6 replies to this topic

[Manitobant]

As the weather gets colder and the 2025 anting season comes to a close, it is time for the yearly thread detailing our greatest catches, discoveries, achievements and overall highlights of the season.


2025 has arguably been one of my best years in this hobby in terms of the number of incredibly significant finds. The most notable of these was finding a colony of Formicoxenus provancheri, a rare parasitic species that exclusively lives in the nests of Myrmica incompleta and represents a new record for Manitoba. This is a genus i have been trying to find for many years now and it was really exciting to finally see them in person!

In addition to F. provancheri i also found multiple other new provincial records, those being Formica densiventris, Formica gynocrates, Formica rubicunda, Formica vinculans and Lasius speculiventris. I am currently in the process of writing an updated checklist of the ants of Manitoba under the supervision of my Entomology professor, so these records should be officially published soon.

Some footage of the formicoxenus: https://youtube.com/...UQiNW2gzbqTy5D7

Edited by Manitobant, October 6 2025 - 7:53 AM.

[cooIboyJ]

This year was successful for me because I caught many more queens and species compared to last year (only my second year ant keeping), and I also made way less mistakes. Although currently only one of my species has workers so far. I'm curious to see what other people have done this year!

[Zhuge]

This year was my first year antkeeping. I found lots of lasius queens. I am still making plenty of mistakes. :\ I am excited to learn from other people on this forum.

[Ernteameise]

I think it was a good year.

My very biggest success was giving 2 lectures on common pet ants and their diseases to the German exotics vets early this year. I am still stoked that I could do that! 

My Messor barbarus colony, which is my biggest, continues to be a joy. There is always something going on. They have now nearly filled up their custom TarHeel nest and also moved into the sand-back-nest of the Antcube. 

My Lasius niger colony continues to grow, they will need another extension next year. They are the fastest growing colony I have. 

My Camponotus piceus are growing slowly, but that is to be expected, they only form very small colonies in the wild.

My Camponotus lateralis colony has grown a lot and just today they got a new Foranto nest as expansion. I am sure they will love it.

My other colonies, among them the tropical Acanthomyrmex and the Walnut Empire (Temnothorax) are also doing well. 

 

I also managed to catch a few queens, right now, I have a founding colony of Lasius emarginatus and I also caught 3 queens of the thief ant Solenopsis fugax. I am hopeful that they might start developing after diapause. These new ants might bring new challenges and learning opportunities. 

 

And it is nearly time for diapause, most of my colonies are ready and I already placed them in their winter box, will place them outside on my balcony in the coming days. There they will stay, I will only get them inside into my unheated storage room when there is frost. 

[bmb1bee]

Bay Area nuptial flights haven't finished yet, but I do agree that this has been one of if not the best year for my anting experience. I was able to catch queens of the slave-raider Formica aserva for the first time and also managed to get hundreds of Hypoponera queens from just my garage lights. Ironically, my best catch this year was likely a dead queen of what is presumed to be Lasius atopus... possibly the first gyne specimen known to science.

 

I was also able to get back into making formicaria this year, after taking a long break. I will be finishing all orders I had put off until now and I also have plans for themed nests to make during the holidays...

Edited by bmb1bee, October 6 2025 - 6:45 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Historically, I had a habit of gaining and losing interest in the hobby season to season, so it was rare for me to keep a colony more than a year before losing interest. Summer 2024 - present has been my most dedicated and subsequently successful anting season thus far, with 2025 being the better year, building off of the foundations laid in 2024.

 

My Tetra colony, founded last June, is the second large colony of this species I have kept, though this one is more special since I used brood-boosting on the last queen. With around 3,000 workers at just over 1 year old, they are the largest colony I have kept.

 

My Pheidole bicarinata colony, THE BRIGADE, is my first attempt at keeping Pheidole. I bought them in October 2024, so around 1 year ago. They now have over 2,000 workers and are my 2nd largest colony I've ever kept. 

 

My Formica pallidefulva colony, caught in June 2024, is the largest Formica colony I have successfully raised, gaining 20 workers in the 2024 season and 120 in 2025. The queen has yet to die unexpectedly, and the colony looks highly promising, atypical of most captive Formica colonies.

 

Ants_Dakota and I captured around a dozen Camponotus vicinus queens in early June and a handful of Camponotus modoc queens. Of these, we have raised almost all of them to workers. Ants_Dakota caught massive flights of Camponotus novaeboracensis and Camponotus herculeanus out east a couple weeks later. He gave a few to me, and one novaeboracensis and one herculeanus queen of mine thrived. The novaeboracensis grew to about 60 workers within 3 months of capture, which is insane. Unfortunately, the queen passed away suddenly of unknown causes. I was able to successfully introduce the workers to another above average colony of mine. The herculeanus have over 30 workers now as well as the largest overwintering larva pile I have ever seen for a Camponotus colony.

 

I also have a Solenopsis molesta colony with 80+ queens that just got workers. Once their numbers grow substantially, the number of queens will help boost their growth exponentially.

 

Overall, this has been the most successful anting year for me, and I'm hoping 2026 will stack onto 2025 just like 2025 did to 2024.

[Ernteameise]

Recent most amazing highlight-

it took my Camponotus lateralis colony just 24 hours to move into their pretty new Foranto wooden nest. 

I am proud of my beautiful and clever girls!