"Will it chew through my house?" is the first question I hear from a first-time ant-keeper or any ant-keeper's parents when they look at carpenter ants. A quick disclaimer: your house will be safe as long as it's not made from a crumbly and rotting foundation. There will only be ants if there's water leaking through. A black and orange ant scurries up a tree trunk looking for food. It stumbled upon a small beetle, but is quickly runs away as a group of Acrobat Ants streams up the twig. Luckily for it, the tree benefits from any pests it eats, and provides "nectaries" on the base of leaves, which are glands secreting a sweet liquid to entice the ant to stay. The ant takes a sip, and returns home to it's nest in a crevice in the tree with just a few hundred other individuals. This timid species is Camponotus nearcticus, the smaller carpenter ant. Camponotus nearcticus is the ant equivalent of a small elephant or a dwarf whale. Despite being a species of carpenter ant, Camponotus nearcticus is comes fun-sized, with queens being as small as 8mm, and the workers as small as 3.5mm. With a smaller colony size, it's also far more shy, and being arboreal, is rarely seen by the people it often lives so close to. This product also includes the much rarer Camponotus caryae (Hickory Carpenter Ant) for ease of navigation. Like other carpenter ants, it prefers low humidity from 30-50%, and slightly higher temperatures at 25-28 degrees Celsius, though it surprisingly is one of the slowest growers. Shipping Conditions Hey! This is a live product. If you are purchasing ants during the winter months, please remember to purchase the "Winter Shipping (Live Guarantee) (72 hour heat pack + 1 inch foam cushion)" in order to guarantee the order. Live Guarantee Policy If live insects arrive cold or flooded please handle with care. Many of these colonies typically pop back up within a few hours. All DOA claims must be made within 24 hours after receiving your insects. Any order with a unacceptable mortality rate, but with a viable colony (e.g. less workers than in the range advertised, less queens or workers than advertised) can be compensated with store credit equal to the loss of value in the shipment, including shipping and extra packaging. Any order with DOAs, but which do not fall out of the initially advertised/promised range of workers will NOT be compensated. DOA claims which are a total loss will be re-shipped 1 more time FREE of charge with photographic evidence. Orders where shipping is more than 30% of the total value of the order will be refunded proportionally to the loss of value in the shipment, INCLUDING test tube inserts which are purchased with the colony. We guarantee live arrival on Xpresspost and priority shipments, as well as pickup and local delivery. Only orders that are accepted on the first delivery attempt will be eligible for DOA credit, no exceptions. Live guarantee is VOID if you choose expedited shipping. In the winter, it is VOID if no extra packing is purchased. Fertility guarantee claims or live guarantee claims made within the month after arrival must be made with a timestamped photo of BOTH the queen alive upon arrival AND a timestamped photo of the dead specimens. Expedited shipping can be a budget friendly method but does not always have the best results. If your order is going to be in transit more than 3 business days please do not choose this method or choose at your own risk. DURING THE WINTER MONTHS WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO HOLD BACK SHIPMENTS IF WE DECIDE ITS TOO COLD TO SHIP. Please note that orders to outdoor community mail boxes, or other outdoor locations void our live guarantee. If your address consists of an outdoor mail box or location, please make arrangements to have the order delivered to a friends house, or to your place of employment. Just a warning, we will NOT ship live ants into the US unless the receiver has a permit. If such an order is made, it will be refunded, minus a 10% processing fee and restocking fee This product is from Canada Ant Colony. The full catalogue, including all variants, can be found at https://canada-ant-colony.com For US Ant Keepers We can't ship live ants to the US, but we've partnered with Stateside Ants to help spread ant keeping. They're a highly reputable ant store and ship to all states in the lower 48. You can check them out here and use code DTAHAFFIL for 10% off
