning to pull the roach towards the nest, little by little, and they had piled debris and soil on top of the roach. I felt this was a bit counterproductive because it might add weight, but perhaps it was also to camouflage the chunk to obscure its appearance from thieves?
And suddenly, out of nowhere, I saw this! A massive supermajor appeared on the scene, but after a quick inspection, it felt it wasn’t needed for this project and rushed back into the nest for some reason. Haha!
See how huge the supermajors are! They’re literal tanks! Majors did also show up on site, but it did seem the bulk of this operation was pulled off by the normal-sized small workers. Not sure how they decide, but the Titans are calling the shots for this operation, so I’m not questioning their intelligence.
As the huge roach chunk was pulled millimeter by millimeter forward, I began to notice that the ants weren’t actually piling the debris on top of the roach anymore but more creating a sort of debris wall at the back end of the cargo.
Hmmmm… What were these ants up to? Check it out, AC Family! Leave your guesses in the comments, and by the end of this operation, go back to your comment and let us know if you were right! All will be revealed soon, I promise, guys!
20 minutes later, the roach chunk had approached the nest entrance, which oddly was still the same size. It did still seem like dirt was being moved out from within the nest. The ants were also now really Trump-level committed to building that wall on the tail end of the roach chunk.
OK, seriously, what were these ants up to? But the entrance to the nest was still kinda small. What were they waiting for? How were they expecting to fit this huge chunk in there?
As for the other roach chunk, it was completely gone now, and like quicksand, the ants had literally undermined the roach until it sunk below ground level. The site was still active, though, as I saw ants moving soil from another area. I found that kinda weird, but again, this was actually all part of their plan to be revealed soon.
As the roach got real close to the entrance and the wall being built real thick behind the carcass, I began to notice the ants were starting to veer the roach carcass into the other nest entrance on the right. Oh, ok! And it was in that moment that it all made sense!
And it was at that moment that the Titans’ plans and utter brilliance came to light! Ahhh, I understand now!
The ants needed to get the food down into the nest as quickly as possible, right? So the reason they were moving the soil out from one area of the nest was that the ants had planned for a one-directional movement of soil.
In other words, workers would work to take soil out from one hole, so as to not hinder the roach from moving inside in any way! Imagine trying to lug a gigantic piece of roach into a nest with a ton of workers trying to carry dirt out of the same entrance!
This system of having an outbound soil exit and an inbound roach entrance allowed for the swiftest relocation of the food inside because everything was moving in a single direction. This was also why they weren’t making this left hole bigger. It wasn’t necessary, seeing as it was a dirt exit hole, and no giant roach would need to fit in here!
And why should the ants waste time, energy, and expose the entrance to their nest if they don’t need to? And sure enough, the massive roach was stuffed down the right nest entrance, and that massive wall they had built at the rear end of the carcass had become the solid door to seal everything up completely as soon as the roach was in! Wow!
The ants had the foresight to build the seal to the nest entrance ahead of time and position it at the rear end of the carcass so it could close the giant hole immediately! Isn’t that just sheer brilliance, AC Family?
And before I knew it, the roach pieces had disappeared inside the nest along with the swarm, with the remaining ants simply doing a bit of clean-up and erasing of tracks. The entire process was mind-blowing and truly an honor to witness.
It seems this new design of Olympus was, so far, proving to be a good match to their lifestyle. And now, AC Family, it’s not over! As promised, I wanted to peek into the nest and see just how awesome their underground tunnels and chambers were!
The idea of seeing one of the roach pieces inside one of their massive subterranean caves packed with ants and brood made my heart race! Here we go, guys! Let’s start with the front!
I began to peel off the sticker. Hmmm… leftover roach parts from a past feeding… And ohhhh, we’ve found a chamber! Not a huge one, but one with a big piece of almond! Wow!
They’ve brought the almond chunk all the way down from the top of the hill to this bottom area! And look! A baby millipede living inside the ant nest. How neat! They’re Titan pets!
The ants actually didn’t mind it there. Oh, this was so cool to get to see into their nest! I continued to pull off the sticker and saw more spacious tunnels—not too many ants, but still quite impressive!
It made sense that these tunnels had to be large like this so they could accommodate the supermajors and queens with ease. OK, and that was all I saw from the front end. No huge caves, but still cool!
I sealed the front back up to give the ants the darkened privacy they needed. And now, it was time for the big side! Ohhhhh, I bet this side would reveal some huge caverns and tunnel work.
I proceeded to pull off the sticker. I saw some tunnels… and more tunnels… and more tunnels, but up ahead was the big reveal…!
A worm! Eww! Gross! What? As I got to the end, I was a bit surprised that all I saw were tunnels and no huge caves—not even many ants!
Well, that was quite anti-climactic! At least we saw a worm! Haha! I guess it seems the Titans have decided not to show themselves today, but you know what?
I was ok with that, because upon further thought, I felt ant-keeping should be a give-and-take relationship. We give the ants what we, as their caregivers, are capable of giving, including a pristine kingdom, food, and privacy, and the ants give us back a peek into their private lives in return, but only as much as they feel fit.
And in a previous video where we visited Antstore in Berlin and saw these ants in a 100% clear setup, I asked you guys if you wanted me to transfer the Titans into something similar so that we could see the internal nest action, but after reading all your comments, it seems most of you were ok with having the ants live in privacy and just enjoying what the ants show us about their lives above ground.
And in this case, I believe I agree. Someone great once said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed!”
It was fulfilling enough to know that somewhere beneath these soils were massive caverns housing hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of ants, brood, queens, and food, deep within this tropical mountain castle home we made for them called Olympus.
The fact that the ants only allowed us to see what they were comfortable with actually made every sighting above ground that much more special to me. Wouldn’t you agree?
Now, there was one last thing I needed to add to these lands to officially make the new Olympus the land of the Titans. It was their official monument, which I recovered, cleaned up, and was now going to place here!
The Titans will always be one of my favorite ant colonies in the Antiverse, and it was so fulfilling knowing we were somehow helping them live their best life in the protection of the Antiverse.
Lights off on another epic ant day. AC Family, did you enjoy today’s episode?
I loved all the things we saw in Olympus today. How about you guys? Let me know in the comments!
The epic stories of the ants of the Antiverse continue in next week’s episode, so you know what to do! Smash that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON for notifications now, so you don’t miss out!
And don’t forget to hit the LIKE button every single time, including now! It would really help a lot!
Speaking of ants, it’s officially nuptial flight season in the Northern Hemisphere, and a lot of you are catching queen ants now, and in case you didn’t know, we’ve got all the top-of-the-line ant-keeping gear for you ant keepers at all levels, from beginner to advanced, as well as a ton of new and exciting products for the ant-keeping community not available anywhere else, so head on over to AntsCanada.com and browse through our shop.
We ship worldwide and offer full email support if you need us. We also have ant colonies with a queen available in most regions, so go check us out and pick up your ant farm kit and ant gear today!
If you’re new to the channel and want to catch up on all your AntsCanada lore, feel free to binge-watch this complete story playlist here, which traces the origins of all the ant colonies of the ant room, so you can follow their stories and better appreciate how these ant kingdoms came to be and why we love them so much!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here if you’d like to see the complete, uncut action sequence of the feeding of the Titan swarm, as well as scenes of life within the ant kingdom of Olympus. It’s all super satisfying to watch!
And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week! Last week we asked: Name one substance found in fire ant venom.
Congratulations to X.GAMER 3000 who correctly answered: Solenopsin.
Congratulations, X.Gamer 3000, you just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!
In this week’s AC Question of the Week, we ask: Name one creature living with the ants in Olympus.
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!