Oh man!
Back with a report from the Antiverse this week, regarding several of my ant colonies,
as well as some of the beasts featured in recent videos on this channel.
But you read the title, and yes, it's true.
The ever foreboding mites have made a return and are covering the bodies of one of our
most beloved of ant colonies - the Platinum Dragons!
The Platinum Dragons, whose species are known as Polyrhachis ants or lesser weaver ants,
actually came to me already with a mite infestation.
Eventually, however, after a few months under our care, it began to look like the mites
had miraculously disappeared.
Well, turns out, I was wrong, and they're back attaching themselves to the bodies of
our ants, but guys, I do have a theory that may surprise you, and I'll be explaining that,
as well as what some of the other ants and creatures have been up to lately, in today's
epic update episode!
AC Family, gather round once again, as we check up on several ant kingdoms and fantastic
beasts of the Antiverse, our epic Ant Room that continues to fill us with shock and wonder,
here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel.
Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the BELL icon.
Welcome to the AC Family.
Enjoy!
Our story begins in an ant kingdom known as El Dragon Towers.
If you're new here or aren't caught up with recent videos, our Lesser Weaver Ants whom
you, the AC Family have named the Platinum Dragons, were moved into this enclosure, in
a quiet corner of the Ant Room, so they could be quarantined and closely monitored.
You see, this is what their old home used to look like.
A moated jungle called El Dragon Island, and though they seemed to like living on the island,
and even appeared to be ridding themselves of pesky mites, the colony wasn't growing
as fast as I'd expected, so they were moved off El Dragon Island and into this more observation-friendly
setup composed of stacked outworlds, now called the El Dragon Towers.
Now, before we look at the ants themselves and the new mites, I wanna show you these
new territories in which the Platinum Dragons have been living for the past several weeks.
Their home was no longer an island, but was now a land-locked terrarium with the same
dragon skull sitting powerfully at ground-level.
In fact, El Dragon Towers is still designed like a dragon.
There's the head, and two great green leaf wings stretching high up into the skies.
The space is composed of 3 stacked AC Outworlds and are well ventilated with many breathing
holes and offers a great deal of space for our arboreal ants to climb and forage.
I wasn't sure at first how the ant colony would respond to life in El Dragon Tower after
living on an island for so long, but I was quite surprised to see this, AC Family.
Have a look!
Turning the towers around so we can see the back.
Behold, AC Family!
This bottom test tube is their brown sugar water reserve, and up here, we have the colony
nesting quietly.
Let's check out the sugar water test tube.
In this watering hole, which is almost ready to be changed due to the cotton starting to
mold, our Platinum Dragons are hanging out.
In fact, the ants guard this carb-rich reserve with their lives, and have learned that this
is the place from which they could consistently collect some cherished liquid nectar from
the gods!
And have a look at this pair.
It may look like they're kissing.
They are in fact, transferring food, a process called trophallaxis.
From the looks of things, it does seem the ant on the left is drinking from whatever
the ant on the right is regurgitating.
But from this you can also see how bad the mite infestation is again.
But before I go into my thoughts on these new mites, let's have a look up at the main
nest!
Living snugly within this AC test tube, we have our Platinum Dragons and all their young.
If you look carefully you can see which ants have mites, and can even see some on the surface
of the test tube.
This setup also provides a reservoir of fresh water offering the ants hydration and some
humidity.
There's actually some more ants congregating here, in their old leaf nest clipping taken
from the El Dragon Island, their old home.
It has since withered away, but the ants still love hanging out there which is totally fine.
And low and behold, here in the middle of the crowd is the queen, our Platinum Dragon
Royal Highness, layer of all the eggs, and the perpetuator of the ant colony.
She sits quietly in her spot reserving her energy for the great task of egg production
and laying.
Speaking of which, AC Family, it seems our queen has been very busy!
Take a look at all that healthy, growing brood.
Eggs, larvae of various sizes, and pupae were bunched together in piles, workers all tending
to and feed them, and also making sure the queen is fed well via trophallaxis so she
could keep producing all these eggs.
Now here's where my mite theory comes in, guys.
Ready for this?
Alright.
Listen to this.
Look closely.
Do you notice something strange about the queen and all her brood?
You may or may not have noticed that she is actually mite-free!
Same as all the brood.
Mites can only be seen on the bodies of the workers.
Now this I found to be pretty mind-blowing, and here's why.
First off, these mites seen here thankfully, are not the parasitic, blood-sucking kind.
We've already established our suspicions that this was the case in a previous video.
The mites in their natural state are not body latching mites, as seen here, but rather,
are naturally roving mites which eat decaying matter and fungus.
But the mites transform into what are called phoretic mites, which specialize at attaching
themselves on the bodies of insects when environmental conditions become unideal for them to live,
for example when it gets too dry for them to live properly.
At this phoretic stage the mites don't have mouths or anuses.
They are just body latchers that stay attached to the host insects until conditions improve.
The biological purpose of this transformation from normal mobile mite to body latching phoretic
mite is to sort of hibernate on a moving transport vehicle host until the host brings the mites
to greener pastures.
Once environmental conditions become favourable for the phoretic mites, the mites proceed
to transform into the next life stage and fall off the host insect to continue life
as a normal mite.
It's an incredible evolutionary adaptation, if you think about it!
Now, here's the mind-blowing part!
From the looks of things, it does seem like the mites know which members of the ant colony
to attach to.
Upon speaking with my acarologist friend, Dr. Kaitlyn Campbell, it was never mentioned
that the mites were picky with whom they chose to body-ride, but based on what we're seeing
here, AC Family, it seems the mites only want to ride on the workers.
And this, AC Family, is what's mind-blowing!
The mites seem to know that the brood nor the queen are ideal vehicle hosts to take
them to greener pastures because the queen and the brood never leave the nest, whereas
the workers, do.
Therefore, latching onto worker ants are a better choice for the mites becoming phoretic
mites because there is a greater chance they would be able to be taken to a better place
to live.
Isn't that just amazing?
The mites know not to attach to our queen nor the larvae and eggs.
I don't know how the mites managed to figure all this out, but they did!
So smart!
Unreal, right guys?!
Mites seem to have an impressive capacity to discern and choose their hosts, even if
their hosts are all the same species!
Something tells me mites are smarter than we all assume.
Now, this is quite the relief, guys, because our main reason for wanting to get rid of
phoretic mites in the first place was because Dr. Campbell mentioned too many phoretic mites
latching on to our queen and brood could cause some problems.
Well, if that's the case, based on what we're seeing here at this point, it seems the mites
are not a threat, and it's quite evident in the colony's overall health and increased
numbers.
Our Platinum Dragons are still doing very well despite the phoretic mites.
Now here's another major thing I noticed upon going back to old videos where mites had made
their appearance on our ants, it seems the phoretic mites most appear around this time
of the year, from around November to about February.
And well, AC Family, it just so happens that these months happen to be the cooler, drier,
and windier season here in the Philippines where I live.
AC Family, I suspect this is no coincidence.
My theory then is that a rise in phoretic mites is a seasonal thing.
Perhaps the mites at this time of the year find it too dry for them to live properly,
so they enter phoresis and attach to other insects until the onset of the summer and
wet season, upon which they transform into their next life stage and fall off our ants.
Ahhh-ha!
Isn't that just a valuable piece of information, guys?
We wouldn't have discovered this had we not moved our Platinum Dragons into this more
clearer setup.
So, at this point, I do feel these phoretic mites should not be a threat to our Platinum
Dragons.
The mites aren't parasitic, the Platinum Dragon queen and brood live phoretic mite-free, and
if my theory is correct, the phoretic mites should be less apparent or completely gone
by March of next year.
AC Family, I think we can all let out a sigh of relief.
I'll be sure to send this video, as well, to Dr. Caitlin Campbell and see what she thinks
and if there is research on mite's decision capabilities and intelligence, as displayed
here in El Dragon Towers.
Alright, now let's get a few more updates on some of our other friends in the Ant Room,
starting with our new goddess featured in our last episode, living in a desert shrine
known as the Arachno Sanctorium.
Check out the amazing progress of that web!
She's been quite busy over the past 2 weeks.
You can see her cleaning herself inside her protective silken chamber.
Little by little, our green-bottle blue tarantula here has been adding on to the web construction
more and more every night.
Have a look at how complex the funnel web is.
The other end towards the top is nicely sealed for her protection.
Now in the last episode featuring this tarantula, you saw that she had a molting complication,
where the top of her carapace failed to shed off, and can you guess what has happened since
then?
It's still there.
It doesn't seem to bother her at this point, and I expect that she'll be able to get rid
of this extra piece at her next shed.
For now, it's a decorative crown or hood, for the goddess of the Antiverse.
And hey, AC Family, while we're at it, this new goddess of ours needs a name.
Please take a moment to vote here for a name for our tarantula based on my top 5 picks
from your name suggestions in our last video.
Thank you, AC Council for your input!
And now moving on to an update to the episode before last, where the river of the Selva
De Fuego was overtaken by a green slime.
Turns out it was blue-green algae, and due to our treatments and added creatures, the
green monster is officially gone.
The waters are clear again and the plants winning the battle against the algae.
I love how clear the water is again.
It's therapeutic to look at, and I find myself just staring for hours.
And guess what?
Look at how big the tiny stow-away fry has grown!
Looks to me like the baby fish we discovered in that previous episode is a guppy!
How cute!
I know many of you guys guessed correctly!
Ten points for you if you did!
I have no idea what it's been eating since then, but now that's it's this big, I'll be
throwing in some fish flakes for it to feed on to help it grow big and healthy.
What should we name this little guy or girl?
Leave your name suggestions in the comments.
Remember our new carpenter ant colony?
I'm super thrilled to show you an update on them!
The carpenter ants are doing extremely well!
They've got a tonne of new brood and the workers, super vivacious.
They've also extended their tunnel work and living space to all areas of the nest.
Look at this larvae pile here.
I also love how they've chosen to use soil to strategically establish microclimates and
control hydration at desired locations of the nest.
This AC Hybrid Nest has proven to be an excellent home for this carpenter ant colony!
They've been eating well, including honey drops and roaches offered in a bottle cap
in their AC Outworld.
And guess what!
This booming supercolony finally has an official name!
I am happy to announce that you, the AC Family have voted for this carpenter ant supercolony
to be named the Lumberjacks.
Haha!
May the Lumberjacks continue to prosper and lay more eggs in this AC Hybrid Nest Outworld
Setup!
Now remember these?
These are the Chambers of Sudan, incubator chambers to our rhino beetle larvae which
were supposedly scheduled to emerge as fully developed adult rhino beetles around Christmas
time.
Well, no sign of the beetles, but then again, it isn't Christmas yet, so we'll just have
to keep waiting.
Anyone out there as excited as I am for Christmas to come sooner?
As for the termites, I've been leaving them in peace for the past few months.
They're quite low maintenance because they only need wood and water every few months,
so it has been easy to forget they're even there.
I do want to give them privacy though, and I don't wanna go in a wreck their structures,
so I'll be sure to check up on them at some point in the future.
Finally, an update on the Bobbleheads, our Pheidole ants living on Avista.
No change to report here, other than that they've grown quite bigger since we last saw
them!
Just to show you what I mean, let's place a freshly killed roach here and watch the
super colony emerge from hiding.
This entire sequence is not time lapsed, guys, so watch how quickly the ants learn about
the newly offered food.
Back at the nest things seem pretty chill, at first, but soon a commotion starts to build,
and very soon a massive highway begins to form on the wood bridge which takes the ants
to the bounty which awaits on the neighbouring island!
I
just love watching the Bobbleheads feed.
They are such voracious feeders!
And AC Family, that's it for now.
Now I know there are many other creatures and ant kingdoms in the Antiverse and parallel
dimensions to update you guys on, but I wanted to save these updates for our up coming AC
Holidays Special, uploading sometime within the week.
Thank you, AC Family for watching, and I will see you for our next video uploading in a
few days!
Until then, it's ant love forever!
Alright AC Family, what did you think of these updates?
Isn't it a relief that although the mites are back, we likely don't have to worry.
I will surely keep a close eye on the Platinum Dragons regardless and continue to update
you on their progress, as well as that of our other creatures of the Antiverse.
So, be sure to hit that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL icon now so you can keep updated, and
don't forget to hit that LIKE button every single time, including now.
Now, you may or may not have noticed that last week, I wasn't able to upload.
I was actually in Seattle raising funds for Dancember, a 24 hour live stream telethon
where we dance and perform for donations.
Turns out we managed to raise over $325,000 USD for Save the Children to help feed kids
around the world.
AC Family, if you'd like to donate towards such a worthy cause please feel free to hit
the blue donate button that you see beside or under this video, or click the link I will
put in the description box!
They are accepting donations until the end of the year.
Thank you to all who already supported in this critical season of giving!
Also a special announcement!
Although it's past the order date at AntsCanada.com for arrival before Christmas, our awesome
Holidays Promo is still in full effect until the end of the year, for all you ant keepers
and ant lovers wanting to get into the hobby this year!
And boy have the ant lovers gone ant love crazy so far!
So, guys, here's the deal!
Anyone ordering our new Ant Towers, which are already on sale, or any of our Hybrid
Nests or Hybrid Nest Gear Packs, will also get our newly revised 2019 version of the
Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook, with new and updated ant keeping info, a huge new section
on nuptial flight schedules and distribution info per species, and tonnes of gorgeous ant
photography.
Just order an Ant Tower or Hybrid Nest or Hybrid Nest Gear Pack, add the new e-book
to your cart and use the coupon code "antlove2019" and you get the e-book for free!
If you've always wanted to start ant keeping, don't miss out on this opportunity and check
out our ant keeping gear at AntsCanada.com.
I look forward to you all keeping ants with me!
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 line 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 would just like to watch
extended play footage of our Platinum Dragons living within El Dragon Towers!
