I think the only long term solution will be to adapt the existing enclosure with clear glass and make it a closed off environment. Otherwise you will encounter escape problems when you are away from home for a few days (or longer) and not reapplying the chalk every day. If you use glass you will still see the open enclosure inside but it will stop them escaping so easily. Good luck AC in whatever you decide to do.
That what I was thinking too. You'll have to wall in Vulcania with like clear plastic, plexiglass or similar and some kinda tubigrip glue in the corners to keep the ants physically contained inside and hopefully move the access points to less humid parts of the enclosure where the talc will work better.
Lower the water output of the waterfall to reduce humidity and put a new slippy barrier on, in a way the water stays healthy and the ants can still drink enough. Just an idea you might be able to put to reality. Edit: wow! I appreciate the likes!
@@Saberrex1and how is he supposed to attach the tarantula spider web while he was not a tarantula spider? well he could add the tarantula but bloody god when he came out of his web he will become prey to thousands of ants
@@ferdykdsgsdehe has a tarantula and he could take the webs out of it’s enclosure and place it around the escape site. Sorry I don’t understand your comment fully. 👍
When you designed this setup, I said to myself, that it was an awfully bold move to keep fire ants in an open setup, and as I recall, you even had your doubts. They need a closed system, and one that can expanded to meet their needs, IMHO. Perhaps its time to give them a new space to safely explore, a more contained space off the main terrarium.
@@Frooti.loopz23 Yeah, about that... Since his ants escape over and over and over and over again, I'm starting to think he might not in fact be learning any lessons. Not that he needs to, since everything is content, so he makes money whether he's competent or not.
My thoughts exactly. As I recall he did say that these are non native ants and so to build a setup like this (even though it looks cool and all except that it is most likely it isn't escape proof) it will contribute to the destruction of the native ant colonies in the wild. I love to watch this channel and I am not turning away from it any time soon but this had me wondering why would you make a setup like this knowing that this could happen.
I always thought you were crazy keeping that particular colony in an open tank! - It makes for a stunning visual, but you know full well they are escape artists and I knew full well it'd only be a matter of time before they found some weakness in the barrier to exploit! The only safe, secure and long term solution is to either mover them into a sealed unit or somehow adapt the current set up to put on full height sided and a mesh top. It really was only a matter of time...! Luckily you caught them when you did!
Hello, I have been raising a colony of Atta mexicana for several years. It is 9 mushroom chambers, three harvesting areas for about 250,000 ants minimum. The only two effective barriers I found: close everything or parafine oil. Parafine oil is all the more effective when it is brushed on a horizontal rim that forces ants to be upside down. But it also works on vertical edge (beware of the deposit of material on it). Only problem brush every week or 15 days. Otherwise flamethrower with invasives....😇
I've seen florida fire ants get determined enough to cross a puddle of gasoline on a corpse raft... Fireants are just... may be some things shouldnt be kept in boxes.
You could always try installing an additional pane of something just far enough in from the existing external pane that ant's can't just cross the gap, and coat both sides of the new pane and also the original pane so you've effectively tripled the width of your barrier at the weak point. The gap between the panes would also serve as an advance warning alert well before a full escape, since if you find any ants have fallen into that gap (which they'd then struggle to get out of) you'd know that the initial part of the barrier has a breach.
I mean personally, I think you had a very genius idea with one of the Golden Empire setups. You had a very efficient setup with a Paludarium, where the terrestrial part would be surrounded by water, and you can put in some more sea creatures, and it becomes a thriving ecosystem in a way. The aquatic area, and inhabitants could feed off fallen members of the fire ant colony, and that would also be a plus in being at least a subtle population control for the fire ant colony. That still has to be one of my favorite designs even to this day.
Actually ignore this idea, lmao. I forgot that fire ants have natural evolution that helped them adapt to waters in high quantities. AKA: They can make rafts with each other, using it to float on/across the water.
I remember that you had a similar problem back with the fire nation, that they got around most of your normal barriers too. If I remember, you needed silk from the nest of one of your tarantulas to stop them properly. Could that kind of silk be obtained, and applied to the new setup? Otherwise, adding a population controlling element to the barriers may just be necessary, the explosive growth of this colony means they will probably always be on the lookout for new space to expand into if nothing limits their numbers.
I think the controlled culling is advantageous. you turned a potential disaster into a learning opportunity. You showed how we do not need poison to control ants and really any other insect. I use Diamoatous Earth myself when dealing with insect issues, it really is the best solution. So I think continued controlled culling is in order with consideration on how to improve the barrier in the future. Maybe even a barrier that has the option to allow escape once in a while to cull the colony occasionally.
Yeah, he may have to cull them in the short term. But in a way that's natural... Namely: reduce their food intake so the queen won't lay as many eggs. That could buy time for a more permanent solution
Diomoatous earth is honestly a really good suggestion, put it as a extra barrier between leaving and now they have to cross both a deadly moat of earth and the talcom powder
What if you cull them by fire.... Everyone on the surface gets cooked, but the ones remaining in the nest would be fine. Kinda fitting for fire ants ngl
I saw the notification and my brain was immediately "oo yay AntsCanada!" And then it saw the title and was like (sigh) "of course they did." And now here we are Thank you for making amazing videos all these years, you inspired me to start keeping ant farm thingy ❤ (Edit: spelling error, I fixed it)
As difficult as enclosing the tank is, I think that is probably the realistic choice. Think about it. If the fire ants escape from their enclosure and into the wild, would you ever be able to forgive yourself? I know I wouldn't. And seeing your love and respect for the wild ant species in your backyard, I know that you couldn't.
3:22 you can see something wet hit the glass in 2 spots for sure...that could be whats causing the problem..... Crematogaster sp are the same in my opinion. They have been able to escape on me multiple times since becoming an antkeeper so many years ago due to the AntsCanada ant channel. They have chewed holes in cotton blockers, crossed PTFE aka fluon...I bought a set of attachments that make the hose of my vacuum tiny and not only allow for precise aiming to collect them but made it a breeze to clean out worlds as well. I feel as though you should mention that when using a vacuum on escaped ants if the vacuum is left on continuously the ants will die from all that air causing dehydration. You have to suck them up for a few secs, stop, then go again or just dump them each time. And I'd also make sure to clean as well as possible the pheromone trails they were using with alcohol or something. Just as another precaution. But maybe the waterfall needs to be turned off and or create something that doesn't allow for much splashing. You can see in one part of the video splashes against the glass, you can see it get wet and soak in sorta...I'll find the time stamp
If you want to keep the current setup and not move them, your best bet is to attempt to seal the tank up. The open concept is great, and I loved watching you make it, but the fire ants are to good at escapes. You need a more sealed in setup. Either a fix on current tank, or you might have to move them. I don't think changing the waterfall/humidity will help much. In an open setup, the fire ants will find a way. Good luck AntsCanada!
