A Disaster and Crisis in My Giant Rainforest Vivarium

This is Pantdora, my 1000 gallon cloud rainforest  vivarium, home to a tropical ecosystem within glass, that grows more and more beautiful,  complex, and biodiverse with each passing day. But one of the top predators in the ecosystem is  the Green Reaper, this beautiful praying mantis, who is so fat right now and can hardly breathe,  and you’re about to find out why. I must say, it’s been the craziest 24 hrs, that I actually  haven’t been able to sleep. When you guys see what happened, you’ll un

derstand why I call  it the biggest crisis in the history of Pantdora. It all started yesterday with the  introduction of our Green Reaper’s suitor. My, my! Well, what have we here? Why  hello, my Grey Reaper. So nice to see you. I’ve been awaiting your arrival for  a very long time. Welcome to Pantdora! I have someone special I’d love to introduce you  to. Meet your ultimate fate: the Green Reaper. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the  BELL icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! When I fi

rst approached the vivarium with  our Grey Reaper in hand, our Green Reaper immediately took notice through the glass, and  when I actually placed him in and closed the door, I had no idea that it would be the start of the  craziest showdown I had ever seen. At first, our Grey Reaper didn’t realize that he was  being watched by someone twice his size up high in the canopy. I wondered what was going  through her mind. Did she like him? Did he pass her standards? I hoped she wasn’t looking at him 

like food. The night before, as we saw in the last episode, she had devoured an entire roach, so  I assumed she wasn’t thinking about eating him, or at least I hoped. I had also fed the male some  crickets before adding him in here, just for extra precaution so he too wouldn’t have cannibalism  on his mind, whenever the two mantises did meet. I watched wide-eyed at the female staring down  at the male, as I waited for one of them to make a first move. I wondered if the Grey Reaper  could smell

our female’s pheromones in the air, and judging from his increased breathing, I bet  he did. They stood like this for a very long time, about half an hour, with the male still not  noticing the female. He didn’t know it yet, but he was in for the biggest test of  his life. I would keep my eye on the two, but meanwhile, I caught sight of  something very concerning nearby. In the pitcher plants, the Dark Horde, the  invasive black crazy ant colony we’ve been working on controlling, was still stati

oned in hiding.  The queens looked around knowing full well that their mission was to bring their once powerful  colony back to glory. Their presence here in the plant was already beginning to rot the pitcher  plants’ new leaves due to all the lethal ant poop the Dark Horde was producing, which was toxic to  pitcher plants. Knowing the black crazy ants were squatting and pooping in its soils, the pitcher  plant was rushing to send out new pitchers, to hopefully trap the black crazy ants like it 

had been doing so far with its one pitcher that consumed a lot of black crazy ants in its time  around. I hoped the Dark Horde would move out of here soon, but little did I know, another organism  would be showing up here soon at this very Dark Horde camp, that would take full advantage of  these black crazy ants overstaying their welcome. Another ant species caught my eye, and when  I spotted them, I chuckled. If it wasn’t our menace to Pantdoran society, the acrobat ants were  racing across t

he glass and forest floor in their usual threat pose. This ant was in a rush, and as  I followed it, I saw what it was so excited about. I yelled when I spotted the sight. Yay! See  it? The acrobat ant had found a plant insect and was milking it for honeydew. In case you’re  new to this behaviour, plant insects, which are essentially plant parasites that suck the juices  from the plants’ leaves and stems, create a sweet byproduct called honeydew, which you’re  about to see in a second. The ants

stroke the plant insects, kind of like milking a cow, then  drink the delicious sweet honeydew that squirts out. I was happy the acrobat ants discovered the  plant insects first and not the black crazy ants. When the ant moved on to drink from other plant  insects, I was able to get a better look at the ant cow it was milking. This was what was called a  scale insect. Now watch the acrobat ant. It begins to stroke the scale insect with its antennae  gently. This tickles the scale insect, which s

oon causes it to extrude a little tube that squirts  out the sweet honeydew which the ant relishes. Pretty neat huh? The ant will continue to do this  over and over again until it is full and can bring the nutritious honeydew back to the colony.  For many ant species, honeydew makes up a great portion of their diet, and many ants will protect  these insects like a personal herds of cows. I was happy our acrobat ants had discovered the  plant insects as a food source. But as far as the parasitic

plant insects go, things were starting  to get a bit out of control. Have a look at this! See all those white fluffy things that  look like snow? Those are mealybugs, another type of plant insect. They look  like wool on the asparagus ferns. Up close, they look like this. Now these plant insects also  produce honeydew, but it seems the ants haven’t really discovered them as a honeydew source yet.  They look pretty cool but they do reproduce really quickly, and they needed to be controlled.  So m

y solution was this mealybug assassin. She’s a lady beetle, whose diet consists of plant insects like the mealybugs. I released  her into Pantdora and she instantly flew away. I hoped she would survive and help  control the quickly spreading mealybugs. The Grey Reaper was breathing hard. Do  you think he could feel he was being watched? He surely could smell the female’s  pheromones in the air. Perhaps he too was releasing pheromones that was putting  our Green Reaper under a charm spell. Soon I

noticed our Green Reaper was also breathing  hard, and that was when he noticed. For the first time, our two mantises were locking eyes on  each other. He instantly began to sway. I was honestly so scared for him, and I wondered  what could possibly be going through his mind right now. This was actually the very  first time I’d ever seen the praying mantis courtship or mating ritual. One thing’s for  sure, that Green Reaper stare was terrifying! He stood still. What on Earth would happen  next?

Who would make the first move? And then something really unexpected happened.  Movement of the Spanish moss. The Green Reaper began to minutely wobble the spanish moss  on which she hung. The Grey reaper watched, seemingly mesmerised by the movement.  What was our male going to do in response? I watched as she continued to wobble the  moss. The Grey Reaper was breathing hard now, and to my utter surprise, he pooped. Oh! Guess  she literally scared the crap out of him, and then, in an unexpected

turn of events, the  Grey Reaper began to move away from his place, in a direction away from the female. What? I think him moving away was a surprise move to  the female, as well. He clearly just wanted to get out of there. I guessed that perhaps he didn’t  feel it was the right time to breed with her and decided to bail, but this rejection moment was  clearly affecting our Green Reaper. Judging from her demeanour, she was either feeling heart  broken or mad. Either way, it was then that I real

ized that this mantis mating process was  going to be much more complicated than I thought. I then caught sight of someone up on the  Hallelujah Tree Stump. It was our resident sun skink. He’s so beautiful! I believe him to  be full grown now, and I often marvel at the new shape of his body, the speckles on the side of  his body, and how he just lounges around knowing full well that he runs the rainforest, as the  apex predator. By the way, guys, he still needs a name? Let me know your name sugg

estions for our  golden dragon here! I’m also looking for a female to pair him with so we could one day have a nice  family of sun skinks running around the forest. I spotted him looking at something flying all around  him. He wanted to eat it! When I saw it land, I discovered it was Pantdora’s damselfly. She was  so gorgeous. Look at her. Her face was so pretty, and actually looked like an elegant lady. No  wonder they call them damselflies. I loved her colour! We actually watched her grow up s

ince  she was just a little nymph in the waters. Now, I was always sad that she was the only  damselfly flying around here in the rainforest, but that was until I spotted this.  AC Family, you will love this! Into the blackwater pond, we go. And there  it was! I spotted another damselfly nymph, or at least it looked like one. Any of you care  to verify if we could expect another damselfly on the way? It was quite large, just under  an inch long. These nymphs are carnivorous, and I knew that it w

as enjoying all the new  baby fish that were swimming in the waters. Speaking of baby fish, there  were so many guppies now, and the adult females were huge with more fish  on the way. I estimated that there were about 30 or more fish in these waters now, but I  did catch the adults eating their own babies, so I wasn’t too worried about population  control, plus there was the damselfly nymph also preying on the fish. It was great to see our  aquatic ecosystem doing so well and developing. Sadly,

