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Being the owner of the first and only physical ant shop in Singapore, John Ye, 43, has been described with a plethora of adjectives.
“Passion over profit” was one characterisation.
Another — “Crazy” — is what Ye hears passers-by mutter under their breaths as they walk by his store.
Ye runs the shop, Just Ants, with his wife, Adeline, and together, they sell ant colonies to budding ant-keepers.
The shop, currently located at Block 928 Yishun Central 1, occupies a small corner of the void deck and houses 15 to 20 species of ants.
With just over 120 square feet of floor space, Just Ants is a shop like any other at first glance.
As you approach it, the fluorescent lights catch your eyes before you notice the shelves of glass tanks.
If you did not know better, you probably would assume that the tanks contain reptiles, like lizards or snakes.
To figure out what lies inside the tanks though, chances are you would have to lean in close — to see that they contain ants scurrying about.
The shop's shelves are filled not only with ant-keeping products, but also inspirational posters, budding ant colonies and a collection of preserved queen ants.
The quirky menagerie almost feels more like a gift shop in a zoo, rather than a pet shop in the middle of Yishun.
Nevertheless, Ye and the business are no strangers to the media; their story has been featured several times already.
Having found his niche in the local ant community, he now gets daily phone calls, once as early as 4am in the morning, with all sorts of ant-related requests.
Some call asking if he could help remove ants from their homes, others ask if Ye knew where to find queen ants of a particular species.
To be clear, Ye does not provide such services nor is he a clairvoyant about ant behaviours.
However, he does not shy from his esoteric passion.
When we sat down with him at his shop, he whipped out a collage of what he called “Pokémons”.
The laminated sheet of paper was complete with macro-portraiture of the world’s rarest ants, which is accompanied with a table of their scientific names.
"If I have all these, right, I tell you I'll die a happy man", Ye declared.
The trouble is, most of them are not found in Singapore, and so Ye mused that perhaps in a few years' time, he will go abroad in search of the rarer specimens.
Not just a matter of passion
Though Just Ants is the result of Ye deciding to try and turn his passion into profit, the store actually came to be out of a mix of serendipity and necessity.
Before ants, Ye sold PMDs and electronics.
But even then, a few shelves in the corner of his store space were dedicated to his ants, and he would give away ant colonies for anyone who bought an ant-keeping product from him.
Then in 2019, the government started implementing regulations on the usage of PMDs, causing Ye's business to suffer. The final nail in the coffin was the imposed weight limit on PMDs.
Ye left his old business of PMDs and electronics, and dove head first into the novelty of selling ants.
Just Ants thus opened its doors in January 2020 in Jurong East.
The old shop in Jurong East. Image via @justantsss/Instagram.
Swimming against the tides
What became apparent, however, was that passion only gets you so far.
The early days of Just Ants were filled with setbacks.
During the time the shop was in Jurong East, there was “totally nobody”, Ye said.
Then came the circuit breaker lockdown in April 2020, which forced Just Ants to close.
The whole experience was a bit of a let-down for Ye, to say the least, given his initial excitement of opening an ants pet shop.
“It’s like getting excited for your first date and your date not showing up”, Ye quipped.
The circuit breaker period was tough, as there were “no sales” at all, Ye revealed.
To keep the business going and support his family, Ye shared that he had to fall back on his savings, but he also took the chance to set up his online shop.
Circumstantial challenges aside, Ye also had to deal with a fair amount of naysaying from those close to him.
Friends and family questioned if he could “make it”, casting aspersions in the vein of “they won’t last long”, and urged him to “think it through”.
He once fielded questions from friends of his son, who commented that the shop appeared to have “no business”.
Ye lamented that “everyone was against our flow” at the start.
On top of that, not everyone understood the appeal of ant-keeping.
When Just Ants first opened in Jurong East, passers-by were puzzled about the exact nature of the shop.
“You selling fish ah? Fish tank inside is fish? Terrapins? Fighting fish?” were some of the questions Ye and his wife received from confused passers-by, for whom ants were more pests than pets.
To date, Ye has received a range of snarky comments as wide as his collection of ants — “We also have ants at home, why not we sell to him instead?” was one comment he had received.
Some passers-by also shun his shop, making remarks about how “disgusting” ant-keeping is.
Not child's play
Despite how trivial others might think it to be, Ye pointed out that ant-keeping is, in fact, serious business.
Ant colonies do not grow according to the whims and fancies of the ant-keeper. Colonies have to be looked after for months.
A new ant colony in its nascent stage.
Each colony must pass the “founding stage”, which is when they amass a population of 30 to 40 worker ants, along with the queen ant, Ye expounded.
This takes about three to four months, Ye pointed out, and there is no guarantee that colonies will reach this stage.
Ant diets are also particularly sensitive.
