For many they are simply a pest, but for Singaporean entrepreneur John Ye his personal interest in the humble ant led him to launch a business selling insects that he believes have a lot to offer us.
Ye opened the city-state’s first shop specializing in pet ants, Just Ants, in late February as lockdown measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 came in.
Despite the initial obstacles during the pandemic Ye says sales have picked up since July.
Photo: Reuters
“The ant itself is just really amazing,” said Ye, 41, who started raising ants as a hobby in 2017.
Ant farms are a rarity in Singapore and Ye is trying to change negative images associated with the insects.
“They are so important in the ecosystem, they are actually here for a reason, and then if we could actually just learn from the humble ant, there are so many things that the ant could teach us, like perseverance, being headstrong,” Ye said, adding that he hopes to collaborate with schools to teach children about ants.
The ants he sells are locally acquired by him and his staff around Singapore, noting they often emerge after rainstorms.
His shop offers 30 species of ants sold in starter kit ant farms, or formicariums, which include ants and a queen. Prices range from S$13.90 (US$10) to S$200 to S$300 depending on the type of formicarium and ant species.
His business also sells live worms as food for ants, although Ye said they are also fond of honey and fruit.
Ye’s shop has drawn ant-lovers and curious onlookers alike.
“It’s crazy, definitely it’s crazy,” shopper Alvin Teng said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS