GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Learn how to obtain ant colonies for your formicariums or sell your ant colonies locally in a legal and ecologically-friendly manner through the GAN Project.

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notmyidea
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:30 pm
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada

GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24441Post notmyidea
Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:08 am

I've been a GAN Farmer for a couple of months now and so far it has been pretty crappy. :cry:

I have gotten weird text messages, a no-show, and several requests to ship ants. Has this been other GAN Farmers' experience as well? I am also deeply concerned about whom I am selling to. I get parents who know nothing about ants getting them for their kids' ant-gel farm :evil: . So my question is, how do you deal with these buyers?

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SamuelMamuel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2017 10:24 pm

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24447Post SamuelMamuel
Wed Jul 12, 2017 6:38 am

notmyidea wrote:
Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:08 am
I've been a GAN Farmer for a couple of months now and so far it has been pretty crappy. :cry:

I have gotten weird text messages, a no-show, and several requests to ship ants. Has this been other GAN Farmers' experience as well? I am also deeply concerned about whom I am selling to. I get parents who know nothing about ants getting them for their kids' ant-gel farm :evil: . So my question is, how do you deal with these buyers?
I was thinking about trying our GAN Farming, but not now
Colonies:
--Tetramorium Caespitum
--Camponotus pennsylvanicus
--Formica Sp.

CreeperUniverse
Posts: 222
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 8:22 am
Location: New York, NY

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24455Post CreeperUniverse
Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:41 am

You tell them to learn responsibility before keeping animals, or ignore them. You're first move should always be checking if they are knowledgeable of ants. Sadly, this is life :( where people listen to the first thing they hear, and are quite well, stupid in many things :oops:
I wish this wasn't how things worked, but we just need trek through them.
Good luck!
Check out my YouTube channel, Arman's Ants.
https://***/armansants
Also feel free to check out the Discord server, Ant-Keeping & Ethology:
https://discord.me/ants

AceCadet

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24499Post AceCadet
Wed Jul 12, 2017 11:55 pm

Yeah I'm having the same issues and it's pretty aggravating. I've had one person ask me to ship ants to them(which no for many reasons including the survival of the colony) and someone even trying to get me to sell them an ant that lived in a different state. I'm at the point of giving up on selling any of my current colonies and just keeping them. I don't really have the space but if all I'm going to get is irresponsible individuals or ones that wish for me to break laws it's not worth it. The colonies continual survival is what is most important to me. Not making a quick buck. Sorry venting a bit. It's just been rough.

Serafine

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24505Post Serafine
Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:14 am

You'd probably have more success trying to sell them (legally) on forums like Formiculture or Facebook groups.

Also, seriously?
Species: Unidentified black ant species
Colony size: 2+ workers
Housing: Glass bottle
Price: $20 USD each, $50 for all 3 colonies
Number of colonies: 3
Unidentified black ants kept in a glass bottle?
How is ***** like this still happening? You should be forced to give at least an assumption or upload a picture of the colony and their setup (even if it's just 600x480 pixels). This could be whatever unknown invasive species.

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notmyidea
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:30 pm
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24515Post notmyidea
Thu Jul 13, 2017 2:53 pm

Serafine wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:14 am
You'd probably have more success trying to sell them (legally) on forums like Formiculture or Facebook groups.
Thanks.
Serafine wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:14 am
Also, seriously?
Species: Unidentified black ant species
Colony size: 2+ workers
Housing: Glass bottle
Price: $20 USD each, $50 for all 3 colonies
Number of colonies: 3
Unidentified black ants kept in a glass bottle?
How is ***** like this still happening? You should be forced to give at least an assumption or upload a picture of the colony and their setup (even if it's just 600x480 pixels). This could be whatever unknown invasive species.
Not sure if you were implying that those are my ants I am selling, they aren't. I agree though, this shouldn't be advertised. To be frank, the AntsCanada GAN thing seems to be bit dis-organized. Sorry AntsCanada.

Serafine

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24518Post Serafine
Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:13 pm

No, it was just an example of how there is literally no quality control in GAN at all.

You'd expect that if some person or organisation creates the framework for antkeepers and potential antkeeper to connect and sell ants to each other they would at least ensure a remote sort of quality control on their platform, like someone helping people to identify unknown ants and teaching them how to do a proper setup. But there is just nothing - GAN is less as organized and has less quality control than an average reddit channel.

