18 replies to this topic

[lsilverwoman]

 Hi from Oakland, California! I'm a journalist exploring the world of ant keeping and curious what draws people to the hobby? Feel free to share your thoughts or message me directly! I'd love to hear what made you want to start an ant colony.

 

Thanks,

Lauren  

[TechAnt]

Welcome to the forum! Personally, I started my interest in ant-keeping after seeing Ants Canada videos on Youtube, but now I have moved towards more professional ant keeping and found this site. There are actually a lot of reasons why people keep ants, I always have been interested in ants as a whole though.

Edited by TechAnt, November 9 2020 - 9:00 AM.

[TheIndianMafia]

I've always been fascinated by insects, keeping them as pets sine I was around 6 years old. Haven't really thought ants would be my type until I seen a video of Antscanada's. It shown me ants too can be just as interesting if not more interesting than what I had at the time.

[Ants_Dakota]

i have always been interested in insects in general. i once just flipped over some mounds and saw ants pouring out, and was hooked from that second onward! i am drawn to the hobby because ants are an awesome community of insects that work together to get something done, which i love. no ant gets the glory, that all just humbly do their duty.

Edited by Ants_Dakota, November 9 2020 - 7:01 AM.

[Manitobant]

I've liked insects since i was 4 years old, but i only took an interest in ants when a video from antscanada came up in my YouTube recommendations. People are also drawn to the hobby because ants are amazing creatures with a unique social structure and have evolved many different strategies, such as fungus growing, dulosis (slave making) and repletes.

[ZTYguy]

Welcome to the forum! Personally, I started my interest in ant-keeping after seeing Ants Canada videos on Youtube, but now I have moved towards more professional ant keeping and found this site. There are actually a lot of reasons why people keep ants.

I agree I started getting into ant keeping after seeing his videos when I was super young. 

[OhNoNotAgain]

Hello Bay Area neighbor (I'm from South Bay). Is this for a particular publication/particular article, or are you just generally interested? Are you interested in ants yourself?

I will say that I started antkeeping probably 40+ years ago, but then stopped for some decades until last year. The internet has really facilitated niche groups - whether rare disease support or keeping unusual pets/plants. The information available now was certainly NOT easily available 40 years ago!

 

P.S. It's not all men in this hobby either!

[Antkeeper01]

It started a few months ago when my aunt got me one of those gel ant farms with Pogonomyrmex in it and i researched Pogonomyrmex and went on to find AC and saw all the vids and then caught like 10 tetra queens then i caught a queen that i couldn't id and that's when i found FC and that's the whole story.        

[ANTdrew]

I’ve been obsessed with insects my whole life, but I rekindled my passion for bugs after making my native plant garden. I first got really into bees, then more and more into ants. Eusociality and the idea of a superorganism are really fascinating to me. One of the best things about this hobby is learning how to find your own queens. It’s like real-life Pokemon.

[MinigunL5]

Hi from Oakland, California! I'm a journalist exploring the world of ant keeping and curious what draws people to the hobby? Feel free to share your thoughts or message me directly! I'd love to hear what made you want to start an ant colony.

Thanks,
Lauren

As with most people I found out about ant-keeping from AntsCanada(I dislike him now). Then, in May of 2020 I caught my first queens and I have been a happy ant-keeper since. One of the awesome things about ants is that they're constantly growing. Some colonies can take 3-4 or even more years to reach maturity. Another thing I think is wonderful about ants is how they are multiple organism that act together as a whole, it is truly amazing. An ant is nothing without its colony. Another thing that I like about ants is their diversity. Although this depends on where you live, most people have dozens of species that are native to their area and many genera of cool ants. Although some people do not like keeping to many ants and prefer to focus their effort on a few colonies. I want to catch all the ants I can(kinda like Pokemon). I hope this gave you a good idea about how I got into ant-keeping and why I love ants so much!

Edited by MinigunL5, November 9 2020 - 4:56 PM.

[lsilverwoman]

Cool! That's awesome that you're so close. I am not sure which outlet I will pitch this piece to yet (still just gathering information) but I'll definitely let you know. I never was interested in ants until I had a MAJOR infestation a few months ago. Then I tried to kill a bunch of them unsuccessfully... that's when I started researching what kind they are. Turns out their Argentine ants (yep, I realize they're all over California!). So now I'm watching them and trying to find a queen. 