You'll love looking closely at these marvelous ants and inspecting those phoretic mites latching
onto them.
And before we proceed to the AC Question of the Week, I'd like to plug my daily vlogging
channel, daily vlogs of my journey as a Youtuber with creatures like my baby African Grey parrot!
If you love birds and animals, and traveling, exploring the world, check out my vlog channel!
I'm also giving away FREE round trip tickets to beautiful Philippines from anywhere in
the world you live, so be sure to visit the channel and subscribe to qualify for the contest.
And now it's time for the AC Question of the Week!
Last week we asked:
Why was the Arachno Sanctorium a better suited home for our
green-bottle blue tarantula?
Congratulations to Willi W. who correctly answered:
The new home is better suited because naturally this species lives in desert like environments.
That's why you chose fake plants because they don't require any water like real plants which
would add moisture to the habitat.
Congratulations, Willi W., you just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!
In this week's AC Question of the Week, we ask:
Why do we suspect that phoretic mites might be a seasonal thing?
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 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!
For more infomation >> Vlan Yapısı Nedi? Nasıl Yapılandırılır? - Duration: 22:06. 
For more infomation >> Al Bano, Natale con Loredana Lecciso. E Romina? Ecco con chi lo passerà la Power.... - Duration: 14:39. 
For more infomation >> Andrea Agnelli : Bisogna cambiare per affrontare il futuro e le nuove sfide - Duration: 3:03. 
For more infomation >> Citroën DS3 1.6 e-HDi So Chic / Navi / Verbr. 1:30 / - Duration: 1:07. 
For more infomation >> Sốc!:Thủ tướng VN & Tổng thống Hàn 'làm khó' HLV Tuyển Việt Nam theo cách ít ai nghĩ đến ! - Duration: 17:04. 
For more infomation >> Citroën C4 Cactus 1.2 e-VTi Shine Automaat (Navi / Airco / Panoramadak) - Duration: 0:54. 
For more infomation >> INSTAGRAM SINCERO | PARAFERNALHA - Duration: 3:08. 
For more infomation >> Como Usar Cartão de Crédito (E GANHAR DINHEIRO) - Duration: 2:41. 
For more infomation >> La Familia Dedo De Navidad ♫ Canciones Infantiles ♫ Plim Plim - Duration: 2:09. 
For more infomation >> 22 Aralık 2018 - Duration: 5:07. 
For more infomation >> 夏になって歌え Little Glee Monster フル 歌詞付き (画面下欄の右から４番目の字幕ボタンを押すと歌詞が表示されます) - Duration: 4:51. 
For more infomation >> BOLSONARO COMEÇA A SE ABORRECER COM DESTAQUE DE MOURÃO - Duration: 2:08. 
For more infomation >> 🔸 Android TV Box - como conectar fone de ouvido com fio ( PT - BR ) + Legendas/CC - Duration: 2:16. 
For more infomation >> Renault Mégane Estate TCe 130pk GT-Line R-link, Climate, Cruise, Lichtm. velg. - Duration: 1:11. 
For more infomation >> Renault Mégane Estate TCe 130pk GT-Line Camera, R-link, Climate, Lichtm. velg. - Duration: 1:05. 
For more infomation >> Volvo V60 1.6 D2 R-Design,NAVI,TREKH,SPORTSTOELEN,BLUE-TOOTH,CC,NEDERLANDSE AUTO,BOEKJES,NAP - Duration: 0:59. 
For more infomation >> [미정발게임번역]프린세스커넥트R_메인스토리_1장(불청객) - Duration: 8:52. 
For more infomation >> Стрим по Роблоксу и Forza Horizon 4 И бесплатный пиар!! - Duration: 11:57. 
For more infomation >> 日産 GT-R、レクサス LC、ホンダ NSXを徹底比較 - Duration: 14:46. 
For more infomation >> Opel Mokka 1.4 T Cosmo Met Airco-Ecc, Navigatie, LM velgen. ( Vestiging - vIANEN ) - Duration: 0:48. 
For more infomation >> Toyota Auris 1.2T Dynamic ( Navigatie, Climate control, Cruise ) - Duration: 1:14. 
For more infomation >> Opel Mokka 1.4 T Cosmo 140PK, Vol Leer, Schuifdak, Navigatie, PDC, Climate control, Stoelverwarming, - Duration: 0:56. 
For more infomation >> 2018/12/22 午前9:43 (、〒841-0204 佐賀県三養基郡基山町宮浦８４０−１) - Duration: 4:59. 
For more infomation >> Saturday Morning Video Forecast 12/22 - Duration: 1:26. 
For more infomation >> Why Meghan Markle is 'frustrated' with aspects of Palace life - Duration: 2:50. 
No comments:
Post a Comment