Why Are MILLIONS of People Keeping ANTS as PETS?

Summary

This video explores the fascinating world of ant keeping, highlighting its benefits and the joy it brings. It starts with capturing a queen ant and nurturing her colony, showcasing their social behaviors and communication via pheromones. The video also delves into the variety of ant species and the responsibilities of an ant keeper, ultimately promoting the hobby and its potential impact on developing care for life and various career skills.

Takeaways

• 🐜 The script discusses the common practice of killing ants and introduces the concept of ant keeping as an alternative.
• 👤 Milton Levine is credited with inventing the Ant Farm in the 1950s, which was designed to house ants, creatures often seen as pests.
• 👀 The script challenges the audience's perception of ants, suggesting that they can offer a more satisfying experience than traditional pets.
• 🌱 The process of starting an ant colony begins with a queen ant, which is the foundation of the colony and can live for decades.
• 🍂 The queen ant is captured during the nuptial flight season, when young queens and males mate and the queens seek new nesting sites.
• 🧪 The queen ant is placed in a test tube setup, mimicking the claustral cell in nature, where she lays eggs and begins the colony without eating.
• 🐛 The first generation of worker ants, called nanitics, are crucial for the survival of the colony as they bring food to the queen and care for her offspring.
• 📣 Ants communicate using pheromones, a form of 'social media' that allows them to share information about food sources and threats.
• 🏰 As the colony grows, the ant keeper must provide food, clean up waste, and maintain the environment, playing a god-like role in the ants' lives.
• 🌟 Ant keeping is presented as a hobby that can enrich one's worldview and potentially prepare individuals for various career fields.
• 🏆 The script concludes by highlighting the success of Milton Levine's Ant Farm, with over 20 million sold, and the importance of 'Ant Love' in appreciating these creatures.

Q & A

What is the name of the man who invented the Ant Farm?

Milton Levine.

What is the purpose of an Ant Farm according to the script?

An Ant Farm is designed to house a colony of ants, allowing people to observe their behavior and social structure.

How long can a queen ant live, as mentioned in the script?

A queen ant can live for decades, with the longest recorded lifespan being close to 30 years.

What is a 'nuptial flight' in the context of ants?

A nuptial flight is an annual event where young virgin queens and males, both with wings, emerge from their nests, mate in the air, and then the queens start new colonies.

What is a 'claustral cell' and what happens inside it?

A claustral cell is a small hole in the ground that a queen ant creates in the wild to start her colony. Inside the claustral cell, the queen lays eggs, which hatch into larvae, and she feeds them with self-made soup from her wing-muscle stores.

What is the term used to describe the first generation of worker ants in a new colony?

The first generation of worker ants is referred to as 'nanitics'.

How do ants communicate with each other within a colony?

Ants communicate using pheromones, biochemicals produced by their bodies, which they leave in areas to convey specific messages, similar to social media posts.

What is the role of the 'nanitics' in an ant colony?

The nanitics are the first generation of worker ants whose critical role is to find food, bring it back to the nest, and care for the queen's future young.

How do ants find food in an ant farm?

Ants find food by following pheromone trails left by other ants that have discovered the food source, which is similar to retweeting a message on social media.

What is the significance of the number of ant farms sold by Uncle Milton Industries Inc mentioned in the script?

Over 20 million ant farms have been sold globally by Uncle Milton Industries Inc, indicating the popularity and impact of Milton Levine's invention.

What is the term 'Ant Love' and what does it represent in the script?

'Ant Love' is a term used to describe the deep appreciation and care that ant keepers have for their ant colonies, which is seen as a rewarding and enriching experience.

Outlines

00:00

🐜 The Ant Farm Invention and Its Impact

This paragraph introduces the concept of ant keeping and the inventor of the ant farm, Milton Levine. In the 1950s, Levine created a plastic toy that housed ants, allowing people to observe their behavior. The narrator challenges the viewers' perceptions of ants and suggests that there is more to these insects than meets the eye. The video promises to reveal the number of ant farms sold and to change viewers' perspectives on ants, encouraging them to appreciate these creatures rather than kill them. The paragraph also touches on the initial skepticism of keeping ants as pets and the unique appeal of observing their behavior.

05:02

🌟 The Fascination of Ant Keeping

This paragraph delves into the process of starting an ant colony, beginning with capturing a queen ant during the nuptial flight season. It describes the queen's role in laying eggs and the critical first generation of worker ants, known as nanitics, who are responsible for the colony's survival. The narrator highlights the drama and excitement of watching ants in a test tube setup, comparing it to a real-life soap opera. The paragraph also discusses the ant keeper's role in providing for the ants, moving them from a test tube to a full ant farm, and observing their social media-like communication through pheromones.

10:03

🌱 The Diversity and Complexity of Ant Societies

This paragraph explores the variety of ant species and their unique behaviors, such as turtle ants with disc-shaped heads, Dracula ants that feed on their young's blood, and leaf-cutter ants that cultivate fungus gardens. It also mentions Pheidole ants that 'milk' mealybugs and Weaver ants that build nests with leaves. The narrator emphasizes the efficiency and organization of ant colonies, comparing them to a well-functioning city. The paragraph concludes by discussing the responsibilities of an ant keeper, including providing food, maintaining cleanliness, and protecting the colony from threats.

15:04

🌐 The Global Impact of Ant Keeping

This final paragraph wraps up the video by discussing the global reach of ant keeping, highlighting the success of Milton Levine's ant farms, which have sold over 20 million units. The narrator reflects on the importance of ant keeping as a hobby and its potential to inspire future leaders and professionals. The paragraph also promotes the AntsCanada community, offering ant keeping supplies and colonies, and encourages viewers to participate in the channel's community by subscribing, liking, and sharing the content. The AC Question of the Week is introduced, inviting viewers to engage further with the content.

Keywords

💡Ant Farm

An Ant Farm is a small plastic toy enclosure designed to house a colony of ants. It was invented by Milton Levine in the 1950s and is a central theme of the video, illustrating the fascination with observing ant behavior up close. The script mentions Levine's invention as a visionary product that allows people to appreciate the 'magnificent' aspects of ants, which are typically seen as pests.

💡Nuptial Flight

Nuptial Flight refers to the annual event when young virgin queens and males of ant species, both born with wings, emerge from their nests to mate in the air. This term is crucial to understanding how ant colonies are started, as the script describes the process of capturing a queen ant during this event to begin an ant-keeping venture.

💡Queen Ant

The Queen Ant is the reproductive female in an ant colony, responsible for laying eggs and maintaining the colony's population. The script highlights the queen's importance in the life cycle of an ant colony, noting that she can live for decades and is the 'seed' of a new colony, which is a central concept in the video's theme of ant keeping.

💡Claustral Cell

A Claustral Cell is a small, enclosed space created by a queen ant where she lays her first batch of eggs and raises her initial brood without eating. The script uses this term to describe the simulated environment in a test tube setup, which is a critical step in the establishment of a new ant colony and a key part of the ant-keeping process.

💡Nanitics

Nanitics are the first generation of worker ants that hatch from eggs laid by the queen. The term is used in the script to describe these ants as pioneers on a mission, emphasizing their importance in the survival of the colony by bringing food back to the queen and caring for future young.

💡Formicarium

A Formicarium is the nest part of an ant farm that simulates the ants' inner nest. The script explains that it allows the viewer to observe the ants' living quarters, which is an essential aspect of the ant-keeping hobby and contributes to the educational value of the video.

💡Outworld

The Outworld is the part of an ant farm that simulates the ants' outside world, where they forage for food. The script describes how the ant keeper places food in the outworld, which the ants then find and bring back to the nest, illustrating the interactive aspect of ant keeping.

💡Pheromones

Pheromones are biochemicals produced by ants that convey messages, such as the location of food. The script likens these chemical signals to 'social media' within the ant colony, demonstrating the complex communication system that is a key feature of ant behavior and a fascinating aspect of ant keeping.

💡Bioactive Vivariums

Bioactive Vivariums are ant farms that incorporate other small lifeforms like springtails to help clean up waste naturally, as would occur in the wild. The script mentions this concept as a way to reduce the cleaning duties of the ant keeper, showcasing an advanced technique in ant keeping.

💡Specialized Workers

Specialized Workers in an ant colony are ants with specific roles, such as 'supermajors' for cutting things up and 'minors' for handling babies. The script uses this term to highlight the diversity and division of labor within an ant colony, which is a significant part of the educational message of the video.

💡Ant Love

Ant Love is a term used in the script to describe the deep affection and fascination that ant keepers have for ants. It encapsulates the emotional connection and sense of responsibility that the video aims to convey, emphasizing the rewarding experience of caring for an ant colony.

Highlights

Invention of the Ant Farm by Milton Levine in the 1950s, designed to house ants, creatures often seen as pests.

Ants are viewed as magnificent and relevant to human life, with a video revealing their significance.

Surprising number of ant farms sold by Milton Levine's company, over 20 million globally.

Ants as pets offer a more satisfying experience than traditional pets, appealing to a niche community.

The process of starting an ant colony begins with capturing a queen ant, the foundation of the colony.

Queen ants live for decades, with the longest recorded living close to 30 years.

Nuptial flight is the annual event when queen ants and males mate, a critical time for starting a new colony.

The queen ant's claustral cell in a test tube simulates her natural nesting process.

The queen's self-feeding mechanism using wing-muscle energy to lay eggs and raise the first generation of ants.

First generation worker ants, known as nanitics, are crucial for the survival of the colony.

Ant keepers play a god-like role in providing for the ants, including food and space.

Ants use pheromones for communication, akin to social media, observable in an ant farm.

The growth of an ant colony into a massive city with millions of ants under the keeper's care.

Ants' cleanliness and systematic behavior, requiring regular cleaning and maintenance by the keeper.

The diversity of ant species, each with unique shapes, colors, and lifestyles.

Specialized ant workers, such as supermajors and minors, performing specific roles within the colony.

Ants' efficiency and organization, mirroring human societal structures and providing insights into various career fields.

Ant keeping as a hobby that fosters a deep appreciation for life and the development of caretaking skills.

The impact of ant keeping on personal growth and the establishment of a successful ant-related business.

The promotion of ant keeping as a hobby and the蚁 community's role in supporting it.

The use of high-quality ant photographs in the video, crediting biologist and nature photographer Alex Wild.

Involvement of the audience with the AC Question of the Week, encouraging participation and learning.

Transcripts

I have a question for you.

Have you ever killed an ant?

Be honest.

Was it death by bug spray?

Or the laying down of poison perhaps?

Or maybe a massacre by magnifying glass?

Don't worry.

We've all done it, myself included.

But now guys, have a look at this man for a moment.

His name is Milton Levine.

In the 1950's, Milton invented a little plastic toy enclosure that holds some sand and a little

bit of plastic shaped like a farm house.

He called this invention an Ant Farm, and it was designed to house a colony of creatures

most of the world normally wants to kill.

Ants!

Milton was a visionary, and knew there was something about ants that was totally magnificent

and relevant to us people, and you'll find out what that is by the end of this video.

You'll also be surprised to know how many ant farms he's actually sold to date, and

I'll also be revealing that in a bit, but first, if you're new to the channel, you may

be sitting there thinking...

Gross!

Now why would anyone want to keep ants as pets?

At least a dog, cat, or horse can show you affection right?

Fair.

Ants can't lick your face, you can't stroke an ant with little tweezers, and you certainly

can't ride them.

But what if I told you, pet ants can offer something so much more satisfying?

Most of you AC Family and long time subscribers of this channel already understand and are

deeply infected hard with ant love, despite you guys proclaiming not even being "insect"

people prior to subscribing to this channel.

So AC Family, have a seat, because this is a video particularly for the newbies curiously

wandering into this strange part of Youtube.

For you newcomers, what I'm about to show you today will completely change the way you

see ants, and by the end of it all, perhaps the next time you see an ant, you may just

choose to not only not kill it, but appreciate why millions of us in the world, including

myself, have decided to keep ants as pets.

Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the bell icon.

Welcome to the AC Family.

Enjoy!

First off, to understand why people keep pet ants, you gotta take a look at how ant keepers

start their ant colony.

Basically, it all starts with a queen ant.

That's a queen right there in the tube.

She is like the seed of your colony.

She lays all the eggs and keeps your colony going.

Every worker ant she lays, only lives for a couple months max, but the queen, she lives

for decades.

Word has it, that the longest lived queen ant on record was close to 30 yrs in a German

laboratory.

So how do you get this queen?

Well, there's a special season in the year when new queen ants are available to capture.

You see, during the spring and summer months, every species of ant has its own specific

period when they execute an incredible annual event known as a nuptial flight.

During this nuptial flight, young virgin queens and males, both of which are born with wings,

emerge from their home birth nests, take to the air and mate while flying.

They make love in the sky.

Imagine that!

That love is so fantastic that the males die afterwards as they'd have fulfilled their

purpose in life.

Then the now pregnant queens drop to the ground, break off their wings, and seek a hole in

the ground to start their ant colonies.

Now as the ant keeper it's our job to try to find one of these queen ants wandering

around in search of a nesting site.

Once you've caught a queen, the next step is to place her into a test tube setup.

This test tube setup simulates the little hole in the ground, called a claustral cell,

that she would have created in the wild.

Now what happens in this test tube claustral cell is totally miraculous.

Sitting quietly in her test tube setup she begins her epic journey as queen of her future

colony.

She doesn't eat as she's 100% focused on raising her first generation of her army.

She subsists for a month or even longer, on energy stores in her wing muscles.

