| “ | It's Ant Love Forever! | ” |
―AntsCanada | ||
Michael "Mikey" John Yadan Tumanguil Pestano Bustos (born: June 23, 1981), better known online as AntsCanada (or BustosAntsCanada), is a Canadian YouTuber. 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.
About Mikey Bustos[]
Mikey Bustos was born in the Weston neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario 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 March 9, 2021, Bustos currently has 3 ant colonies that he documents on the channel. They are colonies of Fire Ants (Phoenix Empire), Yellow Crazy Ants (Golden Empire), 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 off 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 |
| Fire Ants (Solenopsis geminata) | Fire Nation | Died out after the death of the queen ant. He is currently raising a new fire ant colony (Phoenix empire). |
| 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 |
| Big-Headed Ants | Bobbleheads | Killed off by multiple wild ant colonies at once |
| Black Crazy Ants | The Dark Knights | Killed off by multiple wild ant colonies at once |
In addition to ants, Bustos also owned 1 colony of termites but it was killed by feral Pharaoh Ants.
Pandora Saga[]
In 2023, he built a giant 1000 gallon rainforest-inspired vivarium named Pandora to celebrate 5 million subscribers. He intended this project to become a self-sustaining ecosystem and is currently chronicling its various developments. The key players are as follows:
| Species | Name | Status | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Crazy Ants | The Dark Horde | Alive | An invasive colony introduced by the plants. They are the main antagonists of the Pandora Saga. A large chunk of their colony was removed, but they are currently making a comeback. |
| Marauder Ants | The Terra Raiders | Alive | A native colony introduced by the tree stump. They are the direct competitors of the Dark Horde and are currently undergoing a mite infestation. |
| Acrobat Ants | The Cremato-Blasters | Alive | A native colony unexpectedly introduced by the soil or plants. They are a neutral party, but will defend themselves if necessary. |
| Carpenter Ants | TBD | Alive | A native colony introduced to Pandora. Added to foster competition between the ant colonies, especially the Dark Horde. |
| Ghost Ants | TBD | Outsiders | An invasive species that had breeched the vivarium. A colony is not yet established. |
| Gnome Ants | TBD | Alive | A native species of ants that has recently established themselves in the absence of the Terra Raiders. |
| Sun Skink | Smaug | Alive | The apex predator. Usually spends time hanging around the tree stump. |
| Sun Skink | Daenerys | Alive | A female added to hopefully breed with Smaug. |
| Huntsman Spider | Lady Deathstrike | Dead | An apex predator. She had developed an egg sac after breeding with a male and was released into Pandora with her offspring. She briefly escaped the enclosure during the Great Escape event and fertilized another egg sac. She died after spending most of her energy taking care of said sac. |
| Praying Mantis | Green Reaper | Dead | Another apex predator added to control the insect population. She was introduced to a male (Grey Reaper) as part of a breeding initiative, but she had eaten her mate. Unfortunately passed away due to natural causes (or attacked by a predator), but had successfully laid an ootheca. |
| Rhinoceros Beetle | Rocksteady | Dead | A top herbivore. Spent most of its time hanging around the moss wall and scavenging at night. Died likely to natural causes. |
| Bush Cricket | Stanley (formerly Lady Katie) | Dead | A top herbivore who loves to eat plants. Mistaken as a female until he began to chirp at night. Unfortunately passed away due to likely natural causes. |
| House Geckos | TBD | Alive | One was introduced as one of the first inhabitants of Pandora. They are active at night and are rumored to produce offspring soon via pathogenesis. |
| Tree Frogs | Kermit and Miss. Piggy | Alive | Introduced as part of the aquatic ecosystem. Kermit briefly escaped the enclosure during the Great Escape event. Bustos hopes they will breed soon. |
There are a multitude of other species as well, including (but not limited to) crickets, roaches, grasshoppers, termites, damselflies, guppies, crabs, and various microorganisms and soil creatures.
He plans to interchange apex predators every once and a while, and continue to foster Pandora's self-sustainability.
Previous AntsCanada Icon
Trivia[]
- AntsCanada was been nominated for the 2020 tenth annual Streamy Awards in the Documentary and Creator Products categories. The Streamy Awards took place on December 13, 2020.
- Mikey has been featured in DiaTabs commercials in the Philippines two times as the main character; first being Boyet, the second being himself.
- Depsite his namesake, Mikey cares for a variety of other animals, including sugar gliders, an emerald boa, a tarantula, and a dog.
- He is also developing an outdoor animal sancturary for injured wildlife.
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.
- 4 million subscribers: March 8, 2021.
- 5 million subscribers: December 7, 2023.