In Advance of my planned "Ultimate Guide To Raising Messors" this is the perfect opportunity from Ants Davey to pick up a Queen for £3.50 down from £6.99! 

In the mean time you can check out my Messor Barbarus playlist, featuring some great advice on the species over two episodes. 

Well its never a bad thing to be able to say I'm actually a little overwhelmed by the amount of content I am currently creating, I have so much!!! its a lot of work, filming, editing, waiting to put the kids to bed to potter about in the early hours, like a wizard Harry! creating magical content!

So this weekend I had planned content that is not ready for release! haha I know right!?
but...... that does not mean I will not have content ready for this weekend! 

I have two massive special episode's being recorded and edited, there is so much going into these two new products hitting the market from some awesome retailers AntBoyUK & Antopia
I have been honoured to be given the chance to check out some amazing products recently, these products are top notch, engineered, beautifully designed nests, to really appreciate the work going into these products, I am releasing roughly 20 minute specials, possibly longer, from first unboxing, review, ants moving in, a build tutorial, maintenance, and more, these episodes, are going to roll out my latest format & structure, build upon my review system and are packed with really special bonus content that I wont spoil because its a real treat.

Other projects Im also filming and editing between these two massive projects, are as follows;

"Gimmick Ant Nests"

So we have all heard of these right? maybe?
Gel ant farms, Uncle Milton's ant farms, Ant Maze, they run by various different product names, but most people know what they are, nests that are basically designed to torture ant workers, their not designed to contain a queen or house a colony, yet many will claim they can within the instructions, usually filled with sand & loam or with a gel that's claimed to replicate the gel Nasa created to takes ants into space to study, through my research, I discovered many of these ants died on that experiment, the gel designed by Nasa was not designed for long term survival of the ants or their wellbeing, it was a temporary substrate and food source for the ants to survive the trip to space so they could be useful in the experiment.

Parents buy these nests for their kids, thinking their cool, but really they are not designed for the welfare of the creatures inside, they are designed for you to take workers from the wild away from their colony, away from their purpose, to dig tunnels and eventually die, for the entertainment of children.

History from Wikepedia

• The first commercially sold formicarium was introduced around 1929 by Frank Eugene Austin (1873–1964), an inventor and professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Austin received a patent for his formicarium on June 16, 1931, as well as further patents for its continued development. Austin included whimsical painted or wooden scenes of palaces, farms and other settings above the ground level.
• In 1956, Milton Levine, founder of Uncle Milton Industries, created his own version of a formicarium, reportedly independently from Frank Austin. Levine got the idea when attending a Fourth of July picnic. Levine registered the term ant farm for his product and registered it as a trademark

The idea behind these barbaric nests are out dated in popular culture since 1956, companies bought the patents, until the design was no longer protected by copyright, now hundreds of companies produce similar barbaric designs, on outdated information, with no care or remorse for the creatures they are supposed to house.
This episode will explore these nests, question the moral obligations, the awareness of cruelty to animals, should include other pets, like insects & invertebrates, I am calling for a ban of these products & awareness of the cruelty they promote.

"The Ultimate Guide To Raising Messors"
Combined with -
"AntBoyUK Messor Elite Balckout nest review"

I have been doing so much research on these species, I will be accumulating all my knowledge and experience with them to produce the ultimate guide to care and raise them to a successful colony. 

This episode may touch on information from my previous messor guides, I will be making my previous video's invisible and they will be linked by cards in the episode to hidden pages.

As part of this episode you will see my latest Messor Bi-Colour Queen from Ants Davey I have been raising from a single Queen with brood, to her first nanitics, to moving into the AntBoyUK Elite Blackout nest with a review of the nest and its suitability for this species!
You will see my other Messors, Arenarius & Wasmanni, both still in founding.

"Rhytidoponera Metallica Competition LIVE DRAW!"
Sunday 2nd May 2021 20:00 GMT

This was probably my biggest failure on my channel so far! I was so naïve on what I needed to create a live stream, I did not know what software to use, I realised after finally hooking up my DSLR to use as a webcam, I don't have the right lens to film the ants, Youtube compresses live to 720p all people would see would be dots moving around, so my live draw fell apart!

Now I know its been a few months, I apologise, honestly I do feel immensely guilty about it all, but the Queen went through a successful hibernation over this period and has now emerged, she has been happily house in a tubs and tubes set up, she is doing really well, she is certainly ready for her new home! and a winner to be announced, I now know how to create and host live streams on youtube! 

"Ants & The Colonialist Ant Keeping Chaos!"
Sunday 25th April 2021

This weekend will feature the chaos that has been happening behind the scenes, general colony updates, massive growth with the Camponotus Nicobarensis, a problem with the Solenopsis! What do do with the Carebara? New pod for the Polyrhachis Dives, Iridomyrmex colony crash, are my Noda's alive? setting up mini outworlds for test tube colonies, general maintenance, lots of new kit has arrived, exploding breeding feeder colonies....
​

Most of you probably jump to the forest recently purchased by Ants Canada,
when you hear "Antopia"!?
Mikey is sending this word into ant keeping fame! but a company is taking it further.

Before Mikey purchased his forest, in the woodworks, as to speak, Antopia was born.
A company that has designed and manufactured a unique wooden nest, built in hydration, heat cable runs, extensions to the nest, this nest has been beautifully engineered.

I've been really honoured to be given a nest to test & review, so this nest will be going to the test!
​
My Nico colony, is currently bursting at the seam, they have had a massive population growth!
They have volunteered to check out the nest, to give their feedback, to possibly even make it their wooden palace fit for their Queen! 

In the pipeline is a massive special episode, a review, build instructions, Nico's moving in, attaching the extension with the colony inside the nest and even more!!

I wont spoil the whole episode but it will be action packed.
Check out Antopia & be ready for some epic content to unfold! 

COMING SOON!

I have this beautiful Ants HQ Foranto nest. 
For months I have been trawling the internet, messaging various companies, for the life of me I am having no luck!


The nest is stunning, it is a piece of art, however, I would like to make some small modifications to the nest so I can put it to use! 

I need a "red UV gel cover"......
now I know what your immediately thinking just buy some red acetate, or you may even mistake lighting gels for the product I'm looking for.
like this product I purchased from Ebay, but this is not what I am looking for and I'm running out of ideas on how to find it! I do not know what it is called.

The type of gel sheet I am looking for is able to stick to glass, it does not have a sticky side, the material or rubber / gel it is made out of is just able to stick & peel to glass or acrylic, I've seen it used on aquariums and terrariums to block out the gravel & ground layer, if my memory serves me correctly Ants Canada once featured something like it in one of his episodes, it may even be what he uses on his ant tower.

I'm running into a brick wall because the red acetate sheets are called "gel" sheets, they are unable to stick to the glass, without being stuck to the glass with glue, tape or tac, I know I'm being fussy but this nest deserves the right look, its a show piece, I want to dress it properly!

If you know where I can find the type of red gel sheet that is stick and peel to glass, please point me in the right direction? or let me know what it is actually called!?

CALLING ALL FORMICAST FANS!
As Derka is away on his trip, he has asked me to take the reigns, my task to research....

Prenolepis Imparis
Winter Ant / False Honeypot

​Now I haven't had any personal experiences with the winter ant also known as the false honeypot, its not a native species across the pond and is native to North America across a wide range, Ontario, Canada, to Nebraska, south to Texas and Florida, and also occurs in New Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington. I've heard, its incredibly difficult to found & care for, most colonies do not survive their first year, in-fact one of its nicknames within the community, is the "Scam Ant" it has such a poor rate of survival, that selling them is considered to be a scam, as they are sold knowing they will most likely not survive.

Despite its reputation, one man has done incredible work in understanding this species, how to keep them, their environmental needs, behaviors, to build a care guide for keeping this species properly and improving upon the survival rate, which is mainly down to people simply not understanding the needs and requirements of this species!

Can he repair its damaged reputation? You will have to join us for the show and find out!
It will certainly be a very educational episode! 

In the mean time, what are your personal experiences with this species? I would love to hear your stories to feature on the show! you can leave them anonymously if you wish just message me on my facebook page or my instagram page.

Research Sources:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/ants/Prenolepis_imparis.htm
​https://www.formiculture.com/topic/7779-care-sheet-prenolepis-imparis/
https://www.antstore.net/shop/en/ants/Ants-from-America/Prenolepis-imparis.html​
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Prenolepis_imparis/
https://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/urban-pests/ants/small_honey/​
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/ants/Prenolepis_imparis.htm

Image Sources
https://canada-ant-colony.com/products/prenolepis-imparis
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/ants/Prenolepis_imparis.htm
​FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT INTENDED PLEASE MESSAGE ME

Got the confirmation today from AntBoyUK that my package is on the way with everything I ordered this includes the exciting new tall pod for the Polyrhachis Dives! 

Lots of little out worlds for my founding colonies, some new v.2 water feeders, he has been very very kind & put in something for me to review, some extra Anti-Climb & Fluon for free! What a legend! 

Prepare for an unboxing! 

Its going to be an exciting week ahead with lots of content to film and edit, I will also be reviewing my black out harvester nest as my bi-colour Messor Barbarus colony is ready to enter the nest! 

As many of you know the majority of my supplies are from AntBoyUK, he has been so awesome to work with, his passion for custom work, his stores & his products have been through constant evolutions, I wont spoil too much, but we may even be hearing it all from ABUK himself! 

This month will be a bit of an AntBoyUK fest! but its not the only content on its way!

My first check is often the hydration needs, checking that all nests are hydrated, once they are all hydrated, then i move onto the refuse piles within the out worlds, checking for any mites or parasites, I find a great method is to film a short hyperlapse/timelapse of the out world, if you have mites the ground will be covered in small moving dots, its very apparent when you watch the footage back.

Once ive removed all the refuge, using a baby milk scoop the perfect shovel for removing refuge, I then clean the walls, using either cotton bud or a j cloth with some warm water then dry with a j cloth or some kitchen towel, its then time to move onto, feeding & refilling the water feeders.

It takes me a while to get through all the colonies, sometimes I split the larger colonies down over a couple of days. 

Monday - 

• Polyrhachis Dives
• Acromyrmex Octospinosus
• Carebara Affinis
• Solenopsis Geminata 

Tuesday -

• Rhytidoponera Metallica
• Messor Barbarus
• Camponotus Nicobarensis
• Camponotus Japonicus
• Aphaenogaster Longiceps

Wednesday -

• Anoplolepis Gracilipes
• Formica Fusca
• Pogonomyrmex Barbatus
• Iridomyrmex Bicknelli
• Phiedole Noda

My test tube colonies are all on 14 day Rotations with exception of the Novomessor Cockerelli and the 2 founding colonies of Rhytidoponera (including competition Queen) which are on 7 day rotations.