This is just a scaled up "ac tower & outworld".. so what do you normally do when when it reaches capacity? Add more sections‼️ If the colony is seeking a site for a satellite nest, then provide one💪⚒ Since you built this formicarium as an "open concept" it will be much easier to add another stand/tank right next door and build a "bridge" from their sand area to the new tank. Or maybe even a shelved stand with *_multiple_* tanks on it, so you have a series of "outworlds" to progressively add‼️💪💯
My first thought when I saw the title was that the fire ants had a nuptial flight in your ant room and you had no idea where the new queens were hiding in your ant room. You definitely need to either put them in another enclosure or build an exterior enclosure around their setup so they can't escape and you can prevent them from flying around your room when the virgin queens and drones decide to mate.
To expand on another's idea in here, enclosing Volcania would be best. Using a plexiglass hatch system where part of it is sealed with caulk and part of it is sealed with an air-tight rubber stopper might be a good idea. The latch area can be a simple window flap or an entire sheet of plexiglass that can be flipped up on basic hinges. The parts that will never be moved will be sealed with caulk while the parts that are meant to be moved when feeding or recording could be sealed with rubber stoppers so the ants can't find a way through. No gaps to take advantage of.
Dude you need a talcum painted moat around your enclosures. Now hear me out: You have your inner wall that encompasses the ant colony and it is coated with talcum to avoid escape. after the inner wall you put a second wall about 1 inch further as a moat (it doesn't need to be too deep) and line both sides(the outer side of the inner wall and the inner side of the outer wall) with talcum and optionally paint the floor with chalk. That way IF someone manages to poke a hole in your inner wall, it will inevitably slip inside the moat and die there. This will hold off even a huge breakout off for ages and you can EASILY spot if the inner wall is breached and start measures to strengthen the inner wall
The best fix I can think of is to turn off the waterfall or remove the water feature entirely. This will probably negatively impact the viability of the nest but it will allow containment of the fire ants and if they do need to be moved it will make it easier to encourage them to move naturally
Maybe you can consider doing a some kind of a moat with running water that'll flow down to the main water feature of the set-up. Ants that will try to escape will get flushed to the main water feature and then maybe you can add a shore so they can return to the colony 😅
I have an idea. Fire ants cant stand cooler temperatures, if I remember correctly, so you could surround their terrarium with cold water (or an other substance like metal), so they would technically be able to escape, but not want to do so because as far as they know, they are surrounded by antarctica.
If I recall correctly with the Fire Nation, you used tarantula webbing as a natural deterrent to block off their escapes before. You could try that again if your current tarantula produces enough silk. But past that, you might need to start reapplying baby powder every few days since the current barrier doesn't work anymore. Or, like others have said, add a few glass panes to make it no longer an open setup.
Humidity is only a problem because of the use of dry containment upon the walls. Open concept is gorgeous, I'd like to see you keep it. How about waterfall walls? Add a separate line to your pump that feeds a system that adds a layer of water to your walls, that they can't climb up.
It would be cool if you added a sort of extension to the terrarium, adding another island Based off whatever fictional or Real life island personally, I think that would be really cool
@nicholasbutler2365 I never said you had to be rich to get ripped. I'm in the military yolked out of my mind and definitely not rich. I'm just saying free time definitely is a good motivation for working out lol
I have a fire ant colony too and I use coconut oil to keep them in the tank and they can't escape and other ants can't come in it, So I recommend Coconut oil for the job🐜❤
Instead of moving them, you could build a larger expansion around their current set-up that is more enclosed. Then you could add like an island or something to surround the volcano.
maybe there’s a way you can redirect the waterfall into a stream around the whole setup, and surround the inner wall of it with something the ants struggle to climb, maybe something very sticky, moss, or maybe even something more active like tropical sundews or insect-eating fish to pick off ants that go too far
Maybe mix petroleum jelly with paraffin oil and apply it like the powder paste you used? The only other things I can think to try are a 'pond' around the outside of the tank and predator plants. For the trough make a gutter-like trough around the setup filled with water. From there you could add half or quarter lids for each side (As in the lid just adds a hurdle to the outside edges) and apply Fluon there instead of having to get it on the existing and used setup. You could also add predator fish, frogs, and aquatic plants to the trough so single scouts would have a chance to be thinned out before getting to the wall and up and over the lids. The water could hook back into the existing water system. Predatory plants could be added to the setup as well. Pitcher plants or Sundews could be added as a last line to attract and predate on ants that are getting too 'inquisitive' in an area they shouldn't be. I know the ants are pets and ideally, we won't have to do things like introduce predators but these plants can only 'eat' so many ants at once. And scouts that do get into places they should not been and think 'Oh tasty snack!' will be prevented from returning. If they do escape the plants they may warn the colony that the area has dangers with 'no go' pheromones.
I noticed in your video that the waterfall is splashing the glass, I don't think it is just the humidity. If you could stop it from splashing the barrier should hold better. Watch at 3:23-3:25 along the centerline of the screen from top to bottom at the left side of the screen and near the middle, and you will see two large wet spots form. That is why the powder in that area has a weird pattern to it as well, and wy it too so long to become a problem.
Controlled culling is actually not ideal because you're human, not a machine, if you lose a single hour it could be the difference between they completelly invading your house. As a Brazilian I know how those ants are insane in nature, and I'm sure you know that too. I think you have a few options: You can adapt the setup to make the water a barrier around the tank, instead of just having in one of it's sides. You could lower the water output to make the humidity weaker but I dunno if that would help. You could adapt the current setup to add a new tank around it, closing it completely. I remember you had these kind of ants in a forest type of tank with simulated rain and even water all around it. I believe the water form a good barrier, but yeah, this open concept is not good for Fire ants. Or any ants that can make bridges. Frankly I find it insane that they only tried to escape NOW, I know these ants, and they are known for floating in water to save the group and even make bridges with their own bodies. Also, try to fetch some plaster and use it to close that gap the ants wanted to get in. There was something shiny inside of that I thought for a second it was Larvae. But I guess your best way of dealing with it is both adding water around the tank to make a barrier of water OR making the outerwalls higher, this way the talcum won't get unusable so soon because the barrier is too close to the water I guess.
I honestly think there’s not a a RUclips following as wholesome as this one there’s no hate I love it this is why I love ants Canada I may not love ants but I do enjoy his personality and passion for ants and life in general I’ve been watching for over 2 years now and I’ve loved ever second of it
I'm betting there's a 100% chance that at least once, you've experienced a bad dream of being covered in fire ants and woke up swinging and scratching lol You're a brave soul.