Contrary to popular belief, one does not simply feed them with anything that is sweet.
Instead, ants require a balanced diet of protein and carbohydrates as well.
According to Ye's ant-keeping checklist, pre-cut mealworms or crickets make up an ant's protein intake.
Carbohydrates may include honey or fruits, such as apples, pears, honeydew and rock melon.
"Everyone thinks 'Aiya, everyday just drip some sugar, I see the ants in my kitchen always going after my sugar'", Ye said.
For example, some parents feed grapes to their ants, but Ye shared that grapes actually does "a little harm" to ants.
For such reasons, Ye does not “hard sell” his 'products', especially not to kids.
“Don’t buy just because your friends have it” — that is what Ye advises kids who come knocking.
When first-time ant-keepers arrive at Ye's shop, he recommends to them an ant starter kit.
The kit includes the basic essentials needed for you to kickstart your ant-keeping journey, such as a basic formicarium, a small case of mealworms, a bottle of honey and a pair of scissors.
However, before they can get their hands on the ants, first-time owners have to get through an "ant-keeping checklist" with Ye.
The checklist, put together by Ye, lays out the essentials of ant-keeping and establishes the seriousness of ant ownership.
If the appeal of ant-keeping is still lost to you, Ye sums up the ant-keeper’s perspective succinctly: “To you, it’s a pest. To me, it’s everything”.
And if done right, ants and their biology have lots to teach.
The inspiration Ye finds in the six-legged, often misunderstood creatures, is plastered around the shop.
He even composed a poem.
Ye's poem.
"Double-edged sword"
The greatest challenge right now, Ye shared, is getting people to understand the nature of ant-keeping.
Ye described his business as a “double-edged sword”.
On one hand, he does not want customers to buy ants from him out of a moment's interest or curiosity, which is why he prepared the ant-keeping checklist for first-timers.
Yet, once the amount of effort it takes to keep ants is made clear, Ye might lose a sale, which could affect his business.
The cynicism from naysayers has not dissipated over the years either.
All the trials and tribulations of running the ant business have, at times, affected Ye’s conviction and shaken his passion.
After all, passion alone can neither pay the bills nor keep bellies full.
“I always ask myself, for how long can I do this? It’s not a recipe you know, like if I’m selling laksa”, Ye bemoaned.
“Now I still wonder, am I on the right track?”
As we spoke on about his experience, the initial enthusiasm that Ye had when he first shared about his ant-keeping passion waned.
The air felt a little heavier, and Ye's eyes glistened, perhaps with some fatigue and worry.
He shared that when he gets up in the morning to open his shop, a thought that frequently comes to mind is how business will be for the day.
To make matters worse, most of Ye’s peers have attained some sort of certainty in life, career-wise.
Comparisons are only natural.
“All my friends drive BMW, wear Rolex."
Keeping his chin up
Today, Ye walks the bumpy road with his head held high, helped by a bit of optimism and inspiration.
Without missing a beat, he pierced the sombre mood with a shot of humour.
“I only got my Apple watch. But at least my Apple watch can talk to me”, Ye said to an eruption of laughter.
To demonstrate the prowess of his watch, Ye brought his watch up to his face.
"Hey Siri, would it be raining today?" Ye asked.
"Yes, I think so", Siri replied.
To drive home his point, Ye shot another question to Siri, asking it if there will be any queen ants flying tonight before resting his arm back on his lap.
Clearly, his watch was superior in this way.
On the bright side, life has “slowed down” considerably, with the usual stressors he faced in his previous job now absent, Ye opined.
To keep him going, Ye turns to the founder of BEE AMAZED Garden, who is coincidentally named John too.
Ye even has a nickname for them both – John A, John B. “A for ants, B for bees”, Ye explained with a chuckle.
The founder's name is actually John C., as in John Chong, who started the garden in December 2017.
Ye sees in Chong of BEE AMAZED Garden an almost mirror-like reflection of himself – both have an appreciation of insects and are now running a niche enterprise based on that.
For that, Ye sees in the elder Chong a wealth of wisdom.
He wonders how the other man sustains his business, and shared that he wants to hear the elder Chong's story.
He also hopes that any pearls of wisdom gained from him can help him find his own way in his career.
“Is that where I will be in twenty years?” Ye mused.
Looking ahead
Ye strives to be a good source of inspiration himself. He tries to be supportive of the ambitions of his own children – a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.
Similarly, he has a message for other youths with a burning passion for niche interests:
“I want to tell youngsters, you know, I rather do and fail, rather than not doing at all."
Right now, Ye's motto in life is to have "three meals to fill the belly and a roof over the head".
He is also waiting for the next physical ant shop to pop up in Singapore.
Some friendly competition would be welcome, and it would provide some company too.
“Like McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC”, Ye quipped.
All photos by Gawain Pek