I couldn’t see any more shrimp.  Guess the waters had grown unideal for them with all the fish dirtying up the  environment, as shrimp require pretty pristine nitrogen-deficient waters. The crabs  however were still thriving and doing well, and so were these. Look! All the dirty pond  water was a literal feast for the vines, who had their roots dipped into the pond  eating up the toxic nitrogen and turning it into the most beautiful of leaves. Vines were  now sprouting up into the canopy even a

gainst the top mesh. I couldn’t wait for the canopy  to just be full of these green vine leaves! I looked back at our Green Reaper and she  was still staring down at the male who was standing completely still now. It was then that  I noticed how shiny and iridescent the male’s wings were. See it? He had the most beautiful  metallic sheen to his back. I wondered if this iridescent shine looked attractive to the  females, perhaps reflecting wavelengths of light that the female mantises could reall

y see  well. I really wanted our male to be her knight in shining armour, but I wasn’t going to rush  this process and allow him to do his thing. The female attempted the swaying technique in  attempts to get his attention, but he had no reaction to her attention-seeking tactics. She  then started to shake the spanish moss harder which eventually caused the asparagus  fern he was on which touched the moss, to also shake. After several minutes  of vigorous shaking, to my surprise, she turned away

. What? Guess she lost  interest in him, as I watched her make her way up the spanish moss. And then the cutest  thing… She looked back to check on him. He was still not moving. She continued up again  and then.. “Are you sure you’re not coming?” He definitely wasn’t going to pursue. She  proceeded up the moss further. “Are you sure?” looking back a third time.  Nope, not moving. And hilariously, a fourth time. “You sure?” Crickets. And a  fifth time, just in case. “Are you sure?!” The whole tim

e our Grey Reaper was not willing  to budge and just stood there breathing hard. She looked at him one sixth and final time before  proceeding on her way in the opposite direction high up in the canopy. I couldn’t believe this  arranged mantis marriage was not really working out as easily as I thought. I figured breeding  the mantises would be a lot easier, but I guess not. Poor Green Mantis. I suspect she was totally  willing. Grey Reaper, what gives? Come on, bro?! It seemed like an ordinary b

eautiful  night in Pantdora as the nightly mists filled the land. I always felt Pantdora had  a totally different vibe and spirit at night, and indeed the team of Pantdoran night  life was different from that of the day. The male was surprisingly still in  the same spot as he was hours earlier, still unmoving. The Green Reaper had stationed  herself far away under a vine and was fast asleep. At ground level, I spotted one of the house  geckoes. Such cool toes that help them stick to the glass. G

ecko toe pads are equipped  with microscopic hook-like cells called adhesive lamellae which allow the geckoes  to stick onto the glass. We saw in the last episode that at least one of the geckoes was  pregnant with eggs. I couldn’t wait to finally see baby geckoes running around. Rocksteady,  our resident rhino beetle was on the move, probably looking for a female to  breed with, and indeed, I’m looking for a female for him. The Terra Raiders, our  marauder ants were busy foraging for food. Up o

n the glass, I was surprised to see this. A  huntsman spider, and it was pretty big! Look at the size of it compared to my finger. Don’t  worry, though, this was not one of the baby huntsmen released in the last episode. This was a  juvenile huntsman, I released way back in Part 6 during the legacy GAIA Event. The 400 or so baby  huntsmen from the last episode, were still small, but slightly larger than last week. I hoped at  least some of them would survive into adulthood, but I knew it would b

e a long journey  for them to reach their full size, assuming they manage to escape being preyed upon.  Speaking of adult huntsman spiders, their giant beastly mother, Lady Death Strike would be added  to Pantdora once the mantises finished mating, a precautionary measure in case she would want  to prey on the male mantis before doing his deed. I spotted a jumping spider sleeping in its  silken burrow in the stump, and Stanley, our bush cricket up high in the canopy looking  for leaves to chew o

n. The roaches were also out and about looking for edible matter to feast  upon. I spotted the tree frogs awake and ready to begin their night’s hunt. Hi, Kermit! Of  all the tree frogs, Kermit was definitely my favourite. I don’t know when their breeding season  starts, but I couldn’t wait for him to mate with Miss Piggy. I’ll know it’s tree frog breeding  season once Kermit here starts singing at night. But with all the nightly regulars I spotted,  this night was different from the rest. Some

new lifeforms were making an appearance. Under  the stump, I spotted these. Mushrooms! Look at that fuzzy mycelium! They kinda looked like oyster  mushrooms. Anyone care to identify them? I also spotted these cute mushrooms at the foot of the  stump, and ready for this guys? These mushrooms! They were growing from the pitcher plants! How  awesome to see them here! They had these cute cone-shaped caps that looked like Asian hats. It  was then that I realized how brilliant it was that the mushroom

s sprouted on this night. Do you think  the fungus knew the black crazy ants were parked here? These mushroom caps were surely sending  out its spores now, especially when it rained, which would then fall onto every member of the  Dark Horde, and the ants would then thereby assist in spreading its spores to new areas of the  rainforest whenever they moved out. What was even more cool was that the fungus was probably feeding  on the poop and nutrients that the ants were leaving behind in the soil

s, in order to erect  these overnight mushrooms, thereby saving our pitcher plants from dying from ant poop poisoning.  How neat it was to see how the story of these three organisms: the ants, the pitcher plants,  and the fungus, played out to everyone’s benefit. As the sun rose to greet a new day, the frogs  headed up in the canopy to prepare for sleep high up in the vines. My eyes looked over  at the Green Reaper who was still asleep, but I freaked out when I spotted this. Our male  Grey Reape

r was climbing the spanish moss with his eyes locked right at the Green Reaper. OMG!  I think he was going to make his move. He was totally going to pursue her. Finally, this was the  big day! I wondered if prior to this, he felt she wasn’t in the right position. Perhaps the tactic  is to sort of stalk her and surprise her from behind? But he was so slow making his approach. 1  hour later, he was up on the asparagus fern. Then an hour after that, he was on the screen mesh  making his approach. O

h, he was getting closer. She was just waking up now from her slumber.  But then, something unexpected, an hour later, I spotted our Green Reaper facing our male who  was stationed up high on the mesh not moving. Oh my! This was the showdown of the century,  the moment of truth. My heart began to race as I watched our Green Reaper and our Grey  Reaper staring at each other. The female seemed receptive now and very interested in the  Grey Reaper. What type of interest, however, was the ultimate q

uestion. The suspense was  killing me! I would hate to be the male under so much pressure right now, but the drive to mate was  strong. Now he had one advantage over the female, in that he was capable of flight, while she was  more of a jumper, and not a flyer. But look at that glare! But then I noticed something that  completely freaked me out even more. Our male didn’t seem to notice yet, but the Green Reaper  was slowly inching her way closer to him. Look at that foot moving ever so slowly, m

icromillimeter  by micromillimeter. The male began breathing fast, or possibly releasing more pheromones. The female  had both front legs reaching forward now. The male began wobbling. OMG she was so close now! She  was still hyper focused on him, and suddenly a worrying feeling of fear hit the pit of my  stomach. The male suddenly made the decision to turn away from the Green Reaper and abandon the  operation, as she inched closer and closer. No! He looked over his shoulder and noticed she  was

getting closer so he froze in his tracks. I screamed as the Green Reaper came within striking  distance of the male, who was now acting without thought and wobbling his way away. Fly! Fly  now! There was nothing I could do but watch as the Green Reaper made her approach. It was moments  like this where I wondered if I should intervene, but would that be compromising what this  ecosystem project was about? Should I let nature take its course? Perhaps this was  part of the mating ritual? As a spe

ctator, the suspense was unbelievable, and I watched  as the space between the two mantises began to close. I shut my eyes and said a little prayer  for the Grey Reaper, and when I opened my eyes… The Green Reaper had striked and  in a flurry of arms and spikes, I watched in horror as the Green Reaper  began to feast on the male. She chewed happily into one of his arms, then  moved on to devouring his torso, as he tried desperately to stop her with his  other arm. But there was no saving him now