Maybe you can add another enclosure for them to travel to while still feeding them at the volcano. When the colony gets too big you can either add a third enclosure or cull the ants in the second one, or which ever one the queen isn't in.
I doubt you’ll see this. But I wanted to let you know how much I respect and look up to you. Everything that you have done from your website(s) to all of your different pets is just amazing to me. I want to do a lot of things that you have already done. And if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have the same respect for biodiversity and science as a whole as I do now. So really I just wanted to say thank you.
Well said. I have a very different outlook on our world since discovering this channel. I got curious about Carpenter ants in my shed and searched RUclips one day. So lucky I did because I learn so much from these entertaining videos.
Can we talk about the fact this guy makes a Discovery quality documentary EVERY week? I literally NEVER cared about ants in any capacity. Now, not only do I see the beauty of this magnificent animal, I love them. This has slowly become my favorite channel on RUclips. His love and compassion for these underrated animals is absolutely inspiring. I'll never look at ants the same way again, all because of this channel.
I feel you should put Volcania in a giant, sealed glass box. You’d still be able to see in, but if it’s sealed, they can’t escape. Also, flies can survive in a vacuum, so if ants can as well, then mabey sucking all the air out of Volcania would prevent undesired humidity.
This is a freaking nightmare situation for me, and I am amazed and fascinated at how you handled this situation my AntGod! I apologize you had to deal with this situation, but thank you so much for showing us how you handled it! I still am terrified of these amazing beasts, but the way you show and teach is phenomenal! (BTDubs...You are truly a God in appearance, as well as knowledge! Keep strong my God!) I hope you are doing alright and staying safe Sir, and I can not wait until next weeks episode!
1)put the setup in water saucer/trench on the floor as a last failsafe 2)Change the glass dimensions at escape area to be further away from from moisture 3) High voltage bug zapper around each leg of setup, or one around tank
These ants are definitely not for open-concept setups. Especially when you know they are invasive and they sting a lot. You definitely need to transport them to some giant enclosed tank with long plastic tubes as transit route. The same should be applied and to all ants you have there.
I'd maybe suggest a moat, so place the entire enclosure as it is into a large vat of sorts with a water moat like you've done before, kind of like the floating skull island one. That way if they break the barrier again they're only going to fall into a watery abyss, this way the ants shouldn't be able to dump their discards into the water, and you might be able to keep an aquatic animal in the moat safely? Good luck!! Xx
@WritesMe Yeah, they make cute little rafts, don't they? I was thinking if he had a 'water beast' to potentially eat them before they can create their raft?
I'm a new-ish subscriber. Love these positive comments. My mind immediately went to a culling, the pandemic World War for ants, and leaving the bodies for them to deal with. Jerry? Jerry, oh my God! Juh-HAIR-EEEE, followed by the Great Ant Depression and rebuilding while we root for them.
I think you should add a barrier of water with some water creature around volcania. That would probably keep them in. You might also want to fix up any cracks in the tank base, or get a fresh one
As good an idea a water barrier is, Fire Ants have a nasty habit of making living life rafts with small groups of themselves, to allow the rest to survive/get across
Happy Saturday 🐜🇨🇦! Lots of ❤ from WA State! The talcum powder barrier anarchy…this is why I love your channel - the unpredictability and solutions. Thank you for the Saturday morning update! 🐜🇨🇦4️⃣-EVER! ❤️
Fire ants literally burn your skin when they touch you, this isn’t good, now is not the time to compliment him when there’s ants that can burn his skin IN HIS OWN HOME
"a humane way to kill them, micro cut them, and let them to dihydrate" lol... i think you should conect that volcano to another enclousre that have some kind of predator, so they have a safe enclousure and a wild jungle to quest for treasures
You can get diatomaceous earth in powder form. Which leaves a lot of options on how and where to apply it. It can even be mixed with water and sprayed, when it dries, the powder stays. You can control the solution from barely there to mud thick. Maybe mixing into the talc solution would be effective in stopping them from even trying to climb the talc border? And if you could experiment with using it with other things - I'm wondering if it could be mixed with vaseline, which would eliminate the humidity problem (but maybe not the heat?), and then put a line all around the edge. Or maybe some double side tape coated with the powder? I'm even wondering if you could add in an essential oil frangrance to deter them - I don't know how good their sense of smell is to use in the ant room at all, but I've been using a concoction this summer that's been keeping all the bugs from coming into the house and it's worked really well - no ants, spiders, gnats, flies, wasps or hornets this summer....and my cats aren't bothered by the scent or the oil/water mix, and I can't smell it once it dries. Maybe wouldn't be good in your scenario - but it could be an option to keep outdoor ants from coming in and invading your colonies. I spray the curtains, screens and sills. Bunches of recipes online.
Do you suppose they may need a larger nesting area due to the colony's enormous size? That was the first thing I thought of when I saw what had happened.
Hey there! I feel like it is indeed, as you mentioned, a temporary solution. Even tho I like vulcania very much, I think it might be best to maybe introduce them to a deadly creek with some water beasts. You did it previously, and i think it was quite effective. Im truly sorry, that these measures had to be taken and wish you a lot of luck dealing with this.
My dude built like his fire ants 💪🏻 love the channel, very informative and I just love seeing all the different enclosures and set up you have for your ants!
Inception! A tank within a tank concept in which you get to keep the original setup but the new outer setup is an expansion. Pros: -get to keep original setup as is -solve the escapee problem by building new outer setup that would be : A; either some distance away from humidity emitted from water fall. (Not sure how effective that’ll be tho) B; or create an add on to the weak point of the barrier. Cons: -need to figure out how to attach the new expansion to volcania. -new setup can still be an open air space or pocket dimension -new setup is arid or waterless? Like a no man’s land for ants to explore. OR go with a new enclosed setup attached to the weak point of volcania. (Reward the wayward explorers who had fallen, they did not died in vain XD) (Since it’s common in nature for one side of the mountain to have deserts and the other side to have a rainforest (rain forest can be the enclosed set up they can get into.) If you can’t decide build both with one side desert (cacti UwU) at weak point and the other side of the mountain with rainforest and water feature. Both say symmetrical and enclosed or one side open air and the other enclosed. (Which ever one is most effect of keeping ants in and easier for you to build) Good luck and wish you the best in your ant keeping and your ant’s future journey into the unknown frontier!
You have said in the past that they do this to find more living space. Is there a way to give them another set up that they can go back and forth between the two?
What I have seen at zoos on how they deal with this is surrounding the island with water and turn there setups into islands so if they where to escape they would only get a stream of flowing water around the edge
Regular controlled culling. You could always get a pet that eats ants and feed them to that pet so they don't go to waste. Always thought it would be cool to have a tube with a valve running between a formicarium and the encloser of something that likes to eat ants. Open the valve from time to time and some of the ants would go over and get eaten. I don't have enough experience with barriers because I've only ever kept ants in sealed enclosures, but I did once need to use some Fluon on the underside of the lid of one of your famous Ant Towers because the ants I was keeping were so small that they could sometimes pop through the tiny holes. XD I prefer fine mesh over holes in plastic because there's always a smaller ant. I'd sometimes find one with her gaster stuck and give it a little push to get it unstuck. Fun times, I miss my ants!😢
Maybe since they haven’t actually escaped the stand, you can try putting another barrier around that whole platform with talcum or chalk lining it so it would be farther away from the humidity of the setup.
My best idea would be to use a heating element strand for a border. You could take a bug zapper racket and build a electrical fence. You should incorporate a moat around the base of your tank.
Place the entire terrarium into a another shallower terrarium filled with water, and stock it with fish! Acts a barrier, and a form of population control
well honestly I think u should just, if u have any, workers to put the chalk on 1 and Everday so like (Chalk no chalk Chalk yk, while there doing that u try to fix the problem or just make a new part of the tank then make it or at least put the chalk as a border so they cant cross saw off or what ever the corner there escaping from the make a new one then glue or tape that or just get new texis? idk and then u make the chalk border then put the new part on just like that (sorry its a lot but to me its a little of a good idea / simple thing being a logistic person).Thank you
aside from straight up inventing a new barrier that works well in humidity, the only other long term thing you can do is adjust volcania to be a closed setup or closer to a closed one. I know glass can get dirty and that much glass would be a hassle to clean for filming videos, so would a large section of fine mesh work better? I have no idea if ants can chew through metal mesh or somehow bend it open but mesh might look better more often and you could even create functional windows of sorts to get your camera in. you could also do a part glass set up too, where the sides where the water is (and the humidity would be highest) would be glass (the glass could go in toward the mountain a little so that way the areas that need the barrier wouldnt be in a humid location thus the barrier should hold up better) and the front would be still open as the barrier wouldnt have worn down because it's not as humid, or the front could have the mesh on. regardless of path you go, adapting volcania to be a closed set up is going to take some engineering so I hope these ideas give you some food for thought. best of luck to you!
They have lived in there for a couple months now, and onyl 2 escapes... thats not terrible... you could put a glass box around your enclosure, with the ability to open the front for filming. Its still an open concept enclosure, but it has a safety perameter in place for when they find a breach every 2-3 months.
Maybe a second section for them to expand to would be the best? Something that could keep them in the volcano yet make them feel like they are escaping to somewhere
Might be to hard to pull off but maybe you could build a perimeter channel across the rim of the tank that gets filled with water and flows over creating a constant waterfall around the entire tank. Since the front is covered with sand you would also need to add canals on the inside that returns the water to the sump. It would take a lot of work and modifications to the tank with an active colony inside but if you pull it off I think it would create a cleaner look and the open concept is very cool, brave and unique and I think it’s worth finding a solution to keep it like that. Hope you find a solution.
I've seen another ant channel use an oil instead of talcum powder, and it has the same effect, the ants fall off. And it doesnt leave a white powder everywhere.
Nooooo!!! Please help, guys! I honestly don't know what to do... This is Ants vs. Creator of Worlds!🔥🐜
Fire ants always find a way but there is likely something that we can do im sure well find out
6 likes already dam
Oh gosh, I can’t help, I’m sorry D:
Close up the current setup. Then you don't need to move them.
Do away with the waterfall.
I think the only long term solution will be to adapt the existing enclosure with clear glass and make it a closed off environment. Otherwise you will encounter escape problems when you are away from home for a few days (or longer) and not reapplying the chalk every day. If you use glass you will still see the open enclosure inside but it will stop them escaping so easily. Good luck AC in whatever you decide to do.
Came here to say that as well. Enclosing Volcania may be the best option.
Exactly what I was thinking
Agreed. A remodel probably won't be easy, but it's necessary.
I'll throw my vote here as well. Try to close the existing enclosure with glass. Try not to get stung too much while you do it. Good luck.
That what I was thinking too. You'll have to wall in Vulcania with like clear plastic, plexiglass or similar and some kinda tubigrip glue in the corners to keep the ants physically contained inside and hopefully move the access points to less humid parts of the enclosure where the talc will work better.
Lower the water output of the waterfall to reduce humidity and put a new slippy barrier on, in a way the water stays healthy and the ants can still drink enough. Just an idea you might be able to put to reality.
Edit: wow! I appreciate the likes!
Good idea. Add tarantula webbing too. After all, it stopped them before, so why not again?
@@Saberrex1 oh yes…forgot about, that’s a good idea!
Yes
@@Saberrex1and how is he supposed to attach the tarantula spider web while he was not a tarantula spider? well he could add the tarantula but bloody god when he came out of his web he will become prey to thousands of ants
@@ferdykdsgsdehe has a tarantula and he could take the webs out of it’s enclosure and place it around the escape site. Sorry I don’t understand your comment fully. 👍
When you designed this setup, I said to myself, that it was an awfully bold move to keep fire ants in an open setup, and as I recall, you even had your doubts. They need a closed system, and one that can expanded to meet their needs, IMHO. Perhaps its time to give them a new space to safely explore, a more contained space off the main terrarium.
yeah that was what i was thinking too!
Yeah, lessons learned for sure.
@@Frooti.loopz23 Yeah, about that... Since his ants escape over and over and over and over again, I'm starting to think he might not in fact be learning any lessons. Not that he needs to, since everything is content, so he makes money whether he's competent or not.
My thoughts exactly. As I recall he did say that these are non native ants and so to build a setup like this (even though it looks cool and all except that it is most likely it isn't escape proof) it will contribute to the destruction of the native ant colonies in the wild. I love to watch this channel and I am not turning away from it any time soon but this had me wondering why would you make a setup like this knowing that this could happen.
Since he made this set up I have been waiting for this episode. I thought the last on was it but nope, here we are. Good luck.
Given that it took 6 years of planning and 2 colonies for them to finally escape, I'd say you did well keeping them.
Bruh they aren’t the same colony
@@Marshmellowdosgamesthat's y they said 2 colonies
I always thought you were crazy keeping that particular colony in an open tank! - It makes for a stunning visual, but you know full well they are escape artists and I knew full well it'd only be a matter of time before they found some weakness in the barrier to exploit! The only safe, secure and long term solution is to either mover them into a sealed unit or somehow adapt the current set up to put on full height sided and a mesh top. It really was only a matter of time...! Luckily you caught them when you did!
