AntsCanada

Michael "Mikey" John Yadan Tumanguil Pestano Bustos (born: ), 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. 
=== Pantdora Saga ===
In 2023, he built a giant 1000 gallon rainforest-inspired vivarium named Pantdora 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:
Current Pantdorians (Below are SPOILERS for all of the Pantdora saga)
Species 	Name 	Status 	Length of Occupancy 	Role
Black Crazy Ants 	The Dark Horde 	Dead 	Season 1, Episode 5 - ? 	An invasive colony introduced by the plants. They are the main antagonists of Season 1 of the Pandora Saga. A large chunk of their colony was removed, and the colony eventually dissipated.
Marauder Ants 	The Terra Raiders (OG) 	Dead 	Season 1, Episode 5 - ? 	A native colony introduced by the tree stump. They are the direct competitors of the Dark Horde and have gone through a mite infestation. They have been presumed to have died out due to said infestation.
 	The Terra Raiders (2.0) 	Alive 	Season 3, Episode 3 - ? 	A colony introduced during the Ant Gia event to replace the original marauder ant colony.
Acrobat Ants 	The Cremato-Blasters (OG) 	Dead 	Season 1 - ? 	A native colony unexpectedly introduced by the soil or plants. They are a neutral party, but will defend themselves if necessary. They eventually died out due to a lack of a queen.
 	The Chromate-Blasters (Orchadians)	Alive Queen)	Season 2, Episode 	A queen was introduced in Orchadia to replace the original Cremato-Blasters and will hopefully re-establish a colony.
Carpenter Ants 	TBD (Pantdorians) 	Alive 	Season 1, Episode 12 - Present 	A native colony introduced to Pandora. Added to foster competition between the ant colonies, especially the Dark Horde.
 	TBD (Orchadians) 	Alive 	Season 2, Episode 	A colony of black carpenter ants added to Orchadia.
Ghost Ants 	TBD 	Outsiders 	Season 2, Episode 3 - Present 	An invasive species that had breeched the vivarium. A colony is not yet established.
Gnome Ants 	The Gnomads 	Alive 	Season 1- Present 	A native species of ants that is currently the most prominent ant in Pantdora.
Weaver Ants 	Swarmmageddon 	Alive 	Season 3, Episode 3 - Present 	A gargantuan colony of several queens introduced as part of the Ant Gia Event.
Asian Bullet Ants 	TBD 	 	Season 3, Episode 3 - Present 	An ant colony introduced from the Ant Gia Event.
Giant Trapjaw Ants	TBD 	 	Season 3, Episode 3 - Present 	An ant colony introduced from the Ant Gia Event.
Golden Spiny Ants 	TBD 	 	Season 3, Episode 3 - Present 	An ant colony introduced from the Ant Gia Event.
Termites 	TBD (Macrotermes sp.) 	Alive 	 	Royals were caught during the nuptial flight and they were released into Pantdora. Few survived due to frogs eating the flying snacks. They will hopefully produce termite-mushrooms exclusive only to this species.
 	TBD
(Nasutitermes sp.) 	Alive 	 	The first termite colony to have been added. They've survived below and in the tree stump since the start.
Spectacled Caiman 	Godzilla 	Alive 	Season 2, Episode 9 - Present 	A predator from another time added to the waters to control insect populations. Eventually became the new apex predator of Pandora.
Sun Skinks 	Smaug 	Released 	 	Former apex predator. Usually spends time hanging around the tree stump. Initially characterized as a male, but was found out to be female. Released after Godzilla took over as apex predator.
 	Daenerys 	Released 	 	A female added to hopefully breed with Drake. Released after Godzilla took over as apex predator.
 	Drake 	Released 	 	A male sun skink added for breeding. Released after Godzilla took over as apex predator.
 	Snip 	Alive 	 	The offspring of two of the previously released Sun Skinks. It got it's name after being spotted with its tail-end missing.
Huntsman Spider 	Lady Deathstrike 	Alive 	(Introduced) Season 1, Episode 7
(Released) 
Season 1, Episode 14 - Present	An apex predator. She had developed an egg sac after breeding with a male and was released into Pandora with her offspring. She appeared to have escaped the enclosure during the Great Escape event and seemingly fertilized another egg sac. She seemingly died after spending most of her energy taking care of said sac, but another spider, theorized to be the real Lady Deathstrike, was found behind the rock wall. The theory was proven correct, though there are other theories that have been debunked. The first theory being that Lady Deathstrike did indeed escape and molted, and her shed skin was mistaken for her body. This was disproven as huntsman molts are whitish, and are also usually in a different posture and have a deflated abdomen. The other theory was that the spider was the grown-up juvenile huntsman added during GAIA, but it was automatically disproven as the huntsman was still sighted in its juvenile form.
Praying Mantis 	Green Reaper 	Dead 	Season 1, Episode 9 - Season 2, Episode 1	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 	Season 1, Episode 5 - 
Season 2, Episode 1	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 	Season 1, Episode 5 - 
Season 2, Episode 1	A top herbivore who loves to eat plants. Mistaken as a female until he began to chirp at night. Passed away due to likely natural causes.
House Geckos 	TBD 	Alive 	Season 1, Episode 4 - Present 	One was introduced as one of the first inhabitants of Pandora. They are active at night and have produced offspring via pathogenesis.
Tree Frogs 	Kermit and Miss. Piggy 	Alive 	Season 1, Episode 8 - Present 	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.
=== Orchadia ===
Mikey built a second vivarium, named Orchadia, inspired by the canopies of the rainforest and connected it to Pantdora. 
==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==
*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.
es:AntsCanada
Category:Canadian YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2009
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