It turns out that one of the smallest creatures of all is becoming a growing community across the country.

Zachary Liu is a businessman living in Toronto. He started a company called Canadian ant colony and estimates there are 30,000 ant keepers across Canada, including more than 1,000 in Calgary.

Liu started his business in early 2019, when he was just 14 years old.

“I used to be the kind of person you would come to and there would be 500 butterflies in the living room,” he said. “I have loved animals my whole life and it turns out that ants, when I was little, were the ones that attracted me the most.”

Liu says he started his business because he had difficulty finding different species of ants for his collection. It now offers a wide variety but must follow strict government guidelines.

“It’s regulated by agricultural agencies because they’re concerned that (ants) will become an invasive species,” he said. “But Canada has -40 degree winters and a lot of these species that people typically raise, especially outside of North America, die when the temperature drops below 20 degrees.”

Cheap and smart

Liu says people who take up the hobby can easily spend $150 on ants and a container to keep them.

“Compared to all the other pets, it’s probably the cheapest to start with,” he said. “One of the benefits of raising ants is that you can choose exactly the size you want so you can start with just a queen and she will raise the first generation of workers on her own.”

Liu says he can spend hours watching his ants at work and that they are intelligent. He even potty trained them.

“One thing you can do in captivity is put a little potty in their (enclosure) and put their waste in it,” he said. “They’ll think okay, I have to put the trash in the trash pile so I’m going to keep putting my trash in the pot.”

Liu says he has friends and clients who have large colonies where they have spent thousands of dollars forming networks so the ants can move in tubes throughout their homes.

“(The colonies) will only grow if you give them enough space, food and warmth,” he said. “And the magic of raising ants is that you can decide where to stop, anywhere from one to 1,000,000.”

Social interactions

Thirteen-year-old James Wingert starts small with his ant colony. He found most of his ants around his house northwest of Calgary.

“I like to observe their social interactions,” he said. “How everyone knows what to do, even if they only communicate using pheromones and smells in the air.”

Wingert says he became interested in ants through a video game at a friends house. Since then, he has done extensive research on ants and created an ecosystem for a colony from an old fish tank.

“Well, queens can live six years,” he said. “So I’m hoping to have thousands of ants and a massive installation.”

Elmien Wingert, James’ mother, says she’s not surprised by her son’s passion for insects.

“He was maybe two years old, he had just learned to walk and (his grandmother) was taking him for a walk around the block,” she said. “But it would take forever because he had noticed each insect, stopped and examined it and, even though his vocabulary was limited at the time, he had tried to explain to it what he had seen , so he was really interested in the things that most people would miss.

Elmien says James only had one ant escape from its enclosure inside the house, but it was quickly found, preventing a family emergency.

“The biggest thing for me as a parent is that you don’t always know where your children’s interests lie,” she said. “And giving them the opportunity to explore and support them is essential.”

Learn more about the Canadian ant colony here: