To quote the popular movie How to Train Your Dragon, this… is Singapore. The sun scorches the earth for nine months and rains the other three. The only upsides are the pets. While others have cats and dogs, Mr John Ye, 43, has… ants.

 

Anticlimactic, I know, but for Mr Ye, this is reality. While most of us can’t even bear the idea of having those little critters near us, much less keep them intentionally, Mr Ye chose ants to be his arthropod friends.

 

In fact, he loves ants so much that he started a shop selling them, Just Ants. Located in Yishun, the shop is run by Mr Ye and his wife, Mrs Adelene Ye, who’s in her late 30s.

 

“Ants are very fascinating creatures. (They) show us life lessons that I find very enriching, (which) makes me feel passionate about them,” said Mr Ye.

 

Mr Ye’s love for ants was sparked after coming across a YouTube channel called ‘AntsCanada’ in 2017. As he watched the channel more and more, Mr Ye gradually grew to see ants in a different light. Instead of seeing them as pests to be exterminated, Mr Ye saw them as hardworking creatures that he could draw important life lessons from.

 

A few months in, Mr Ye was already hunting for ants to start a colony. 

 

So far, Mr Ye has learnt five values from his ants: “selflessness, loyalty, persistence, teamwork and being hardworking”. Although he was taught these values as a child, he never paid attention to them because he had no “role model”. But now, Mr Ye uses these values to overcome challenges, such as being ridiculed for his hobby.

 

As he turned his hobby into a business, there were many people who doubted Mr Ye. Strangers, close friends and even his own family doubted his career choice.

 

“At the start, even my wife, Adeline didn’t really approve of it,” said Mr Ye. 

 

“I remember telling him that if his ants crawled out of the tank, I would spray them with Baygon (pesticide),” added Mrs Ye.

 

Fortunately for Mr Ye, she didn’t put an end to the lives of his ants. Now, Mrs Ye helps to run their shop, supporting Mr Ye all the way.

 

However, that was just the start of his troubles. As his shop gained more attention, many internet users started to ridicule Mr Ye and his business for being out of the ordinary.

 

“We got many hurtful comments from both people online and people walking by. They say stuff like ‘This guy’s crazy', and many other harsher and more vulgar comments,” said Mr Ye.

 

But despite the resistance he faced from the online community, Mr Ye persisted, refusing to give up on his passion.

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