ā | It's Ant Love Forever! | ā |
āAntsCanada |
Mikey Bustos (born: June 23, 1981YouTuber. It started out as a place for him to document the development of his ant colonies, as well as video tutorials on how to raise ant colonies before transitioning into more episodic documentary-esque videos.
), better known online as AntsCanada (or BustosAntsCanada), is a Filipino-CanadianAbout Mikey Bustos
Mikey Bustos was born and raised in Canada to Filipino parents. In his early 20s, he became a contestant on the first season of Canadian Idol, which earned him popularity all over the country. He eventually made it to the finals where he won 7th place overall. Afterwards, Bustos has starred in various television and radio shows, as well as releasing various musical albums.
Asides from AntsCanada, Bustos has three other YouTube channels. They are his personal channel Mikey Bustos, his music channel Mikey Bustos Music, and his vlog channel MikeyBustosVLOGS.
YouTube
Bustos developed a fascination with ants while he was still living in Canada. He uploaded his first video on July 14, 2009 (the same day he opened the channel) which documents his newfound Myrmica rubra ant colony. Since then, the channel started to evolve to showing tutorial videos on how to maintain a healthy ant colony.
In late 2016, the channel saw a boost in popularity. With the channel gaining more views, the videos slowly started to turn episodic in nature. Bustos started to give the audience and fans (which he calls the AC Family) a closer look into the lives of ants and, when he calls for it, gives them a choice as to what he should do to help improve the living conditions of his colonies. And in late August of 2017, the AntsCanada ant channel reached 1 million subscribers.
As of April 4, 2020, Bustos currently has 5 ant colonies that he documents on the channel. They are colonies of Fire Ants (Phoenix Empire), Yellow Crazy Ants (Golden Empire), Black Crazy Ants (The Dark Knights), Big-Headed Ants (Bobbleheads), and Asian Bullet Ants (Black Panthers, 2nd generation).
The following is a list of various previously kept ant colonies:
Ant species | Name | Fate |
---|---|---|
Trap-Jaw Ants (Odontomachus simillimus) | Jaw Breakers (1st generation) | Killed off by feral Black Crazy Ants |
Pharaoh Ants (Monomorium pharaonis) | Tomb Raiders | Released due to a mite infestation |
Asian Marauder Ants (Pheidologeton diversus) | Titans (1st generation) | Killed by feral Black Crazy Ants |
Polyrachis semiinermis | Platinum Dragons (1st generation) | Escaped |
Asian Bullet Ants (Diacamma rugosum) | Black Panthers (1st generation) | Died out due to a lack of a gamergate |
Stigmatomma species (referred to as Vampire Ants) | Blood Legion | Died out due to a lack of a gamergate |
Carpenter Ants (Camponotus species) | Lumberjacks | Died out due to illness |
Polyrhachis semiinermis | Platinum Dragons (2nd generation) | Released to curb stunted growth |
Asian Marauder Ants (Pheidologeton diversus) | Titans (2nd generation) | Released due to food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic |
Asian Weaver Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) | Emerald Empire | Released due to food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic |
Trap-Jaw Ants (Odontomachus simillimus) | Jaw Breakers (2nd generation) | Released due to food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic |
Ghost Ants (Tapinoma melanocephalum) | unnamed | Escaped |
In addition to ants, Bustos also owned 1 colony of termites but was killed by feral Pharaoh Ants. He also keeps various feeder insects, tarantulas, and a variety of other animals.
Subscriber Milestones
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
- 1 million subscribers: August 28, 2017.
- 2 million subscribers: July 26, 2018.
- 3 million subscribers: July 6, 2019.