Hiking Boots On, Test Tube in Your Pocket: Meet Kimmy & Kevin from Lanaken

In Kimmy and Kevin's house in Lanaken you are never alone. There are three dogs, two from Romania and one from Poland, two desert buzzards and a hognose snake. And then, almost modestly next to all that, there are the ant colonies. To an outsider it sounds like a small zoo. For Kimmy and Kevin it is simply home.

Growing up with animals

Both of them grew up surrounded by animals. It was never something they learned later; it was there from childhood. The interest in nature, in small creatures, in how everything fits together. Kevin puts it the way he has always felt it:

How beautiful nature and all its little creatures are. And how everything keeps everything else in balance.

Ants stood out to him most. Not because they are big or loud, but precisely because they are not. As a child, a nest of ants gave him peace. He could sit next to one for hours, just watching how it worked, how everyone knew their role, how it was always a team.

The boy with the test tubes

The turning point was small. Kevin once came across a boy selling Lasius niger for some pocket money. He bought one. That single moment was enough.

Later they discovered Vivarium, where Kimmy and Kevin bought their first real colony together: Camponotus nicobarensis. That colony now has around ten workers. Good eaters, they say. For Kevin it is still his favourite, not only because the species is so active, but because it showed him everything. "We watched them grow from zero."

A favourite each

Kimmy looks at ants differently than Kevin, and that is exactly what makes it fun. Where he loves the busy energy of his Camponotus nicobarensis, she is charmed by the smallest ants in the house: Temnothorax, the acorn ants. "They are super small and fun to watch", she says simply. No big argument behind it, and none needed.

And if they could dream about future species? Kevin would one day like an Odontomachus, a trap-jaw ant. Kimmy prefers to keep it small. As long as they are super small.

Mistakes, lessons and disappearing brood

Like almost every new ant keeper, they made the classic mistake: looking too much. Taking the lid off too often, shining a phone light on the nest too often. The result was painful. The queen started eating her brood.

It is a lesson they are happy to pass on. However tempting it is to check on the queen, and they still feel that urge, rest is what a colony needs most. That, fresh water and nectar. They do not have a fixed feeding routine, because every colony has its own needs, its own appetite and its own rhythm. The best moment in a colony's development? Seeing the first pupae appear. Then you know new, pale little workers are on the way. A small surprise, every single time.

Hiking as part of the hobby

What ant keeping means to Kimmy and Kevin goes beyond the shelf at home. It is in their walks too. Out into nature together, test tube in the pocket, looking for queens or new colonies. It takes them to the most unexpected places.

That is what makes the hobby so valuable when you share it. You share the excitement about that one colony where something happened, which is different from discussing it in a WhatsApp group. They are in two WhatsApp groups with other ant keepers, where they read along or ask questions, but the real conversation they prefer to have in person.

The shop as inspiration

Kimmy and Kevin regularly walk into the Esthetic Ants shop. Not only to buy something, but to look around, talk and see where they want to go next. "You can already see your goal in real life", says Kevin. A large colony they would like to have one day is not a photo on a screen there, but a colony behind glass that you can look at up close. Online you can order an ant, but you do not see how big it really is. In the shop you do.

What matters to them in a seller? Honesty, and knowing that if something is wrong, it gets put right. "We know and trust that if something goes wrong, we can just report it and he helps where he can."

Native over exotic

Asked for an unpopular opinion, they do not hesitate for long. Native species are more fun than exotic ones, Kevin thinks, because you always have the chance to find them yourself. An exotic species you can admire, but a native one you can come across: in your garden, in the park, on a walk with a test tube in your pocket.

Are ants good pets for everyone? Not necessarily, they admit. But for the right person, someone with patience who can watch without always stepping in, it is a world that never stops surprising you.

Kimmy and Kevin from Lanaken. Three dogs, two buzzards, a snake and a handful of ant colonies. And somewhere in between, the quiet of a nest that grows at its own pace, and two people who can watch it for hours. Put on your hiking boots, and never forget a test tube!

Curious about the species Kimmy and Kevin keep? See our available ants or the Mini Outworld V2, the setup they recommend for beginners. Want to read more keeper portraits? Read the story of Stef Vleminckx.