What kinds of ants do you keep? And would you be willing to chat with me so I can learn more? I'd love to hear how the hobby has changed over time. 

Best,
Lauren

Hello Bay Area neighbor (I'm from South Bay). Is this for a particular publication/particular article, or are you just generally interested? Are you interested in ants yourself?

I will say that I started antkeeping probably 40+ years ago, but then stopped for some decades until last year. The internet has really facilitated niche groups - whether rare disease support or keeping unusual pets/plants. The information available now was certainly NOT easily available 40 years ago!

 

P.S. It's not all men in this hobby either!

[lsilverwoman]

Hi MinigunL5 - thanks for the detailed reply! What's the beef with antscanada? I've read a few people who don't like him anymore. 

 

Hi from Oakland, California! I'm a journalist exploring the world of ant keeping and curious what draws people to the hobby? Feel free to share your thoughts or message me directly! I'd love to hear what made you want to start an ant colony.

Thanks,
Lauren

As with most people I found out about ant-keeping from AntsCanada(I dislike him now). Then, in May of 2020 I caught my first queens and I have been a happy ant-keeper since. One of the awesome things about ants is that they're constantly growing. Some colonies can take 3-4 or even more years to reach maturity. Another thing I think is wonderful about ants is how they are multiple organism that act together as a whole, it is truly amazing. An ant is nothing without its colony. Another thing that I like about ants is their diversity. Although this depends on where you live, most people have dozens of species that are native to their area and many genera of cool ants. Although some people do not like keeping to many ants and prefer to focus their effort on a few colonies. I want to catch all the ants I can(kinda like Pokemon). I hope this gave you a good idea about how I got into ant-keeping and why I love ants so much!

 

[Ants_Dakota]

 

Hi MinigunL5 - thanks for the detailed reply! What's the beef with antscanada? I've read a few people who don't like him anymore. 

 

Hi from Oakland, California! I'm a journalist exploring the world of ant keeping and curious what draws people to the hobby? Feel free to share your thoughts or message me directly! I'd love to hear what made you want to start an ant colony.

Thanks,
Lauren

As with most people I found out about ant-keeping from AntsCanada(I dislike him now). Then, in May of 2020 I caught my first queens and I have been a happy ant-keeper since. One of the awesome things about ants is that they're constantly growing. Some colonies can take 3-4 or even more years to reach maturity. Another thing I think is wonderful about ants is how they are multiple organism that act together as a whole, it is truly amazing. An ant is nothing without its colony. Another thing that I like about ants is their diversity. Although this depends on where you live, most people have dozens of species that are native to their area and many genera of cool ants. Although some people do not like keeping to many ants and prefer to focus their effort on a few colonies. I want to catch all the ants I can(kinda like Pokemon). I hope this gave you a good idea about how I got into ant-keeping and why I love ants so much!

 

 

many ant keepers feel he puts too much drama into his videos and not enough information. others hate his promoting of invasive and exotic species. Antdrew really sums up my motto. keeping ordinary ants in extraordinary ways. not getting the "coolest species" in exotics

Edited by Ants_Dakota, November 9 2020 - 7:16 PM.

[MinigunL5]

 

Hi MinigunL5 - thanks for the detailed reply! What's the beef with antscanada? I've read a few people who don't like him anymore. 

 

Hi from Oakland, California! I'm a journalist exploring the world of ant keeping and curious what draws people to the hobby? Feel free to share your thoughts or message me directly! I'd love to hear what made you want to start an ant colony.

Thanks,
Lauren

As with most people I found out about ant-keeping from AntsCanada(I dislike him now). Then, in May of 2020 I caught my first queens and I have been a happy ant-keeper since. One of the awesome things about ants is that they're constantly growing. Some colonies can take 3-4 or even more years to reach maturity. Another thing I think is wonderful about ants is how they are multiple organism that act together as a whole, it is truly amazing. An ant is nothing without its colony. Another thing that I like about ants is their diversity. Although this depends on where you live, most people have dozens of species that are native to their area and many genera of cool ants. Although some people do not like keeping to many ants and prefer to focus their effort on a few colonies. I want to catch all the ants I can(kinda like Pokemon). I hope this gave you a good idea about how I got into ant-keeping and why I love ants so much!