Her body becomes a self-feeding, soup-making machine, as she lays eggs, which hatch into

larvae, which she then feeds her self-made soup, drawing from these wing-muscle stores.

The larvae then eventually pupate, and finally become worker ants.

These worker ants are her critical final cry for survival because they must survive to

bring her food, and care for her future young.

The success of the entire colony relies on the effective teamwork of this first generation

of ants, known as nanitics.

The nanitics are pioneers on a mission, and are just incredible to watch!

They break out of the claustral cell, search for food, and bring it all home for their

single, widowed, and starving mother.

So you see?

This is better than having a dog or cat or horse.

Ant keepers are witnessing real life ant drama in a test tube!

Now, to all you people who've said you've killed an ant before, how does it feel knowing

you may have destroyed a single, widowed mother's last chance at survival?

Haha!

So at this stage, things get even more intense, not just for the ants, but for the ant keeper.

Now you have a queen with her nanitics, who are needing food and space, and this is where

the ant keeper gets to play the role of God, admittedly, another attractive aspect about

ant keeping.

Me, personally, I'm a benevolent god, and truth is most of us ant keepers are, so as

soon as these nanitics arrive I move them from a test tube to a full out ant farm, like

this.

So this section here is the nest part known as a formicarium, which simulates their inner

nest, which I can peek into at will, and this container section, called an outworld, acts

as their outside world.

So I as their Lord must give them food, and I place it into the outworld.

The nanitics come and find the food, grab a bite to eat, then make their way back to

the nest, through these cool tubes, leaving a pheromone trail on its way back, and tell

the rest of the nanitics that it hit the jackpot, and to follow the trail it left to the bounty.

Now, guys, here's another reason why ants are so fun to observe!

You literally get to see from a God's eye view, their social media.

Yes, ants have social media!

Not using internet, but using pheromones, biochemicals produced by their body.

An ant can leave a pheromone in an area with a specific message, like "Here is food!",

and it's kind of like posting a tweet!

Any ants coming into the area and smelling the pheromone has the choice to retweet the

message, and this continues on an on until all members of an ant colony are made aware

of the original message, even from far away.

This is how when you're eating on a picnic, it only takes one ant to discover your sandwich

before a whole line of ants come marching in to grab a bite of your goods!

In ant keeping you can literally watch messages make its way back to the colony in the nest,

and visibly see the excitement of the ants that clearly go "Whooopie!" as they dash out

to go eat.

It's so fun to watch news spread within an ant colony.

All messages, including messages of danger or intruder alert spread in the same way!

Messages are always traveling through the members of an ant colony at all times, and

the bigger the ant colony the quicker these messages travel, simply because there are

more members to retweet the messages, and messages trend!

Now as you give more food, the colony grows larger and larger, the queen lays more eggs,

and soon, you end up with a massive army of millions of ants, that you've grown from just

a queen, kind of like this.

In a year or two, the ant keeper now is the owner of a massive ant city which he/she must

not only feed, but also cleanup after.

They leave all their garbage at a garbage site in their outworld which you must clean

up regularly, as well as their dead at a grave site.

They establish bathroom areas in their nest which also need regular cleaning.

Ants are quite clean and systematic, and need to be to survive.

If you're like me, you can get around cleaning duties by keeping the ants in bioactive vivariums

so little critters and lifeforms like springtails can do the cleaning up themselves, as they

would in the wild.

As the colony evolves, in some species of ants, there start to appear specialized workers

like really huge supermajors which specialize in cutting things up, and really tiny minors

which are excellent at handling babies.

It's a tiny society, housed within the space of a table top.

Another thing that makes ant keeping so much more interesting is that there literally thousands

of ant species, shapes, colours, and lifestyles to choose from!

Check it out!

Have a look at these turtle ants, with these huge disc-shaped heads which are used to plug

the entrances to their nests.

Imagine having a door as a face?

And check out these dracula ants.

These scary-looking ants suck the blood of their own young by making tiny incisions in

their skin, which heal after the adults feed.

The adult workers fatten their young with food so they can produce the blood needed

to feed the workers.

Mother Nature can be so dark!

And check out these leaf-cutter ants, which cut up leaves from plants to carry back to

the nest which they use to fertilize their expansive fungus gardens, which they feed

from.

They don't eat the plant pieces, just the fungus.

They are farmers, and have been millions of years before humans ever existed.

Look at these Pheidole ants, which stroke colonies of mealybugs until they excrete a

sweet bi-product called honeydew.

Yes, ants have also been tending and milking ant cows for millions of years!

And some of my favourites, the famous Weaver Ants, which use their young's silk to glue

massive leaf basket nests together in the trees.

