For the past five years, the pet store industry in the United States has been enjoying a rate of growth of about 4% each year. This market is now worth about $29 billion every year. There are more than 17,000 pet stores scattered throughout the country.
Of course, when most people think about pets, they imagine cats and dogs. However, there are also plenty of people that keep ants as pets. Although that can sound shocking to some at first, there are a lot of reasons why ants make amazing pets.
Not only that but there are some benefits of keeping ants as pets that are almost impossible to get out of any other pet choice. So what is it about keeping ants as pets that is so great for so many people?
Read on to learn all about the biggest benefits of enjoying a pet ant colony!
An Ant Colony Puts on an Amazing Show
When you start to learn more about ant colonies, you will begin to appreciate what fascinating creatures ants are. On an ant farm, the main ants to keep in mind are the worker ants and the ant queen. However, some people consider the ant colony to be almost like its own kind of organism.
When you look at the behavior of individual ants, they may not seem that smart. However, when you look at the behavior of the entire colony as a whole, it almost seems to display remarkable intelligence.
For one thing, ants have an incredible ability to find food. No matter how many obstacles there are or how convoluted the path is to a source of food, ants can almost always find a way to get to it.
Ants sometimes create bridges out of their own bodies to make a pathway to food that is at a distance.
On top of that, the amount of food that each individual ant carries is minuscule. At the same time, when a huge number of ants work together to gather food, they can reduce a food source to nothing in an amazingly short amount of time.
Of course, it can also be fascinating to watch the behavior of the ant queen. As she lays eggs, you can also watch the worker ants take care of those eggs. With patience, you can even watch those eggs hatch as the larvae inside grow into adult ants.
Ant Keeping is Simple
Of course, there are many many fascinating pets you can choose from. However, it is difficult to find a pet that is easier to take care of than a colony of ants.
For one thing, you can feed ants with small quantities of affordable food. The vast majority of ants can live off of a diet of simple table sugar. On top of that, you will only need to feed your ants about once each week.
However, it is also important to remember that the queen ant will require some kind of protein. In this case, you can provide almost any kind of insect for your aunt queen to get her protein from.
Many people find it easiest to provide their ant colonies with worms or flies. You can find these and other insect foods like crickets at pet stores or even outside.
As long as you feed your ants, they will need next to no further maintenance. On rare occasions, you can take the time to clean the ant colony as well.
Ants are Not Expensive Pets
Because it is so easy to take care of ants, it also does not cost much money to keep ants as pets. However, what about the cost of getting your ant colony in the first place? In most cases, you can order an affordable ant colony for not that much money.
However, you can also create your own ant colony if you want to bring down your costs even more. The main materials you will need are dirt or sand. Once you have that, you will just need an enclosure to store them in.
Don’t worry about arranging the dirt or sand in any special way. The ants will create their own fascinating network of tunnels once you prepare the colony.
Kids Love Learning About Ants
Many people consider ants to be the perfect pets for kids. Along with being easy to take care of, kids love learning about The Great World of Ants. At first, they will be fascinated just watching the busy activity of the many ants.
However, many kids also love learning about the names of the different types of ants. Once they know about the different kinds of ants, they will probably want to know about the different behaviors that each type of ant displays. Before too long, your kids might know more about ants than you do!
It Is Easy to Find Ants
If necessary, you can buy an ant queen online or at a store.
However, you can also find plenty of ants outside. If you ever lose or damage your ant colony, you can always find new ants to make a new one.
Know the Top Reasons to Keep Ants as Pets
Some people are surprised when they hear about how much people love keeping ants as pets. However, this will make much more sense to you when you learn a little bit more about ants yourself. Ants provide an incredible amount of fun without requiring much work to take good care of.
