Ant keeping on the rise in Alberta according to young entrepreneur

It turns out that one of the tiniest creatures of them all is turning into a growing community across the country.

Zachary Liu is a business man living in Toronto. He started a company called Canada Ant Colony and estimates there are 30,000 ant keepers across Canada with more than 1,000 in Calgary.

Liu launched his business in early 2019 when he was just 14.

"I used to be the type of person where you'd come over and then there'd be 500 butterflies in the living room," he said. "I have loved animals all my life and it just happened to be that ants, when I was little, they were the one that kind of caught me the most."

Liu says he started his company because he had a hard time finding different species of ants for his collection. Now he carries a wide variety but has to follow strict government guidelines.

"It's regulated by the agricultural agencies because they're afraid that (the ants) could become invasive species," he said. "But Canada has -40 degree winters and a lot of these species that people typically keep, especially from outside of North America, they die when it gets under 20 degrees."

Cheap and smart

Liu says people getting into the hobby can comfortably spend $150 on ants and a container to keep them in.

"Ant keeping compared to every other pet, it's probably the cheapest out there to start off with," he said.  "One of the best things about ant keeping is that you can choose exactly the size that you want so you can start off with just a queen and she'll raise the first generation of workers by herself."

Liu says he can spend hours watching his ants at work and they're smart. He's even potty trained them.

"One thing you can do in captivity is that you put a little jar in their (enclosure) and you put their garbage in it," he said. "They'll think okay, I have to put garbage in the garbage pile so I'll keep putting my garbage in the jar."

Liu says he has friends and customers with extensive colonies where they've spent thousands of dollars forming networks so the ants can move in tubes throughout their homes.

"(Colonies) will only grow if you give them enough space, food and heat," he said. "And the magic of ant keeping is that you can decide where to stop, anywhere between one and 1,000,000."

Social interaction

James Wingert, 13 years old, is starting small with his ant colony. He's found most of his ants from around his northwest Calgary home.

"I like to watch their social interactions," he said. "How they each know what to do, even though they only communicate using pheromones and smells in the air."

Wingert says he got interested in ants through a video game at a friends house. He's since done a lot of research on the ants and created an ecosystem for a colony from an old fish aquarium.

"Well, queens can live for six years," he said. "So I'm hoping to get like, thousands of ants and get a massive set up."

Elmien Wingert, James's mom says she isn’t surprised at her son's passion for insects.

"He was maybe two years old, just learned how to walk and (his grandmother would) take him around the block," she said. "But it would take forever because he'd noticed every single insect and stop and exam it and as little as his vocabulary was at that time, tried to explain to her what he saw so he's really had an interest in things that would escape most people."

Elmien says James has only had one ant escape it's enclosure inside the house, but it was quickly found, averting a family emergency.

"The biggest thing for me as a parent is you don't always know where your children's interests lie," she said. "And giving them the opportunity to explore and supporting them is critical."

Learn more about Canadian Ant Colony here: https://canada-ant-colony.com/