Hello, I have been raising a colony of Atta mexicana for several years. It is 9 mushroom chambers, three harvesting areas for about 250,000 ants minimum. The only two effective barriers I found: close everything or parafine oil. Parafine oil is all the more effective when it is brushed on a horizontal rim that forces ants to be upside down. But it also works on vertical edge (beware of the deposit of material on it). Only problem brush every week or 15 days. Otherwise flamethrower with invasives....😇
I've seen florida fire ants get determined enough to cross a puddle of gasoline on a corpse raft... Fireants are just... may be some things shouldnt be kept in boxes.
@@squeethesane😂
@@squeethesaneFlorida fire ants are the honey badger of the insect world
You could always try installing an additional pane of something just far enough in from the existing external pane that ant's can't just cross the gap, and coat both sides of the new pane and also the original pane so you've effectively tripled the width of your barrier at the weak point. The gap between the panes would also serve as an advance warning alert well before a full escape, since if you find any ants have fallen into that gap (which they'd then struggle to get out of) you'd know that the initial part of the barrier has a breach.
I mean personally, I think you had a very genius idea with one of the Golden Empire setups. You had a very efficient setup with a Paludarium, where the terrestrial part would be surrounded by water, and you can put in some more sea creatures, and it becomes a thriving ecosystem in a way. The aquatic area, and inhabitants could feed off fallen members of the fire ant colony, and that would also be a plus in being at least a subtle population control for the fire ant colony. That still has to be one of my favorite designs even to this day.
Actually ignore this idea, lmao. I forgot that fire ants have natural evolution that helped them adapt to waters in high quantities.
AKA: They can make rafts with each other, using it to float on/across the water.
@@ghoulishtheories7979 Oh, jacked! That was my idea too. Oh well.
I remember that you had a similar problem back with the fire nation, that they got around most of your normal barriers too. If I remember, you needed silk from the nest of one of your tarantulas to stop them properly. Could that kind of silk be obtained, and applied to the new setup? Otherwise, adding a population controlling element to the barriers may just be necessary, the explosive growth of this colony means they will probably always be on the lookout for new space to expand into if nothing limits their numbers.
The ants are harder to contain than SCP’s during a breach
HAHAHAHAHA
Tru
LOL
Fr
You can't contain them
I think the controlled culling is advantageous. you turned a potential disaster into a learning opportunity. You showed how we do not need poison to control ants and really any other insect. I use Diamoatous Earth myself when dealing with insect issues, it really is the best solution.
So I think continued controlled culling is in order with consideration on how to improve the barrier in the future. Maybe even a barrier that has the option to allow escape once in a while to cull the colony occasionally.
Yeah, he may have to cull them in the short term. But in a way that's natural... Namely: reduce their food intake so the queen won't lay as many eggs. That could buy time for a more permanent solution
Diomoatous earth is honestly a really good suggestion, put it as a extra barrier between leaving and now they have to cross both a deadly moat of earth and the talcom powder
I like this idea
What if you cull them by fire.... Everyone on the surface gets cooked, but the ones remaining in the nest would be fine. Kinda fitting for fire ants ngl
DE is good, unless the issue is the humidity. Boric acid powder might be a better option in that case.
I saw the notification and my brain was immediately "oo yay AntsCanada!" And then it saw the title and was like (sigh) "of course they did." And now here we are
Thank you for making amazing videos all these years, you inspired me to start keeping ant farm thingy ❤
(Edit: spelling error, I fixed it)
#raiseriggy
@@maximtsankov9445PLEASE do not say it here, say it on danno’s page instead.
Here before this blows up
@@maximtsankov9445nobody cares stfu
same
Put a no trespassing sign
😂
How do you spell "trespass" in antish?
@@Madonnalitta1🚷🐜‼️
🤣👌 love this.
Perfect
As difficult as enclosing the tank is, I think that is probably the realistic choice. Think about it. If the fire ants escape from their enclosure and into the wild, would you ever be able to forgive yourself? I know I wouldn't. And seeing your love and respect for the wild ant species in your backyard, I know that you couldn't.
3:22 you can see something wet hit the glass in 2 spots for sure...that could be whats causing the problem.....
Crematogaster sp are the same in my opinion. They have been able to escape on me multiple times since becoming an antkeeper so many years ago due to the AntsCanada ant channel. They have chewed holes in cotton blockers, crossed PTFE aka fluon...I bought a set of attachments that make the hose of my vacuum tiny and not only allow for precise aiming to collect them but made it a breeze to clean out worlds as well. I feel as though you should mention that when using a vacuum on escaped ants if the vacuum is left on continuously the ants will die from all that air causing dehydration. You have to suck them up for a few secs, stop, then go again or just dump them each time. And I'd also make sure to clean as well as possible the pheromone trails they were using with alcohol or something. Just as another precaution. But maybe the waterfall needs to be turned off and or create something that doesn't allow for much splashing. You can see in one part of the video splashes against the glass, you can see it get wet and soak in sorta...I'll find the time stamp
👍
Can you build a terrarium around the terrarium? So they escaped, but didn't escape.. and we can see what they plan to do next? How big this could get.
That's not a bad idea actually, because that quench their need to explore especially at the growth rate they're at.
That would be cool aquariumception.
Also curious and interested in this idea
Just build a house for em and a cage around it 😂
If you want to keep the current setup and not move them, your best bet is to attempt to seal the tank up. The open concept is great, and I loved watching you make it, but the fire ants are to good at escapes. You need a more sealed in setup. Either a fix on current tank, or you might have to move them. I don't think changing the waterfall/humidity will help much. In an open setup, the fire ants will find a way. Good luck AntsCanada!
This is just a scaled up "ac tower & outworld".. so what do you normally do when when it reaches capacity? Add more sections‼️
If the colony is seeking a site for a satellite nest, then provide one💪⚒
Since you built this formicarium as an "open concept" it will be much easier to add another stand/tank right next door and build a "bridge" from their sand area to the new tank. Or maybe even a shelved stand with *_multiple_* tanks on it, so you have a series of "outworlds" to progressively add‼️💪💯
That would be interesting to see.
sounds like a dangerous idea, ants may decide to try find their luck scaping thru the tanks connections, but maybe with some tube ant highways
ought to make the bridge from a tube network like he did in the past
My first thought when I saw the title was that the fire ants had a nuptial flight in your ant room and you had no idea where the new queens were hiding in your ant room. You definitely need to either put them in another enclosure or build an exterior enclosure around their setup so they can't escape and you can prevent them from flying around your room when the virgin queens and drones decide to mate.
To expand on another's idea in here, enclosing Volcania would be best. Using a plexiglass hatch system where part of it is sealed with caulk and part of it is sealed with an air-tight rubber stopper might be a good idea. The latch area can be a simple window flap or an entire sheet of plexiglass that can be flipped up on basic hinges. The parts that will never be moved will be sealed with caulk while the parts that are meant to be moved when feeding or recording could be sealed with rubber stoppers so the ants can't find a way through. No gaps to take advantage of.
