Pricing Problem for Ants

[FlameofOsiris]

See, I live in the middle of NYC and every single gan farmer within the tri-state area has absurdly high prices with relatively common ants housed in nothing other than test tubes. I was wondering if GAN farmers commonly negotiate their prices, and if they could ship to me within state lines. (Y'know, so it'll be legal)
Honestly, I was so excited about ant-keeping for my b-day but now I've done the research I could do everything to provide for the ants, exept get the ants themsekves

[ooper01]

See, I live in the middle of NYC and every single gan farmer within the tri-state area has absurdly high prices with relatively common ants housed in nothing other than test tubes. I was wondering if GAN farmers commonly negotiate their prices, and if they could ship to me within state lines. (Y'know, so it'll be legal)
Honestly, I was so excited about ant-keeping for my b-day but now I've done the research I could do everything to provide for the ants, exept get the ants themsekves

Hi FlameofOsiris, In defense of the GAN Farmer prices, most of us are making less than minimum wage on these queen ants. Considering the amount of time it takes to go looking for them, to feed, water and clean up after them, and to handle the transactions, it seems like a fair price to me. But that's just me

I have even had to pay to enter national forest areas for the day just to hunt around, plus the gasoline expense to get there.

That being said, the past 2 or 3 weeks have been busy for GAN Farmers. Many of us have sold most of our stock, but that has not always been the case.

[FlameofOsiris]

See, I live in the middle of NYC and every single gan farmer within the tri-state area has absurdly high prices with relatively common ants housed in nothing other than test tubes. I was wondering if GAN farmers commonly negotiate their prices, and if they could ship to me within state lines. (Y'know, so it'll be legal)
Honestly, I was so excited about ant-keeping for my b-day but now I've done the research I could do everything to provide for the ants, exept get the ants themsekves

Hi FlameofOsiris, In defense of the GAN Farmer prices, most of us are making less than minimum wage on these queen ants. Considering the amount of time it takes to go looking for them, to feed, water and clean up after them, and to handle the transactions, it seems like a fair price to me. But that's just me

I have even had to pay to enter national forest areas for the day just to hunt around, plus the gasoline expense to get there.

That being said, the past 2 or 3 weeks have been busy for GAN Farmers. Many of us have sold most of our stock, but that has not always been the case.

I know the costs of the maintenance is incorporated, but 40$ for one queen and possibly one worker is a bit absurd

[FlameofOsiris]

Bump

[larynx]

$40 is not absurd at all. Mine sell for more than that some times. Everyone is going to have there own price set, depending on how much they think there time and effort is worth.
I personally spend almost my entire summer with my head to the ground, or down at a desk, either finding or taking care of queen ants so others can have ant keeping experiences. Heck, i sold a queen this year, that i took care of for almost 16 months. GAN farmers hunt, capture, and rear queens all summer. We spend god knows how much money on insect feeders, honey, fruit, cotton, q-tips, test tubes, other founding formicaria, etc.
Back to the time we spend. Some people may have the luxury of having nothing else to do but be GAN farmers throughout the summer, so they may have prices that reflect that. Some however may have to split GAN time with a full time job, children, wife and there own animals to take care of. Therefor their time is more "valuable", and may cost more to reflect.
I cant speak for other GAN farmers, but these are some of my thoughts and reasons.

[FlameofOsiris]

$40 is not absurd at all. Mine sell for more than that some times. Everyone is going to have there own price set, depending on how much they think there time and effort is worth.
I personally spend almost my entire summer with my head to the ground, or down at a desk, either finding or taking care of queen ants so others can have ant keeping experiences. Heck, i sold a queen this year, that i took care of for almost 16 months. GAN farmers hunt, capture, and rear queens all summer. We spend god knows how much money on insect feeders, honey, fruit, cotton, q-tips, test tubes, other founding formicaria, etc.
Back to the time we spend. Some people may have the luxury of having nothing else to do but be GAN farmers throughout the summer, so they may have prices that reflect that. Some however may have to split GAN time with a full time job, children, wife and there own animals to take care of. Therefor their time is more "valuable", and may cost more to reflect.
I cant speak for other GAN farmers, but these are some of my thoughts and reasons.

Alright, I see where you're going, but the problem is for only 12 ants? I'd pay 40$ for 20-30 ants with a little empathy but only 12 ants is a bit overpriced, I mean if the colony grows extremely fast, I get it, but the GAN farmers in in NY only sell relatively common ants

[larynx]

Its all relative in the end.

[AntMomo]

Yeah its not about the number of ants! Its about getting the fertile queen, as she will provide lots of ants over time. Ants bought without queens through ant farm mail services are only workers and cannot breed. So you're paying for a replenishing supply with our queens!

Also, as a gan farmer, my defense is: I'm poor

[Barfdog]

See, I live in the middle of NYC and every single gan farmer within the tri-state area has absurdly high prices with relatively common ants housed in nothing other than test tubes. I was wondering if GAN farmers commonly negotiate their prices, and if they could ship to me within state lines. (Y'know, so it'll be legal)
Honestly, I was so excited about ant-keeping for my b-day but now I've done the research I could do everything to provide for the ants, exept get the ants themsekves

Hi FlameofOsiris, In defense of the GAN Farmer prices, most of us are making less than minimum wage on these queen ants. Considering the amount of time it takes to go looking for them, to feed, water and clean up after them, and to handle the transactions, it seems like a fair price to me. But that's just me

I have even had to pay to enter national forest areas for the day just to hunt around, plus the gasoline expense to get there.

That being said, the past 2 or 3 weeks have been busy for GAN Farmers. Many of us have sold most of our stock, but that has not always been the case.

I know the costs of the maintenance is incorporated, but 40$ for one queen and possibly one worker is a bit absurd

I'm the unlucky one because their's no Gan farmers in Arizona apparently, at this point i'd pay 100$ for a queen.

[xTNxANTMANx]

I live in west TN and have yet to find a GAN farmer in my area. I have found one queen myself but still looking to buy more and the price of $40 for 12 workers plus queen is not bad honestly. At least u have that option to buy lol but next year I'm hoping to be a GAN farmer myself. I love insects and I recently found AntsCanada by accident and have fell in love with ants in a whole new way. That's not really a bad price thought seeing what time of year it was when you first posted.