21 replies to this topic

[Ricardo]

I'm gonna make this quick. I have always loved ants. Now I have been talking with family and I'm still deciding if If I want to do youtube or tv.  This year I'm scouting California for great areas to find ants. Next year I will vlog 365 days of me searching for ants as I'm gonna get a new car. If all goes well in 2 years when I'm 18, I'll have a season on tv to prove myself. Still looking for channel, But my uncle's figuring it out. After that I'll try to open a ant cafe, and just let the future roll out. I'm gonna buy a macbook, 4k sony camcorder, and new router in few weeks. I'm also planning to open a import/export research facility in La but that's later in life. Thanks for reading and have a good day.

[ctantkeeper]

So let me get me straight, you want to start an ant base television series, own an "ant cafe" (what even is that?) and open your own research facility (which will do what exactly?). Trust me, I am DEFINITELY not saying you shouldn't dream big, but reaching your goals may be a bit more difficult then you currently realize. As someone who has a similar passion, please understand that I am not saying this to anger or upset you. Btw, I thought you decided to leave this forum after calling us all a bunch of hypocrites, what gives?

[Kevin]

I think this is very reasonable, you could make it a dream by adding in a mansion next to the FaZe house and you own 6 Lamborghini's, 2 Bugatti's, and throw in a Ferrari.

 

I think this can be easily done, 11/10 I would say it again.

[Batspiderfish]

Ricardo -- forgive my curiosity, but have you kept ants before? A lot of the projects you are describing are very "advanced" and expensive, but I don't think anybody knows who you are. Why get people excited about these projects without providing any background information? Creating a show is serious business, and (especially with ants) there is a lot of scientific scrutiny. You would have to professionally deal with questions and criticisms regarding the content of your show, which was not demonstrated in your "experiment" post. It was not appropriate to throw a fit just because a handful of people disagreed with you.

The excitement tied to exotic ants is also a flag for newbies -- if the ants you've said you've purchased are exotic, then you will have no place to write about them here. Illegal ant trade is not tolerated.

If you are a newcomer, you might want to get a few years of experience under your belt with your native species before you've built up the credibility to try and accurately represent ants or to represent us as the seasoned and knowledgeable hobbyists/biologists that we are.

Edited by Batspiderfish, January 15 2017 - 3:25 PM.

[Martialis]

Kevin, why are you acting so condescending?

[T.C.]

I'm not one to shut down peoples dreams. I have them myself But lets get back to reality here. For a television series to make it, it takes much more than a kid into some ants to make it happen. Honestly, a television series just for ants. That would never work. You are trying to attract such a small group of people. It would be different if you were looking to make a series for all insects, end entomology but you want to do it just for ants? Lets per say you were able to get it going, like I said you are attracting such a small amount of people, that your "series" would be shut down because you have to have a certain number of viewers for it to survive and stay on tv.Also, it's not like you are a well known myrmecologists , and you are trying to attempt this, but your not. It's very hard to get things going in this world such as a tv series, as well as businesses and almost everything else.Like i said, go ahead and best of luck to you. I personally as ant person would watch it. But it's not realistic.

[FSTP]

This sounds great! youtube needs more serious anting shows. Ants Canada is like the only one that has a respectable amount of sub's and views, and all he talks about is fire ants. You're lucky since you're in california where some of the best ants live you're in the perfect place to travel around and showcase all the cool ant natural history that's here. Then once you have a ton of sub's and views on youtube you can get a TV show much easier. Maybe something on like Animal Planet or one of the discovery channels.

 

Can't wait to see how you progress and good luck!

[Kevin]

Kevin, why are you acting so condescending?

I was truly expressing my passion in Ricardo, describing to all how he could advance in life to become a millionaire and live up to his dreams.

 

If anyone actually took seriousness to what I said above, well... I'm not sure what to say.

[gcsnelling]

Uhhh riiight.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

It's hard to imagine a cafe with (I assume) live ants in it not being shut down by the health department. Though they have cat cafe's now who knows. Either way opening a cafe in itself will be a full time job.

[Ricardo]

Don't believe what I say, fair enough. But you guys are going to believe what I do. Lets go Dallas!!!eliminate the strong team so patriots have a better chance, because Atlanta is out with either winner.

Edited by Ricardo, January 15 2017 - 4:41 PM.