The transpiration occurring through the leaves acts as a natural humidifier within their

treetop, hanging fortresses!

Mind-blowing stuff right?

But that's just the tip of the iceberg!

There's more!

What's most incredible is their efficiency.

Regardless of how big an ant colony is, every ant gets fed, no baby starves, they erect

massive structures over night, they keep their living quarters clean, they communicate effectively,

and work in perfect synergy.

But it requires we humans to keep up with them!

It's not just a one way relationship.

The ants depend on us!

The ant colony as a growing functioning city demands that the ant keeper keeps up with

his/her duties, of constantly providing clean water, food, clean up, ensure temperature

and humidity is just right, and protect the ants from plagues like mites and fungi, and

earthquakes, by not shaking the ant farm for no reason.

Which brings me to the final reason, ant keepers like myself love to keep ants.

Here on the channel we have a term called Ant Love.

It's something that describes that feeling I'm about to describe now.

Ant keeping taps into that very deep desire in us humans to care for life.

We ant keepers are not caring for just a dog, a cat, or a horse, but an entire nation of

individual lives, that give us nothing back but the sole gratification of knowing we are

helping them live out their best lives.

This to me is the most important reason for keeping pet ants, because imagine the young

person who masters caring for a little ant population.

Wouldn't you trust them as adults to care for our human population?

Ant keeping enriches ones worldview, and sets up the stage for the culturing of future government

leaders, engineers, architects, farmers, doctors, lawyers, all career fields which require some

skill set applied in ant keeping in some way, shape, or form.

It's an understatement to say that ant keeping has changed my life.

I've been ant keeping for several decades of my life now, and it's opened me up to an

incredible world of discovery!

This ant Youtube channel here, with one of the most exceptional communities on Youtube,

has almost 3 million ant-loving subscribers.

Today I'm the owner of millions of ants of many species, and I've even ended up making

ant keeping a business, along with a great team of ant lovers, and an online shop that

sells ant keeping supplies and ant farms worldwide.

Now remember the original ant farm by Milton Levine?

Ready to hear how many have been sold?

You may be surprised to know that Uncle Milton Industries Inc, the company of the late Milton

Levine, who is now lauded as the godfather of ant keeping, has actually gone on to sell

over 20 million ant farms globally at the time of his death.

Perhaps now you can see what Milton saw to be so magnificent and relevant in the ant

back in the 1950's.

Ants are us.

And so the next time you see an ant, instead of killing it, maybe just maybe you might

consider keeping it as a pet.

It's ant love forever!

AC Family, did you enjoy today's episode?

It was a little different this week, but I felt we needed a video to help promote the

ant keeping hobby a bit more, which was the original dream and purpose for starting this

channel in the first place.

Special thanks to biologist and nature photographer Alex Wild for allowing us to use his incredible

ant photographs for this video.

He is my favourite ant photographer and friend, so check him out at Alexanderwild.com and

order some brilliant, high quality prints of his ants and other insects from his gallery.

There is still much more ahead in the Antiverse, guys so if you're not subscribed yet, be sure

to hit that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON now so you don't miss out in the real life

drama of the inhabitants of the Ant Room.

And don't forget to hit the LIKE button every single time, including now!

It would really help a lot!

Speaking of ants, it's officially nuptial flight season in the Northern Hemisphere,

and a lot of you are catching queen ants now, and in case you didn't know, we've got all

the top of the line ant keeping gear for you ant keepers at all levels from beginner to

advanced, as well as a tonne of new and exciting products for the ant keeping community not

available anywhere else, so head on over to AntsCanada.com, and browse through our shop.

We ship worldwide, and offer full email support if you need us.

We also have ant colonies with a queen available in most regions so go check us out and pick

up your ant farm kit and ant gear today!

If you're new to the channel, and want to catch up on all your AntsCanada Lore, feel

free to binge watch this complete story line playlist here, which traces the origins of

all the ant colonies of the ant room, so you can follow their stories and better appreciate

how these ant kingdoms came to be, and why we love them so much!

AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you'd like to watch a playlist

of relaxing hidden videos on this channel, with footage of ants and other creatures to

the sounds of relaxing music.

Go explore and enjoy nature shot in 4K!

And now it's time for the AC Question of the Week!

Last week we asked:

What were the Rhino Beetles competing for in these Rhino Beetle Games?

Congratulations to John McCabe who correctly answered:

The Rhino Beetle Games were for the rights to breed, shelter, and all the food they need.

Congratulations, John McCabe, you just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!

In this week's AC Question of the Week, we ask:

What is a Claustral Cell?

Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free e-book handbook

from our shop!

Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST.

Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video to help

us keep making more.

It's ant love forever!