All the rules are worthless as long as someone can sell unidentified, potentially invasive ants to a random kids who are potentially dumping them into their garden when they loose interest.

Martialis
Posts: 1576
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 5:30 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24539Post Martialis
Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:58 pm

Serafine wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:13 pm
No, it was just an example of how there is literally no quality control in GAN at all.

You'd expect that if some person or organisation creates the framework for antkeepers and potential antkeeper to connect and sell ants to each other they would at least ensure a remote sort of quality control on their platform, like someone helping people to identify unknown ants and teaching them how to do a proper setup. But there is just nothing - GAN is less as organized and has less quality control than an average reddit channel.

All the rules are worthless as long as someone can sell unidentified, potentially invasive ants to a random kids who are potentially dumping them into their garden when they lose interest.
This is mostly, if not entirely, true. I myself am a GAN farmer and haven't had any problems so far. I will say that both of my customers were not majors yet and seemed like they would keep the ants for a while. I also only deal in native ants. Additionally, I bought my first colony (Tetramorium) from a GAN farmer from Valparaiso, Indiana.

An example of the last part would be all those selling Solenopsis invicta in the south, technically a violation of one of GAN's principles. Attached below are the rules for the GAN farmer to follow from the AntsCanada website:


GAN Farmer Agreement



Below is our basic AntsCanada GAN Project agreement. Have a look at it and understand its contents. Feel free to ask us if you have any questions. By filling out the form, you agreed to the terms and conditions.

In joining the GAN Project as a GAN farmer I am required to:

1) Raise my ants to the best of my ability, providing the colonies with appropriate care and equipment. New queens are to be raised in the standard test tube setup or other proven method.

2) Inform AntsCanada immediately when a colony I am offering dies or if I have another colony available for sale

3) [Exclusivity] Never sell ants to anyone except through the GAN Project; this also applies to previous GAN Hosts (customers). Any and all ant purchasing transactions must be made through the GAN Project through AntsCanada.com unless express written permission is obtained from AntsCanada.com via email. Any inquiries the GAN Farmers may get personally or online must be directed to AntsCanada.com to make the purchase of the GAN Farmer’s colonies.

4) Ensure that the selling of local ants within the GAN FArmer’s area is legal

5) Always meet GAN Hosts in a public place with a companion for safety reasons when picking up the colony

6) Provide a current email address for communication, as well as a skype contact, and to let the AntsCanada.com team know if contact information changes

7) Always conduct myself professionally online and in person when working in association with AntsCanada.com, which includes online science or ant-related websites and when meeting GAN Hosts.

8) Make arrangements to meet with GAN Hosts locally

9) Never sell ants that are not native to his/her area

10) Only sell ants with at least 1 worker (This rule also is broken a lot)

S. invicta, along with several other invasive species, are sold on the GAN project. This is mercantile activity that may help spread their expansion to areas where they have been either practically eradicated or haven't yet reached.

Image
(Picture taken from Medscape, originally from Texas A&M University)

I, for one, don't want the yellow of this map turned red. Just recently, RIFA was spotted in Japan for the first time and has already spread to multiple parts of the country.

Moving on from that subject, I believe that GAN has the potential to become an excellent program, but first must introduce stricter and firmer moderation to the program.
Keeper of

Selliing:

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FarrAnts
Posts: 259
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:20 am
Location: Minot Air Force Base North Dakota

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24541Post FarrAnts
Thu Jul 13, 2017 6:20 pm

I would buy from GAN farmers in my area, but there are none... lol. Empty North Dakota.
Ball is life... Ants included.

xTNxANTMANx
Posts: 416
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:03 am
Location: Western Tennessee

Re: GAN Farmers - How has your experience been?

Post: # 24542Post xTNxANTMANx
Thu Jul 13, 2017 6:24 pm

This is the only reason I have not joined. I have many queens of which I would like to sell or trade but as far as using GAN, I'm not sure. When looking through at the ones for sale, say Texas for instance, all you see is Solenopsis invicta in various containers and so on and so forth. I think most people that are doing it that way are just trying to make a quick dollar. I agree that they should have more strict rules or at least firmer guidelines before accepting applications for selling ants. They could also possibly have a questionnaire before purchasing to make sure the person is knowledgeable somewhat of what is going on and what the project is for.
Keeping:
Camponotus subbarbatus
Formica pallidefulva x2
Formica subsericea x4
Lasius sp
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Dorymyrmex bureni

Founding:
Formica pallidefulva
Unknown sp x2

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