Keeping Ants When Life Gets Busy or On Vacation - AntsCanada Tutorial #18

Summary

In this tutorial, Mikey Bustos from Ants Canada shares tips for managing ant colonies during busy periods or vacations. He advises focusing on a few colonies, avoiding releasing captive ants into the wild, and preparing food and water schedules for caretakers. He also mentions an upcoming product for hibernating ants.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker, Mikey Bustos, is also known as Ants Canada and provides tutorials on ant care.
• 🚀 He emphasizes that while ants are easy to keep, they are not low-maintenance, especially as colonies grow.
• 📚 It's important to assess one's ability to care for an ant colony before acquiring more.
• 🌟 He advises focusing on a few colonies of favorite species or those that are thriving, rather than having many.
• 🔬 The speaker warns against releasing captive ants into the wild due to potential disease transmission.
• 🌱 Instead of releasing, consider finding someone to adopt the ant colonies through online forums or classifieds.
• 👫 If you're busy or on vacation, delegate ant care to a trusted friend or family member.
• 📝 Provide clear instructions and labeling for the person taking care of the ants, including feeding schedules.
• 🍽 Prepare food portions in advance with both protein (like crickets) and carbohydrates (like honey).
• 💧 Ensure that ants have access to water, with clear instructions for watering and an emergency water source.
• ❄️ Ants can be hibernated during winter, reducing the need for frequent care, and a new product is coming to assist with hibernation.
• 📧 For questions about ant care or products, the best way to get a response is to email the customer service directly.

Q & A

Who is the speaker in the video script?

The speaker is Mikey Bustos, also known as Ants Canada.

What is the main topic of the tutorial?

The main topic is providing tips for caring for ant colonies when one is busy or away.

Why does Mikey Bustos suggest not to release ants kept in captivity into the wild?

Releasing ants from captivity into the wild is discouraged to prevent the potential spread of diseases or infections that the ants may have acquired while in captivity.

What is Mikey Bustos' advice on the number of ant colonies one should maintain?

Mikey advises focusing on one to three ant colonies of favorite species or those that are doing well, to ensure adequate care and attention.

What is the alternative to releasing ants into the wild suggested by Mikey Bustos?

A better alternative is to post about the ant colony on the web or use forums and platforms like Craigslist to find someone who might want to adopt the ant colony.

How does Mikey Bustos recommend organizing the care routine for ant colonies when one is away or busy?

He suggests labeling each ant farm, preparing food portions for each colony in labeled baggies, and providing a schedule for a trusted friend or family member to follow.

What does Mikey Bustos include in each food baggie for the ants?

Each food baggie contains a dead cricket or mealworm smothered with honey to provide both protein and sweet nutrients for the ants.

How often should the ants be watered according to Mikey Bustos?

Mikey suggests printing out instructions for watering the ants on a daily basis, as it is very important for their survival.

What is the emergency measure Mikey Bustos recommends for providing water to the ants?

He recommends having a test tube filled with water and blocked with cotton attached to one of the nest exits as an emergency water source.

What does Mikey Bustos say about the upcoming product from Alliance Tour?

The product will help in hibernating ant colonies, particularly addressing the needs for watering and humidity during the hibernation process.

How can viewers get their ant-keeping questions answered according to the script?

The best way to get questions answered is by emailing the customer service at [email protected].

Outlines

00:00

🐜 Ant Care Tips for Busy Times

In this paragraph, Mikey Bustos, also known as Ants Canada, discusses the challenges of maintaining ant colonies, especially during busy periods or vacations. He emphasizes the importance of assessing one's ability to care for an ant colony and suggests focusing on a few favorite species rather than trying to manage many. He also advises against releasing captive-bred ants into the wild due to potential disease transmission risks and recommends finding adopters through online platforms instead. Mikey provides practical tips for labeling and organizing ant farms, preparing food portions in advance, and ensuring proper watering. He also mentions an upcoming product from Ants Canada that will assist with hibernating ant colonies during winter.

05:00

📅 Managing Ant Colonies During Absence

This paragraph focuses on the strategy of delegating ant colony care to a trusted friend or family member when the owner is unavailable. Mikey details a system for labeling ant farms and preparing food portions for each colony, sealed in labeled baggies for daily feeding. He also discusses the importance of providing clear instructions for watering and suggests using a test tube with cotton as an emergency water source. Mikey mentions that while cleaning the ant enclosures can be left to the owner's return, ensuring proper care in the owner's absence is crucial. He also hints at a new product from Ants Canada that will facilitate the hibernation of ant colonies.

10:01

📧 Staying Connected with Ants Canada

In the final paragraph, Mikey addresses the difficulty of keeping up with the high volume of messages and inquiries received through various channels. He suggests that the best way to get questions answered is to email Ants Canada's customer service team, providing an email address for contact. He thanks the audience for their support and encourages them to continue their interest in ant keeping, ending with a reminder to subscribe and take care of their ant colonies.

Keywords

💡Ants

Ants are the central focus of the video, which is a tutorial on managing ant colonies. The speaker, Mikey Bustos, discusses the responsibilities and challenges of keeping ants, emphasizing that they are not as low-maintenance as one might initially think. The script mentions the need for food, cleaning, and maintenance, highlighting the importance of these aspects in ant care.

💡Colony

A colony refers to a group of ants living together, typically starting with a single queen. The video script discusses the growth of colonies from a single queen to a larger group, requiring more resources and care. The concept of colony is crucial in understanding the scale and complexity of ant care, as it expands from a single insect to a thriving community.

💡Maintenance

Maintenance is a key concept in the video, referring to the ongoing care required for ant colonies. Mikey Bustos stresses that while ants might start as low-maintenance, their needs increase as the colony grows. This includes feeding, cleaning, and monitoring the health of the ants, which becomes more demanding as the colony expands.

💡Queen

The queen ant is the starting point for an ant colony, as mentioned in the script. Queens are responsible for laying eggs and are crucial for the growth of the colony. The video discusses the excitement of catching queens after mating and the subsequent responsibilities of caring for the resulting colonies.

💡Food

Food is essential for the survival and growth of ant colonies. The script mentions providing crickets or mealworms, along with honey, to meet the dietary needs of the ants. Proper nutrition is highlighted as a critical aspect of ant care, ensuring that the ants receive both protein and carbohydrates.

💡Water

Water is a vital resource for ants, as emphasized in the video. Mikey Bustos discusses the importance of providing water to ant colonies, suggesting methods like attaching a test tube filled with water to the nest. This ensures that the ants have a constant supply of water, which is crucial for their survival.

💡Caring Tips

Caring tips are practical advice given in the video to help manage ant colonies, especially during busy periods or when the owner is away. The script provides strategies like labeling ant farms, preparing food in advance, and ensuring water availability. These tips are designed to make ant care manageable even when the owner's time is limited.

💡Release

The concept of releasing ants back into the wild is discussed in the script, with a warning against doing so. The speaker explains that releasing captive ants can potentially spread diseases, which could harm wild ant populations. This highlights the ethical considerations in ant care and the importance of responsible practices.

💡Adoption

Adoption is suggested as an alternative to releasing ants into the wild. The script encourages finding new homes for ant colonies through online forums or local listings, ensuring that the ants are cared for by someone who can provide the necessary attention and resources. This approach promotes responsible pet ownership and community support.

💡Hibernation

Hibernation is mentioned as a natural process for ants, which can be mimicked in captivity to manage colonies during winter. The script discusses an upcoming product that will help with hibernating ant colonies, focusing on managing water and humidity. This concept is important for understanding the seasonal care requirements of ants.

💡Customer Service

Customer service is highlighted in the video as a resource for those with questions about ant care or products. The script encourages viewers to email with inquiries, emphasizing that this method is more manageable than trying to keep up with numerous messages on social media platforms. This underscores the importance of accessible support in the ant-keeping community.

Highlights

Introduction to the tutorial on managing ant colonies during busy periods or vacations.

Importance of assessing personal capacity to accommodate an ant colony before acquiring more.

Advice on focusing on one to three ant colonies to manage effectively.

Warning against releasing captive ants into the wild due to potential disease transmission.

Recommendation to release ants to adopters rather than the wild.

Suggestion to delegate ant care duties to a trusted friend or family member during absence.

Labeling ant farms for easy identification and care.

Providing pre-packaged food for each colony to simplify feeding.

Instructions on how to prepare and label daily feeding bags for each ant colony.

Importance of providing water for ants and instructions on setting up a water source.

Use of test tubes with cotton as an emergency water source for ants.

Advice on not cleaning the ant enclosure during the caretaker's visit, leaving it for the owner's return.

Anticipated release of a product to help with hibernating ant colonies.

Encouragement to spread the love for ants and maintain interest in ant keeping.

Recommendation to contact the presenter's customer service for ant keeping inquiries.

Acknowledgment of the difficulty in managing communication through various platforms and the preference for email.

Closing remarks thanking the audience and encouraging continued engagement with ant keeping.