 

 

@Ants_Dakota summed up why people dislike AC(AntsCanada) pretty well. Personally, I also dislike how some of his products are overpriced yet many people still buy them as they are inexperienced. For example, on his website AC sells 5 plastic test tubes for NINE DOLLARS(with shipping it's even more). That is crazy expensive, you can get many more than that for a much lower price. The only special thing are that they have little plastic things sticking out the side to stop them from rolling(which is just a dumb gimmick). I have seen so many ant-keepers waste their money on these test tubes because they didn't know any better. 

[OhNoNotAgain]

 

Cool! That's awesome that you're so close. I am not sure which outlet I will pitch this piece to yet (still just gathering information) but I'll definitely let you know. I never was interested in ants until I had a MAJOR infestation a few months ago. Then I tried to kill a bunch of them unsuccessfully... that's when I started researching what kind they are. Turns out their Argentine ants (yep, I realize they're all over California!). So now I'm watching them and trying to find a queen. 

What kinds of ants do you keep? And would you be willing to chat with me so I can learn more? I'd love to hear how the hobby has changed over time. 

Best,
Lauren

 

Hi Lauren,

Yeah the Argentine ants are kind of annoying. They have many queens per nest, and you're unlikely to see them flying. They have so many queens per nest the ants do a mass slaughter of underperforming queens in the spring. Here is a great KQED article on Argentine ants and one of the few ants that can hold them off: the winter ant (Prenolepis imparis). https://www.kqed.org...ne-ant-invaders

In fact, Stanford's Jasper Ridge scientists do ant research and occasionally host Zoom meetings, etc. https://jrbp.stanfor...jrbp-ant-survey

 

Antkeeping usually does NOT involve Argentines, as they are small, nomadic, escape easily, obnoxious, and may bring back 999999 of their friends to invade your home. But there are still a surprising number of non-Argentines around, though in my neighborhood it's still mostly Argentines  California is home to some of the most interesting and sought-after ants in the US. I have some PDFs from the Jasper Ridge group if you're interested in local ants, though it doesn't cover the SoCal species that are highly popular (e.g. Camponotus fragilis, honeypot ants, etc.).

 

While I started decades ago, I only re-started last year, so I'm not aware of the last decade's worth of changes and trends. I will tell you that when I was first keeping ants, I had a toy formicarium made for Japanese kids (wish I could find pictures but I can't), a jar-in-jar dirt formicarium, and an Uncle Milton ant farm. I started at least one or two colonies in the Uncle Milton ant farm by catching queens and putting in regular dirt, but the lack of internet made keeping them alive difficult.

[OhNoNotAgain]

I will note antkeeping is a great hobby for kids, as long as they are getting local queens (or keeping Uncle Miltons ants where there is no queen shipped), but I'm concerned about over-regulation hitting the hobby. Most keepers are ethical and follow protocol of not crossing state lines or avoiding releasing captive colonies (ESPECIALLY not invasive species), which is one reason Ants Canada has started to gain an even worse reputation. If the hobby grows much, I have concerns about the regulation and also the responsibilities. Some younger antkeepers seem especially prone to wanting dangerous invasives and such - but at the same time, most keepers are ethical. Aside from disasters like Argentine ants and RIFA (red imported fire ants), both of which were due to global trade, not hobbyists, I think we have far more important and vital environmental problems going on than antkeeping. As much as non-native earthworms, isopods (roly polies), ants, and other invertebrates have been causing issues, I'd say our planet is in peril from far worse things. If kids grow up loving the natural world and having respect for it thanks to antkeeping, IMHO the good generally outweighs the bad.

Hey just throwing in my $0.02 a little bit early.

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, November 10 2020 - 12:10 PM.

[Ants_Dakota]

if you are looking for ants in cali, there are like tons of shops open. no shortage of ants there.

[mmcguffi]

I've always been interested in insects and whatnot, and eusociality especially interests me. Leaf cutter ants are what initially sparked my interest in keeping ants -- if you aren't aware, they harvest leaves not for for themselves, but to feed their fungal gardens which they have co-evolved with for tens of millions of years. There are even more complex symbioses within these nests with various species of bacteria that live in special structures in the ants. The bacteria produce antibiotics to fight bad, invading fungi and bacteria. Here's a picture of one of their fungal gardens:

 

 

But I'm mostly just commenting to say How to Save a Planet is really fantastic!

Edited by mmcguffi, November 10 2020 - 5:14 PM.

[KitsAntVa]

Beautiful acromrymex you have there.