36 replies to this topic

[Thebrute99]

Hello I was wondering if anybody would like to share any stories about why they got into antkeeping and what made them decide to do so

[Thebrute99]

what made me first decide to look into keeping ants. Was a bad substitute english teacher in 8th grade that put on the movie called meet the robinsons in the movie there was a science fair where a kid brought his ant colony. From there I YouTubed ant keeping and found ants Australia and then found formiculture when I was trying to buy a queen ant.

[GeorgeK]

For me it was episode of Malcolm in the middle, when Dewey had ant farm.

[Mdrogun]

I've just had an innate interest ever since I was a few years old. I started off simply by leaving food out and observing the wild colonies eating it. The rest is history.

[Manitobant]

I know this is a little morbid, but the turning point for me was the antscanada video of the cockroach giving birth while being eaten by fire ants. This showed me how resourceful and aggressive ants really are and then I got hooked on his channel and antkeeping as a whole.

[sirjordanncurtis]

I dug up the roots of an old bush in my house and found a tiny aphaenogaster colony.

[CampoKing]

Where I grew up in the Appalachia, our house was annually inundated with winged carpenter queens, and I found their large size and black color fascinating. It was inevitable that I'd try keeping some back then, and today ants are my science focus lol

[Thebrute99]

These are all great stories thank you all for sharing

[Nylanderiavividula]

I have been a nature/biology nerd my whole life. Growing up, My twin brother and I have kept a menagerie of pets. Herpetology was my first love, then came botany and horticulture, then entomology (I also love icthyology and mycology). I worked as a duct runner in HVAC for six years out of high school (finished my core years of college but could not decide on a major and didn’t want to take on more college debt, so I dropped out...like a genius [sarcasm]), and I hated HVAC. Somehow, I ended up in pest-control and have been working in that field for nine years now. Understanding basic arthropod biology is something any good pest control technician should have under his belt, so when I got in I started to study. I became fascinated with the micro-world of “bugs” and started a worm bed...then I got into beekeeping (been keeping bees for seven years [~30 colonies]), and now, ants! I am always watching various insect YouTube videos and somehow stumbled onto one of AntsCanada’s videos only a month ago!! I did NOT REALIZE how far ant keeping had come along in the last decade or so! It still blows my mind. Well, anyhow, I have had a decent field guide for ID (Ants of North America by Fisher and Cover) and finally got a microscope to help aid in ID. When I started realizing how many great species Georgia has...well, ant keeping is just a natural fit!

[Wa.Va]

When I was younger, I was always fascinated by everything that moves. My parents told me it was crazy how I saw everything crawling and flying. Most of the times they never saw it too, because it was to tiny or to fast. I kept lots of insects just to study with my friends. I hated it when they say 'iew, a spider' to an ant.

Later I started having aquaria en slowly went into paludaria. I worked as a studentjob in a big animal shop. And later I studied film and fotography at university just to make my own nature docu series. I love going on trips. And here I am, years went by. And I still have a lot of ant colonies and other invertibrates. I think this hobby will never go away. Almost Every night I see something new happening inside the setups after so many years of insect keeping. I lost so many hours just watching the setups. Well, not really lost tho 😊

[ANTdrew]

This is a great thread. I've always loved nature and reading books about it. I first got really into insects again through the process of creating a native plant habitat in my garden.  Several years ago, I read Journey to the Ants by E.O. Wilson and that got me really fascinated about ants in particular. He mentions keeping ants in the back of the book, so that's where I first got the idea.

[Rstheant]

YsTheAnt got me into it. All his fault.

[nurbs]

1982. I read a book from the library where the kid had an antfarm. I was in the second grade. The antfarm was eaten or destroyed or something. It had a queen. Then in the book the kid built another ant farm, but this time it had no queen. I forget the name of the book.

 

But that kickstarted into this.

 

[Rstheant]

Is that a nurbs signature chair or something. You should auction it. Make millions. Of ants.

[Zeiss]

It's kind of a boring explanation, but I have always liked insects in general, and I just felt like keeping ants one day.  

 

I just can't believe Nurbs hates Dorymyrmex so much, they're pretty alright.

[nurbs]

/reported for liking Dorymyrmex

 

 

I just can't believe Nurbs hates Dorymyrmex so much, they're pretty alright.

[B_rad0806]

One Word

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AntsCanada

 

 

But now he got worse. Before I had ants I LOVED bugs. Then on my YouTube recommended in 2017 Mikey just randomly showed up. Then I clicked on the video and I realized ant keeping was perfect for me. In 6 months I decided to drive an hour 1/2 to get my first colony from Drew. The colony that I bought was Camponotus Clarithorax. I didn't know that they didn't hibernate. Then in December I hibernated them and the entire colony died but the queen. Then yesterday after a year she finally died. But in August I bought a Camponotus Laevegatus colony from Nurbs. I hope that colony does very well and fills up my desk by the next year.

Edited by B_rad0806, February 20 2019 - 5:06 PM.

[Rstheant]

#toofar. Man, nurbs and other anters really took it too far. My mom has gone nuts with me giving her a detailed speech about ants at dinner.

[B_rad0806]

Dinner? that's why she went nuts

#toofar. Man, nurbs and other anters really took it too far. My mom has gone nuts with me giving her a detailed speech about ants at dinner.

[Rstheant]

No, not really. I just keep pestering her with facts and nonsense.