On Nov. 30, 2025, YouTuber AntsCanada posted a video describing a clash between the various bugs and insects that inhabit his vivarium. He titled the 32-minute video, “An ANT WAR Broke Out in My Giant Grasslands Vivarium.”
What is a vivarium, and what is happening on YouTube?
According to experts, a vivarium, often confused with a terrarium, is “a bio-active, closed container for plants and sometimes animals. In its essence, it is a mini ecosystem captured inside a glass box. It can be a humid jungle, an arid desert, or an otherworldly fairy garden.”
In the video description, AntsCanada explained the chaos happening in his vivarium in detail. He wrote, “An Ant War broke out in my new Giant Grasslands Vivarium.” Then he described a “ravenous supercolony of black crazy ants” that invaded.
He went on, “Their presence proved life-threatening to the entire grasslands ecosystem, as they ran havoc within the grassland ecosystem tank I constructed.”
While the setup felt dramatic, the format may have felt familiar to longtime viewers. Previously, AntsCanada had posted similar crisis-driven videos about the insects and bugs breaking out into his home or starting fights with each other.
Not everyone was interested in what some felt was another problem brought about by intentional user error. Others were fascinated by the ant war and couldn’t get enough of it.
@dollypartonysoprano Any other AntsCanada Stans in chat ?????? #youtube ♬ original sound – daiquiri jester
Reddit users accused AntsCanada of repeating the same crisis content
According to Reddit, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened on AntsCanada’s channel. In a post from two years ago, Redditor u/EvilGaming007 wrote a post titled, “This is why I don’t watch AntsCanada anymore.” In the message, they screenshot several of AntsCanada’s videos from the previous two months, with titles such as, “A War Broke Out in My Giant Rainforest Vivarium” and “Animals Escaped My Giant Rainforest Vivarium and Into My Home.”
u/EvilGaming007 questioned AntsCanada’s videos, saying they felt staged. The Redditor wrote, “Every other video of his is him dealing with the consequences of his well-planned actions.” Then they added, “There is no way he doesn’t know that adding all those creatures together will result in disaster, yet he does it anyway – purely for views.”
Other commenters expanded on the frustration. u/I_Do_Respect_You_Bro wrote, “I liked his videos at first, years ago. But can’t stand them anymore. I feel like I’m being talked down [to].” They also criticized his on-camera presence, saying they came “for the ants,” not fitness poses.
Meanwhile, u/ParsleySnipps focused on the delivery. They said the voiceover sounded affected and fake. They mocked his tone, writing, “Oh no! How could this happen?” while noting he also sounded bored. Still, they argued the content was not cruel, instead calling it clickbait drama.
However, not everyone agreed with the criticism. u/ComprehensiveTear487 offered a different view. They suggested AntsCanada aimed for younger viewers. They compared the style to “an amateur Bill Nye/citizen science” approach. According to them, the cheesy drama helped kids engage.
“[It’s] low-grade drama that seems cheesy is what elementary/middle school kids whose prefrontal lobes aren’t fully developed can handle. And he’s inspiring kids to look in their back yard and think critically, experiment, ask questions, be disappointed but try again, learn about life and death,” they wrote. “I wish I had these shows when I was a kid, yet, I enjoy them now!”
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