Transcripts

thank you baby - the vibe that I got

take it easy

I'm a superhero fan to the top hey guys

what's up its your boy Mikey Bustos once

again

aka Ants Canada bringing you another

helpful but random tutorial on ants it's

been a while since I've been able to but

we've been so busy at the store making

your orders sending them out to you and

swinging all your customer emails tons

of great stuff but you know not

everybody has all the time in the world

to be you know around there and for

several hours in the day

realistically sometimes it gets a little

tough to keep up with the maintenance of

ends I've always said that ants are easy

to keep but they are by no means

low-maintenance the ants might start off

low maintenance when you start with a

single growth Queen but believe me the

duties increase in the increase fast I

wanted to create a tutorial on some tips

that might be of use to you if you reach

a very busy spell in life say you know

school or work starts to really pick up

or if you go on vacation first of all

before starting on this tutorial I

wanted to say that it's important to

really assess your life you know as to

whether or not you're really able to

accommodate an ant colony or more you

know and

something you should really look into

before getting another ant colony or

even your first time coding it's very

easy to catch all sorts of Queens you

know di lates after mating you have them

all in test tubes you have about 30 of

these you know by the end of the year

all Queens and you're all excited it's

like yeah I got 30 different different

Queens the law huh give me colonies and

then the next year they start laying all

these eggs and it's like yes great I

have a small colony now and I've got 30

of them this is excellent and then they

start growing and they start growing and

you know they start requiring more food

and a lot more time and a lot more

cleaning and it just never ends so to

avoid that I recommend to most people to

just simply focus on one two or three

ant colonies you know of your favorite

species or colonies that seem to be

doing really well keep them and focus on

them put all your time and and dedicate

you know all your energy to those

colonies cuz believe me the more time

and effort you put into a colony and the

more love you put into a colony the

better the results the faster they grow

the more fulfilling the and keeping

experience is if you do already have

several colonies and you'd like to

narrow it down to a few there is one

thing I'd like to say about releasing

them back into the wild

a lot of the scientific community are in

agreeance in terms of encouraging others

not to release ants that you've kept in

captivity already into the wild one of

the reasons being contagions now it was

pointed out that this is a problem that

they had with sea lions about kept in

captivity

you know releasing them into the wild it

caused an outbreak I guess of diseases

that the seals caught while in captivity

and many fear that this same kind of

thing might happen with ants you know

you never know with

you have crickets you know that might be

infected with some kind of disease or

virus or bacteria or fungus or even

mites microscopic mites that you don't

see you know and then we try to swing

over to the ants and then eventually

into the ants outside in the wild if you

release them so yeah it's kind of

discouraged to release them into the

wild a better alternative would be to

post your ant colony on the web to see

if someone might someone in your area

might want to adopt your ant colony and

that would be nice you know there are

forums out there there's Craigslist okay

so moving on basically the best and most

efficient way that I found works when

they're going through a busy spell or

you're on vacation or you can't be there

for your hands is to basically get a

friend a very trusted individual or

family member to do the duties for you

you know when you're when you're not

home and what I do is basically give

someone else access into my place and I

have for them a schedule so what I do is

I label all the ant farms I have 37 hand

farms yeah that's a lot but I label each

ant farm you know it's really helpful to

have different colors and it makes

things a lot easier for the person who's

taking care of your hands you know label

them 1 2 3

ABC whatever you want and then basically

what you do is you take these baggies

you know you provide it to little

baggies and we're at the store bag is

like this and what I do is I label each

baggie nest a nest be and nest see you

know write it on here and into each

baggie I'll place the food portion of

each nest so I'll stick in here maybe a

dead cricket or mealworm and I'll also

smother it with honey so that they get

both the pro

and the sweet portion of their diet and

then what I'll do is I'll seal all of

these into a larger bag and then I'll

label this Monday you know and I'll even

put the date so then when you have all

the days together you can put all of

these into one big container and just

show them that it's all very easy you

simply have to pull out Monday look at

the baggie and just completely dump its

contents into the respective nest very

very easy easy for them to understand

your friends or family don't have to go

through your cricket bin if they're

really squeamish about that you know as

for watering very important your ants

really really need water so it would

help to actually print out on a piece of

paper exactly how you want your nests to

be watered on a daily basis and so

that's very important that'll also help

another thing to do is to ensure that

you've got a test tube full of water

like this block with cotton and just

attaching it directly to one of the

exits of your nest and this is just an

emergency you really should have a

friend water your nest the way your ants

are used to but this here is just

insurance that they never go dry ever

and you know you can attach this by

using one of our ants Canada test-tube

portals which are available at our store

oh just slap that on there and then slap

it onto your nest and when you get back

they might have moved into this tube but

at least at least they have

those are essentially my simple tips in

terms of caring for your aunts while

you're gone or when you're busy during

this period and you have a friend or

family member

taking care of your hands it's not so

important that they clean your out world

although that would be great if they're

willing to do that but you can leave

that for when you come back just make

sure to do it another thing too is there

is a ray of hope for us and keepers

especially those of us who keep many

colonies winter is coming and as much as

I love ants

I admit I do look forward to winter

because I could just simply hibernate

the ants and not have to worry about

them the ants can Alliance tour is

coming out with a brand new product very

very soon which will help you hibernate

your colonies in your ants

so you don't have to worry about them

particularly for watering and humidity

which are needed during the hibernation

process but anyway those are our tips

thank you we hope they help you and

please continue to spread the ant love

thank you so much for the support for

those of you who are trying to get a

hold of me through YouTube or the

Facebook group the best way to have your

questions your great questions answered

is to email us at ants caneva at

yahoo.com

that's Pan's Canela at yahoo.com

honestly we get something around like 50

different messages notifications

comments private messages you know and

it's hard really to keep up with all of

them so the best thing to do is to email

are very knowledgeable and helpful

customer service stuff to help you with

all your questions regarding our

products and regarding hand keeping

until next time thank you subscribe and

take care of those ends thanks guys

I don't know what it is