I got into anting by.....

[AntsRule]

Well I guess it really started with my love for ants. I never really liked gel ant farms because it was sad to watch your ants suffer and die. Then I went to a zoo (and it kills me that I can not remember which one) where they had a leaf cutter ant exhibit. It was amazing. I searched and searched on ebay for real ant farms that but never found an answer. So one day I was watching youtube and I remembered that amazing exhibit, so I looked up some ant colones since that appeared too be that all I could do was watch videos of colones. I found AntsCanada. I was so excited. Of course I discovered it in the late fall when NO ants where flying. And I waited until spring which led me to this.

How did you discover anting?

[nightxwolf88]

I had always had a love for all animals and biology as a whole and insects are so diverse and interesting, Ants especially. I then decided that i wanted an ant farm but a real nice one with a queen ant that will continue to live and that I can watch and learn from. While searching online I came across the AntsCanada how to find queens ants video and i have been consumed ever since. Thank you Mikey Bustos

[MCWren]

I got into ants by watching the MASSIVE ant colony in my driveway. When I was trying to identify them on the internet, I find AntsCanada. I started watching Mikey's videos, and my life has never been the same.

[Varanid]

Have always loved ants, and have always wanted a colony with a queen. One day my daughter and I were walking through the woods when she said ooh I think that is a queen ant. After a mad search we found a plastic bottle to put her in, then realized I have no idea how to care for her. So of course after searching for queen ant setup I found AntsCanada. After watching the videos and finding four queens in 10-15 minutes I was hooked. So I guess my daughters curiosity really got me started in this hobby.

[Varanid]

As a kid I always wanted an ant farm, but never got one. My first foray into anting was when I had kids. It was 20 some odd years ago, we did not have internet. Not even sure if there was much information online about ants back then. I decided to buy my kids an ant farm. I wanted a queen ant, the only place I knew I could find one was an ant hill. Being in Alabama, the most common ant by far are fire ants. So, I found a huge fire ant mound, and started digging. Many, many stings later I actually found a quuen. I collected her, some brood, and quite a few workers and put them in one of the plastic ant farms. They were really cool for a few days, I came in one day and they were all gone. About a week later I went to bed, and got stung by an ant. A few minutes later another sting....

I lifted my mattress and found where the colony had escaped to. They had made a nest in between my mattress and box springs. I never tried that again.

I gave little thought to an ant farm until a few years back. Me and my daughter were walking through a field looking for snakes, she stopped and said "I think that's a queen ant. I picked her up and sure enough, it was a fire ant queen. Did an internet search for how to care for queen fire ant. Found AntsCanada test tube setup video, went to hobby lobby and bought some test tubes. Watched his videos on finding queen ants, that year I caught 40 or so queens. Fire ants and carpenter ants. And here I am, unfortunately, I have yet to get a colony established. They get up to about 12 workers and then start dying off. Hoping this year will be different. But anyway, my kids got me interested in this hobby mainly my daughter.

[Varanid]

Lol, I've already posted here four years ago and did not realize it. Sorry, went a little more into detail this time so... anyway

[TherealIABAST]

I didn’t realize how great this story is until now! A few years ago my grandpa suggested I get an ant farm. He thought I’d like the different systems and behaviors the have. I did some research and found that flat glass ant farms can’t actually sustain a colony. I kind of gave up until one day my friend knocked on my door, improvised container in hand (one of those plastic bubble things that have little toys in them from arcades), and said “do you want to look for queen ants with me?” I said sure, and we went on a fruitless hour long walk on which he told me everything he knew about ants (in retrospect, not much) and when I asked how he knew this stuff he told me about AntsCanada. I quickly binged a few dozen videos and was satisfied just seeing his amazing Formicarium. Then, One day I walked into my school library and saw a book titled “Ants” and I picked it up and read the three pound book cover to cover(over the course of the week) and I studied the book and online and was looking long after my friend lost interest. After weeks of empty searching I still would not give up, and my target species was C. Pennsylvanicus. The the most unbelievable thing happened... One night after watching a victorious hockey game, I noticed a black thing scurrying under the front door and towards the living room. I got closer and sure enough, it was a camponotus Pennsylvanicus queen, that had literally walked through the front door.

So yeah, pretty great story now that I think about it.

[Alaydia]

I was the son my parents never had. Very much a tomboy! I spent a lot of summers with various empty containers with holes poked in the top, catching bugs I tried to care for. I wanted an ant farm, and was told NO WAY!

Fast forward a few decades, never mind how many, and I'm sitting on my porch. The biggest ant I've ever seen lands next to me. I realize it's a queen ant. I'd never seen one before in my life. How exciting! So I catch her in an empty pill bottle and show the spousal unit. He's not excited. How annoying. I ask, "Can I keep her?" mostly joking. But when he says, "Sure," I think, why not?

Cue researching. I find out it's a C. Pennsylvanicus, and that this is the same type of black ants I once saw on the losing end of a fight with a nest of red ants. I've hated red ants and loved these big black beauties ever since, and now I have one! I learn about set-ups and antkeeping, spend some money getting some good stuff from AC. That queen unfortunately never lost her wings and ended up dying, but by then I knew how to look for them. Now here I am, on an antkeeping forum. Who'd have thought? Well, maybe my parents, who told me I'm crazy...

For the record, the spousal unit says there will be a murder if the ants escape. His own fault for not getting excited.