[Canadian anter]

This post is not meant to offend you but simply to tell you what I think is unrealistic here. I'm just expressing my own opinion but I think it sounds like you spent more money on the THA nests than you will receive for 730 days of anting vlogs. There are definitely going to be either days where you find no ants or the exact same ants as the other episodes. Also, if any of your ant colonies escape in an "ant cafe", thee is going to be panic and probably 90% of your "buisness" will die. Also, an import in export in the US? forget about it, laws are way too strict for importing. Also, are you aware that both the importer AND the exporter need licences? and also, no shipping across state lines which gives your exporting buisness an even smaller range of customers. And unless the amount of ant fans in North America goes up by ~80000%, I doubt you'll find anyone interested.

 

Here's an example of an average vid. "Ok so today we are visiting (place) anting!. Ok so we found Linepithema humile, Tapinoma sessile, Myrmica rubra, Solenopsis invicta and 20 other invasive and dominant species

[FSTP]

Guys, Lets stave off judgement and try and keep it cordial. I think with enough effort and drive he can do anything with ants he wants to.

 

This is Formiculture.com, where we encourage our members to achieve whatever ant dreams they might have, even if at the time it may seem a little far fetched. 

 

The things Ricardo has going for him are 1) He is young so he has plenty of time to figure out how he's going to accomplish his goals, 2) he's in California which, next to Az, has some of the best ant diversity in the country, and 3) it appears he has family that are supportive of his ideas and dreams and is even willing to help him accomplish those ideas and dreams.

 

 

Also, perhaps, Ricardo you should start a separate thread and make a journal, now that you have revealed your plans. That way you can update us on what's going on behind the scenes on these projects you'll be working on.        

Edited by FSTP, January 15 2017 - 5:20 PM.

[Ricardo]

Thank you FSTP for your kind words. I will start a journal soon, but will keep personal if I want to make a book.

[Kevin]

This post is not meant to offend you but simply to tell you what I think is unrealistic here. I'm just expressing my own opinion but I think it sounds like you spent more money on the THA nests than you will receive for 730 days of anting vlogs. There are definitely going to be either days where you find no ants or the exact same ants as the other episodes. Also, if any of your ant colonies escape in an "ant cafe", thee is going to be panic and probably 90% of your "buisness" will die. Also, an import in export in the US? forget about it, laws are way too strict for importing. Also, are you aware that both the importer AND the exporter need licences? and also, no shipping across state lines which gives your exporting buisness an even smaller range of customers. And unless the amount of ant fans in North America goes up by ~80000%, I doubt you'll find anyone interested.

 

Here's an example of an average vid. "Ok so today we are visiting (place) anting!. Ok so we found Linepithema humile, Tapinoma sessile, Myrmica rubra, Solenopsis invicta and 20 other invasive and dominant species

Honestly, Mikey makes a lot more than you think.

 

On one of his more recent viral videos, he made about $18.37K according to VidIQ, a popular extension that gives stats for videos and adds a few other features to YouTube.

 

 

 

If I put my personal opinion on this topic, it's great to dream big and be positive, but to face the facts, this would most likely never happen. You could make a YouTube channel, you could possibly get on Nation Geographic TV once or twice... but if you honestly want to be successful, you have to look at the greater picture. Most people would probably not eat at an ant-infested cafe, perhaps and aquarium with the walls filled with fish.

 

I encourage you to write a book on myrmecology related topics, it would be quite interesting if it was properly done. Make a YouTube channel and start making ant videos, do something, but don't put you life into believing that you will be able to have a career including every single thing you said.

Edited by Kevin, January 15 2017 - 6:04 PM.

[Canadian anter]

i mean because unless Ricardo moves, he's probably going to star many videos just on Linepithema which tend to be hard to raise

[Ricardo]

Lol, I don't know any sp. of ant other than linepithema,lol.

Edited by Ricardo, January 15 2017 - 8:53 PM.

[FSTP]

I think some are failing to realize that CA is pretty much only second to AZ when it comes to diversity of ant species. So there will be plenty of different ants to look at. 

 

Basically travel a couple miles out side of any city to where it is no longer developed and you're going to start seeing some really amazing native species. Only finding Linepithema is not likely to be an issue.

Edited by FSTP, January 16 2017 - 3:38 AM.

[Leo]

you should embed a few formicariums of "interesting" ants such as fungus growers and such, and try not to let the ants roam freely as u never know is someone is allergic to the stings/bittes

[Alabama Anter]

Oh wow! Great dreams. I definitely think their should be more ant channels and an ant cafe world be fantastic. There's already cat/reptile cafes so why not ants?