Crazy how it just takes one ant to go "Ey we can climb this now time to tell my family".
News spreads fast! They have ant wifi!
Dude you need a talcum painted moat around your enclosures. Now hear me out:
You have your inner wall that encompasses the ant colony and it is coated with talcum to avoid escape. after the inner wall you put a second wall about 1 inch further as a moat (it doesn't need to be too deep) and line both sides(the outer side of the inner wall and the inner side of the outer wall) with talcum and optionally paint the floor with chalk. That way IF someone manages to poke a hole in your inner wall, it will inevitably slip inside the moat and die there. This will hold off even a huge breakout off for ages and you can EASILY spot if the inner wall is breached and start measures to strengthen the inner wall
and nobody’s talking about how muscular antscanada is
Lmao right!? Bro really in shape!
that’s guys bolo
thats why i clicked on the vid
My wish has been fulfilled now after I had waited for a long while.
His abs is really nice 👍
I almost fell from my chair
Imagine thousands of fire ants escaping in your home but you have a RUclips channel so you have to video tape everything first
The best fix I can think of is to turn off the waterfall or remove the water feature entirely. This will probably negatively impact the viability of the nest but it will allow containment of the fire ants and if they do need to be moved it will make it easier to encourage them to move naturally
Bow
Maybe you can consider doing a some kind of a moat with running water that'll flow down to the main water feature of the set-up. Ants that will try to escape will get flushed to the main water feature and then maybe you can add a shore so they can return to the colony 😅
I have an idea. Fire ants cant stand cooler temperatures, if I remember correctly, so you could surround their terrarium with cold water (or an other substance like metal), so they would technically be able to escape, but not want to do so because as far as they know, they are surrounded by antarctica.
Metal isn't cold, it just FEELS cold beause it can transport heat quickly away.
@@PaffDaddyTRI love you
It potentially doesn’t need to surround it-just cover the parts which are humid enough to affect the talcum
If I recall correctly with the Fire Nation, you used tarantula webbing as a natural deterrent to block off their escapes before. You could try that again if your current tarantula produces enough silk. But past that, you might need to start reapplying baby powder every few days since the current barrier doesn't work anymore. Or, like others have said, add a few glass panes to make it no longer an open setup.
As much as I love the open concept paludarium, I agree with other saying that putting glass around the terrarium the best solution.
Humidity is only a problem because of the use of dry containment upon the walls. Open concept is gorgeous, I'd like to see you keep it. How about waterfall walls? Add a separate line to your pump that feeds a system that adds a layer of water to your walls, that they can't climb up.
This might work.
Where would the water go? The concept idea is good but he unfortunately can't really execute that at this point...
@@ocaoo into a channel leading to the pond that drains to the sump
Or move the waterfall so it isn’t so close to talk covered areas.
Talc 😂
It would be cool if you added a sort of extension to the terrarium, adding another island Based off whatever fictional or Real life island personally, I think that would be really cool
Jesus Christ I never knew you were ripped. Also it’s a shame the fire ants escaped. Hope everything turns out ok!
Well when you're rich you have a ton of time to follow your passions, such as working out, or keeping ants
hes mikey bustos, this is just one of his channels
@@jedispartancoolmanyou don’t have to be rich to get ripped. Cope
@nicholasbutler2365 I never said you had to be rich to get ripped. I'm in the military yolked out of my mind and definitely not rich.
I'm just saying free time definitely is a good motivation for working out lol
😂❤ that was click bait eye candy for us ladies🥰😋
I have a fire ant colony too and I use coconut oil to keep them in the tank and they can't escape and other ants can't come in it, So I recommend Coconut oil for the job🐜❤
Run a gas line on the edge with a motion sensor so when they get close it ignites fire!! Anyone willing to cross will burn!🐜🔥
Instead of moving them, you could build a larger expansion around their current set-up that is more enclosed. Then you could add like an island or something to surround the volcano.
Aw dang that's my worst nightmare! Especially for an antkeeper!
maybe there’s a way you can redirect the waterfall into a stream around the whole setup, and surround the inner wall of it with something the ants struggle to climb, maybe something very sticky, moss, or maybe even something more active like tropical sundews or insect-eating fish to pick off ants that go too far
Maybe mix petroleum jelly with paraffin oil and apply it like the powder paste you used? The only other things I can think to try are a 'pond' around the outside of the tank and predator plants.
For the trough make a gutter-like trough around the setup filled with water. From there you could add half or quarter lids for each side (As in the lid just adds a hurdle to the outside edges) and apply Fluon there instead of having to get it on the existing and used setup. You could also add predator fish, frogs, and aquatic plants to the trough so single scouts would have a chance to be thinned out before getting to the wall and up and over the lids. The water could hook back into the existing water system.
Predatory plants could be added to the setup as well. Pitcher plants or Sundews could be added as a last line to attract and predate on ants that are getting too 'inquisitive' in an area they shouldn't be. I know the ants are pets and ideally, we won't have to do things like introduce predators but these plants can only 'eat' so many ants at once. And scouts that do get into places they should not been and think 'Oh tasty snack!' will be prevented from returning. If they do escape the plants they may warn the colony that the area has dangers with 'no go' pheromones.
That one Ant-“Life behind the walls, isn’t what you thought.”
I noticed in your video that the waterfall is splashing the glass, I don't think it is just the humidity. If you could stop it from splashing the barrier should hold better. Watch at 3:23-3:25 along the centerline of the screen from top to bottom at the left side of the screen and near the middle, and you will see two large wet spots form. That is why the powder in that area has a weird pattern to it as well, and wy it too so long to become a problem.
I am so happy I found this channel! It has taught me to be a much more tender and loving man. Thank you for existing.
This is so sweet
Controlled culling is actually not ideal because you're human, not a machine, if you lose a single hour it could be the difference between they completelly invading your house. As a Brazilian I know how those ants are insane in nature, and I'm sure you know that too.
I think you have a few options:
You can adapt the setup to make the water a barrier around the tank, instead of just having in one of it's sides.
You could lower the water output to make the humidity weaker but I dunno if that would help.
You could adapt the current setup to add a new tank around it, closing it completely.
I remember you had these kind of ants in a forest type of tank with simulated rain and even water all around it. I believe the water form a good barrier, but yeah, this open concept is not good for Fire ants. Or any ants that can make bridges.
Frankly I find it insane that they only tried to escape NOW, I know these ants, and they are known for floating in water to save the group and even make bridges with their own bodies.
Also, try to fetch some plaster and use it to close that gap the ants wanted to get in. There was something shiny inside of that I thought for a second it was Larvae.
But I guess your best way of dealing with it is both adding water around the tank to make a barrier of water OR making the outerwalls higher, this way the talcum won't get unusable so soon because the barrier is too close to the water I guess.
Well that makes my idea untenable. Had no idea these guys would make living bridges on water.
just use extra virgin olive oil lol my ants always just walk across talcum just rub it in nicely so its a paste
I honestly think there’s not a a RUclips following as wholesome as this one there’s no hate I love it this is why I love ants Canada I may not love ants but I do enjoy his personality and passion for ants and life in general I’ve been watching for over 2 years now and I’ve loved ever second of it
Ants be like: "bro we have the perfect home and zero preditors"
...." let's move" 😂
I'm betting there's a 100% chance that at least once, you've experienced a bad dream of being covered in fire ants and woke up swinging and scratching lol
You're a brave soul.
Maybe you can add another enclosure for them to travel to while still feeding them at the volcano. When the colony gets too big you can either add a third enclosure or cull the ants in the second one, or which ever one the queen isn't in.
I doubt you’ll see this. But I wanted to let you know how much I respect and look up to you. Everything that you have done from your website(s) to all of your different pets is just amazing to me. I want to do a lot of things that you have already done. And if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have the same respect for biodiversity and science as a whole as I do now. So really I just wanted to say thank you.
Well said. I have a very different outlook on our world since discovering this channel. I got curious about Carpenter ants in my shed and searched RUclips one day. So lucky I did because I learn so much from these entertaining videos.
Almost cried reading this
Put fly strips underneath the ledge. they will get stuck. you will have to change it once a month at least but it solves the problem!
I love that he started to take his shirt off for this videos, not even joking
Can we talk about the fact this guy makes a Discovery quality documentary EVERY week? I literally NEVER cared about ants in any capacity. Now, not only do I see the beauty of this magnificent animal, I love them. This has slowly become my favorite channel on RUclips. His love and compassion for these underrated animals is absolutely inspiring. I'll never look at ants the same way again, all because of this channel.
I remember when it was more than once a week 😢
I just do not like fire ants. They are such a nuisance.
I feel you should put Volcania in a giant, sealed glass box. You’d still be able to see in, but if it’s sealed, they can’t escape. Also, flies can survive in a vacuum, so if ants can as well, then mabey sucking all the air out of Volcania would prevent undesired humidity.
This is a freaking nightmare situation for me, and I am amazed and fascinated at how you handled this situation my AntGod! I apologize you had to deal with this situation, but thank you so much for showing us how you handled it! I still am terrified of these amazing beasts, but the way you show and teach is phenomenal! (BTDubs...You are truly a God in appearance, as well as knowledge! Keep strong my God!) I hope you are doing alright and staying safe Sir, and I can not wait until next weeks episode!
wtf
Antgod? Jesus Christ is the only god
@@ChrBloxI would agree with you but you have a Chinese cartoon character as a profile picture
@@Allmenshouldrespectallwomenok, and?
@@AllmenshouldrespectallwomenThe only thing I'll ever agree with you on,
1)put the setup in water saucer/trench on the floor as a last failsafe
2)Change the glass dimensions at escape area to be further away from from moisture
3) High voltage bug zapper around each leg of setup, or one around tank
can you set up a second area that we can watch them slowly find and build a new summer home?they can spread out more and keep growing ❤
No-one could've ant-icipated this escape. Not even AntsCanada.
I have so much respect and admiration for the resilience of fire ants! They always find a way!
Life finds a way lol
It's time to say " no way" though
@@molly1949Bow
These ants are definitely not for open-concept setups. Especially when you know they are invasive and they sting a lot. You definitely need to transport them to some giant enclosed tank with long plastic tubes as transit route. The same should be applied and to all ants you have there.
Move them in a new but a little similar set up but make the glass more taller and longer and get a more slippery than the talcum barrier
He wouldn't use the Insect Spray but he would use Diatomaceous which cuts them into 1000 pieces then dying slow death.
I'd maybe suggest a moat, so place the entire enclosure as it is into a large vat of sorts with a water moat like you've done before, kind of like the floating skull island one. That way if they break the barrier again they're only going to fall into a watery abyss, this way the ants shouldn't be able to dump their discards into the water, and you might be able to keep an aquatic animal in the moat safely? Good luck!! Xx
Fire ants are great at crossing water.
@WritesMe Yeah, they make cute little rafts, don't they? I was thinking if he had a 'water beast' to potentially eat them before they can create their raft?
Have you warned your parents yet?
He is a adult
I'm a new-ish subscriber. Love these positive comments. My mind immediately went to a culling, the pandemic World War for ants, and leaving the bodies for them to deal with. Jerry? Jerry, oh my God! Juh-HAIR-EEEE, followed by the Great Ant Depression and rebuilding while we root for them.
Of course the comments are positive, as we have said here for years:
It's Ant (and Rhino Beetle, and Termite) love forever. 😊
I didnt expect him to be so buff.
I never thought AntsCanada would be so buff, I was very wrong
I think you should add a barrier of water with some water creature around volcania. That would probably keep them in. You might also want to fix up any cracks in the tank base, or get a fresh one
As good an idea a water barrier is, Fire Ants have a nasty habit of making living life rafts with small groups of themselves, to allow the rest to survive/get across
+1
The water animals wouldnt eat the ants rafts fast enough a other breach Keeper who works w a higher humanity could work
Thats true
Happy Saturday 🐜🇨🇦! Lots of ❤ from WA State!
The talcum powder barrier anarchy…this is why I love your channel - the unpredictability and solutions. Thank you for the Saturday morning update! 🐜🇨🇦4️⃣-EVER! ❤️
Fire ants literally burn your skin when they touch you, this isn’t good, now is not the time to compliment him when there’s ants that can burn his skin IN HIS OWN HOME
"a humane way to kill them, micro cut them, and let them to dihydrate"
lol...
i think you should conect that volcano to another enclousre that have some kind of predator, so they have a safe enclousure and a wild jungle to quest for treasures
Maybe do a little river surrounding the setup and the glass barrier? Can also be a new addition to the setup
You can get diatomaceous earth in powder form. Which leaves a lot of options on how and where to apply it. It can even be mixed with water and sprayed, when it dries, the powder stays. You can control the solution from barely there to mud thick. Maybe mixing into the talc solution would be effective in stopping them from even trying to climb the talc border? And if you could experiment with using it with other things - I'm wondering if it could be mixed with vaseline, which would eliminate the humidity problem (but maybe not the heat?), and then put a line all around the edge. Or maybe some double side tape coated with the powder?
I'm even wondering if you could add in an essential oil frangrance to deter them - I don't know how good their sense of smell is to use in the ant room at all, but I've been using a concoction this summer that's been keeping all the bugs from coming into the house and it's worked really well - no ants, spiders, gnats, flies, wasps or hornets this summer....and my cats aren't bothered by the scent or the oil/water mix, and I can't smell it once it dries. Maybe wouldn't be good in your scenario - but it could be an option to keep outdoor ants from coming in and invading your colonies. I spray the curtains, screens and sills. Bunches of recipes online.
Long live the fire ants.
Ur first
Yessir
Do you suppose they may need a larger nesting area due to the colony's enormous size? That was the first thing I thought of when I saw what had happened.
Hey there!
I feel like it is indeed, as you mentioned, a temporary solution. Even tho I like vulcania very much, I think it might be best to maybe introduce them to a deadly creek with some water beasts. You did it previously, and i think it was quite effective. Im truly sorry, that these measures had to be taken and wish you a lot of luck dealing with this.
Insert a ferocious predator like a thorny devil every few days or weeks :0
What about flooding the bottom half of the setup and adding bluegill or something. So when they go into the water to escape, the fish eats them.
My dude built like his fire ants 💪🏻 love the channel, very informative and I just love seeing all the different enclosures and set up you have for your ants!
Oh Nooo
Your love for the ants (and not wanting to destroy them) feels like the perfect metaphor for how God views us ❤
I’m thinking you make volcania into a big box and maybe put a satellite nest somewhere
Inception! A tank within a tank concept in which you get to keep the original setup but the new outer setup is an expansion.
Pros:
-get to keep original setup as is
-solve the escapee problem by building new outer setup that would be :
A; either some distance away from humidity emitted from water fall. (Not sure how effective that’ll be tho)
B; or create an add on to the weak point of the barrier.
Cons:
-need to figure out how to attach the new expansion to volcania.
-new setup can still be an open air space or pocket dimension
-new setup is arid or waterless? Like a no man’s land for ants to explore. OR go with a new enclosed setup attached to the weak point of volcania. (Reward the wayward explorers who had fallen, they did not died in vain XD)
(Since it’s common in nature for one side of the mountain to have deserts and the other side to have a rainforest (rain forest can be the enclosed set up they can get into.)
If you can’t decide build both with one side desert (cacti UwU) at weak point and the other side of the mountain with rainforest and water feature. Both say symmetrical and enclosed or one side open air and the other enclosed. (Which ever one is most effect of keeping ants in and easier for you to build)
Good luck and wish you the best in your ant keeping and your ant’s future journey into the unknown frontier!
What!?!
I'm early free queen ant I guess?
Is this true?!
Who else dreads this?
You have said in the past that they do this to find more living space. Is there a way to give them another set up that they can go back and forth between the two?
What I have seen at zoos on how they deal with this is surrounding the island with water and turn there setups into islands so if they where to escape they would only get a stream of flowing water around the edge
When I was young I used to watch you on my tablet but I have a new device! I thought you ended your series! Its great I found your channel again!
You should switch to the past tanks too the open space of the tank might cause more problems.
Regular controlled culling. You could always get a pet that eats ants and feed them to that pet so they don't go to waste. Always thought it would be cool to have a tube with a valve running between a formicarium and the encloser of something that likes to eat ants. Open the valve from time to time and some of the ants would go over and get eaten.
I don't have enough experience with barriers because I've only ever kept ants in sealed enclosures, but I did once need to use some Fluon on the underside of the lid of one of your famous Ant Towers because the ants I was keeping were so small that they could sometimes pop through the tiny holes. XD I prefer fine mesh over holes in plastic because there's always a smaller ant. I'd sometimes find one with her gaster stuck and give it a little push to get it unstuck. Fun times, I miss my ants!😢
Maybe since they haven’t actually escaped the stand, you can try putting another barrier around that whole platform with talcum or chalk lining it so it would be farther away from the humidity of the setup.
I think you will either need to enclose the set-up or remove the waterfall. Whichever seems more feasible.
My best idea would be to use a heating element strand for a border. You could take a bug zapper racket and build a electrical fence. You should incorporate a moat around the base of your tank.
Build an enclosure to go over top of your enclosure somehow...
So then it is still open concept, but contained...😂
Place the entire terrarium into a another shallower terrarium filled with water, and stock it with fish! Acts a barrier, and a form of population control
well honestly I think u should just, if u have any, workers to put the chalk on 1 and Everday so like (Chalk no chalk Chalk yk, while there doing that u try to fix the problem or just make a new part of the tank then make it or at least put the chalk as a border so they cant cross saw off or what ever the corner there escaping from the make a new one then glue or tape that or just get new texis? idk and then u make the chalk border then put the new part on just like that (sorry its a lot but to me its a little of a good idea / simple thing being a logistic person).Thank you
aside from straight up inventing a new barrier that works well in humidity, the only other long term thing you can do is adjust volcania to be a closed setup or closer to a closed one. I know glass can get dirty and that much glass would be a hassle to clean for filming videos, so would a large section of fine mesh work better? I have no idea if ants can chew through metal mesh or somehow bend it open but mesh might look better more often and you could even create functional windows of sorts to get your camera in. you could also do a part glass set up too, where the sides where the water is (and the humidity would be highest) would be glass (the glass could go in toward the mountain a little so that way the areas that need the barrier wouldnt be in a humid location thus the barrier should hold up better) and the front would be still open as the barrier wouldnt have worn down because it's not as humid, or the front could have the mesh on. regardless of path you go, adapting volcania to be a closed set up is going to take some engineering so I hope these ideas give you some food for thought. best of luck to you!
They have lived in there for a couple months now, and onyl 2 escapes... thats not terrible... you could put a glass box around your enclosure, with the ability to open the front for filming.
Its still an open concept enclosure, but it has a safety perameter in place for when they find a breach every 2-3 months.
Maybe a second section for them to expand to would be the best? Something that could keep them in the volcano yet make them feel like they are escaping to somewhere
Might be to hard to pull off but maybe you could build a perimeter channel across the rim of the tank that gets filled with water and flows over creating a constant waterfall around the entire tank. Since the front is covered with sand you would also need to add canals on the inside that returns the water to the sump.
It would take a lot of work and modifications to the tank with an active colony inside but if you pull it off I think it would create a cleaner look and the open concept is very cool, brave and unique and I think it’s worth finding a solution to keep it like that. Hope you find a solution.
I think just add a tight sealed glass box around it and remove any cracks with something that ants cant dig
I've seen another ant channel use an oil instead of talcum powder, and it has the same effect, the ants fall off. And it doesnt leave a white powder everywhere.
Add a fast running moat around the enclosure with waterfall curtains so it makes escape instant death and will deter escaping in general