Lasius niger also known as the common black garden ant are a great starter species and can grow to 5000-6000 workers strong a very hardy species in European climates.
They are the perfect beginner species they are often found in the garden during the spring and summer months with their black/dark brown appearance which are the workers. They can have 5000 plus workers in a colony so they tend to mass in numbers when they find a food source outside through their recruitment process of using pheromones (chemical messengers).
They have adapted well to the urban environment and in the wild they are typically found nesting in plant pots, under stone or slabs or close to rose bushes or similar plants in which they farm aphids buy collect nectar from them in return from guarding the aphids from predators.
Generally, the first workers and small colonies are fairly docile and grow exponentially past the first 20 workers, they are the most popular entry level ant species, excellent species for beginner ant keepers.
Contents of the starter kit in addition to ants:
1x protein shake
1x pipette
Care-sheets can be found via our website.
Keeping difficulty: Very Easy (beginner friendly)
Colonyform: Monogyne
Queen size: 9mm
Workers size: 3-5 mm black,
Food: honey water and insects
Temp: 18-26°C
Humidity: 50-60%
Founding: Claustral without feeding
Colonysize: 1-40,000 workers
Hibernation: November until end of February at 15°C
UK leading ant supplier:
We are the UK’s leading ant supplier in terms of volume of ants sold every year. We have been going for over 5 years and have had 1000s of happy customers every year with consistently high feedback.
Live arrival guarantee:
We guarantee the live arrival of your Queen they come well packed in our jiffy bags which have two-sided padding as well as an additional layer of bubble wrap around our test tubes. We are the only company in the United Kingdom to offer our live arrival guarantee of your queen as well as an additional 14 days guarantee if the colony if kept in the original test tube for all our European species. Why do we do this? We are confident with our colony’s health and our packaging process as well as our care guides, we also believe in our customers and making sure they have a good ant keeping experience.
Be aware of sellers only using the Live arrival guarantee and not the 14-day additional warranty on European ant species it might be slightly cheaper but could end up paying more in the long run, also all our products are sold as starter kits including food and a pipette.
We do require photographic evidence of the queen in the original test tube for validating the guarantee once outside the test tube and in a nest the environment is outside of our control.
It is illegal to release non-native species of ants into the wild and could damage the local ecosystem so bare this in mind we have a duty to our environment.
Live arrival guarantee we ensure the live arrival of the queen only upon delivery contact us within 24-48 hours of receiving the Queen dead on arrival with a picture of the dead queen and the original workers. DO NOT TRANSFER THE DEAD QUEEN OR WORKERS TO A NEST AS THIS VOIDS YOUR WARRNTY. For our additional 14-day guarantee for European species the Queen and workers must be kept in the original test tube sealed with the cotton and care sheet instructions followed if you want to keep this additional guarantee do not transfer to a nest or your warranty is VOIDED (we recommend you keep the 14-day warranty).
We have no control over the environment outside the test tube and have no influence in the conditions the responsibility once placed outside the test tube within the 14-day period the responsibility is with the buyer. 9 times out of 10 colonies die in the nest due to lack of water access, food, temperature, oxygen or stress due to vibrations or exposure to excess light. If your colony does fail inside a nest contact us, we can advise what went wrong but it is up to you to buy another ant colony, you will succeed but sometimes it does not work the first time. Research is key to success with ant keeping and follow our guides.