. She bit into his heart and I watched in sheer  terror and sadness as our Grey Reaper met the end of his life in failure to breed and fulfil  his ultimate destiny of passing on his genes. “He sucked! Try again, Creator of  Worlds!” she said as she continued to feast on him. This was all very sad  that our mating attempt didn’t work out, but the biggest surprise of  all was coming later that day. Our Green Reaper had finished her meal and was  now so fat! But the Terra Raiders were shouting in d

elight! The greatest news had reached the  colony and workers were scrambling to get to the scene. Mantis guts lay on the leaves, and  leftover body parts littered the ferns below, marking the fall of a great knight. The  Terra Raiders were on site ready to take the home feast of leftover Grey Mantis  body parts! At least, the Terra Raiders were benefiting from our Grey Reaper’s death.  Some black crazy ants had found a stray arm, which I wasn’t too happy about at first, but  later I discovered

was wrestled away from them by the Terra Raiders, who were now taking it and  all body parts home. Happy to know that at least, the Terra Raiders now had the upper hand  at competing with the Dark Horde. This was actually not only a win for the Terra  Raiders, but also one for all of Pantdora. I began to think about the Grey Reaper. His death  had affected me deeply, but as I watched the Terra Raiders parade their newly collected food back to  the nest, in complete joy and excitement, I began to

consider that at least the Grey Reaper’s death  didn’t go in vain. The Grey Reaper’s leftover body parts meant food for all these ants. I even  spotted the acrobat ants enjoying the guts. The Green Reaper, herself, was now fat with him in her  belly, which in nature might have actually helped her in the event that she does successfully get  fertilized by her next suitor. I suspected that mantis cannibalism like this was not something  out of the ordinary, and maybe even had a purpose. Perhaps t

he temperature wasn't right in Pantdora,  or the landscape wasn’t right, perhaps she was still hungry, or maybe some other environmental  condition wasn’t met in order for the mantises to successfully breed. If the foliage was a bit more  dense, maybe the Grey Reaper could have done a better job at sneaking up on the female. Maybe if  the temperature in Pantdora was ideal, the female would’ve been in a better mood to mate, or if she  ate more prey she wouldn't have eaten the male. I didn’t know,

but perhaps the female ultimately  eating the male had an actual purpose in nature. I began to imagine what it would be like for  the babies had the mating been successful. If baby mantises were born in Pantdora  but temperatures were too hot or too cold, maybe they wouldn’t thrive. If the  vegetation of the area wasn’t bushy enough, perhaps the baby mantises wouldn’t have enough  places to hide from predators once hatched. If Pantdora was lacking in the prey department,  then the baby mantises

might be born into an environment lacking an ample amount of food.  I began to consider that perhaps the mantises’ mating failure might not necessarily be a bad  outcome, but instead perhaps a necessary one. Nature has an intelligence and a way  to ensure life persists and thrives. I began to consider that perhaps the Green  Reaper’s reaction to the male was in fact, Pandora’s reaction to the male, deciding that  the Grey Reaper would be more beneficial to the system as food, than as an agent f

or  the replication of more mantises. I also considered the possibility that maybe the  Grey Reaper didn’t have the secret sauce, the right genes, health status, or knack  for survival that would ensure the best and strongest offspring, hence leading to  the Green Reaper saying no and eating him. I realized that when Nature is allowed  to run its course, there are no mistakes, and it probably wasn’t the Green Reaper’s  moment to breed. I resolved to try again as soon as I found another male  for

her, and hopefully then, the conditions in Pantdora will be just right  to welcome some new mantises to the rainforest. But meanwhile, I had an adult huntsman  spider named Lady Deathstrike, that I promised I’d be releasing into Pantdora.  If we ever find a male mantis again, I’ll make sure to only add him in, if she’s  well fed or I’ll take our Green Reaper out and mate them in a separate space. I opened the  huntsman’s container and left it there for Lady Deathstrike to come out on her own ti

me. I  left Pantdora to be for the rest of the day. And now for the reason of the huge crisis I  was talking about at the start of the video, and though the whole failed  mantis breeding was sad, it wasn’t the reason for my  previously mentioned insomnia. Vote in my COMMUNITY TAB to affect this story!