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Live Queen Ants &
Colonies For Sale
Notice: Queen ants & colonies only ship within Canada.
Scroll down to learn about setup options, care tips, and everything you need to know before ordering a live queen ant or starter colony in Canada.
Small nest for starting colonies:
Live Ant Sale Season Shipping Status
Get ready, ant enthusiasts! Our live-ant sale season typically runs during the warmer months. You can purchase and ship live queen ants and colonies within Canada, including newly captured queens from nuptial flights as they occur. Stock is released throughout the season, but availability is often limited and sells out fast. Warmer weather means new arrivals — subscribe for updates and check back regularly!
In addition to our live ants, we manufacture and ship our famous ant farm or housing hardware year-round to all destinations. Consider bundling up with our high-quality hardware and purchasing a complete set to get the most out of your pet ant colony.
The guide titled "What do I need to keep ants as pets?" is a great starting point for beginners. It covers essential topics like selecting a queen ant, setting up a habitat, and maintaining proper conditions for a thriving colony.
For assistance or inquiries about diapause, specific ant species, or equipment, head to our "Live chat & contact" page. Our team can help you choose the right equipment and species for your ant farm or habitat. Don't forget to explore our Learning Center for comprehensive ant-keeping guides and insights.
How We Prepare & Send Your Colony
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Prior to shipping: We select a healthy queen/colony and inspect the tube; if water is low, the tube is dirty/contaminated, or space is limited, we gently transfer the colony into a fresh, fully customized test tube. This gives stable humidity and room so you don’t need to rehouse right away, and it travels safely.
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When we ship: We only ship ants when it is safe for them to travel; when temperatures stay above +5°C Canada-wide and there is no risk of a heat wave during transit time, as well as no postal disruptions. This keeps your ants safe and stress-free.
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Select LiveTrack shipping at checkout: our fastest method (required for live arrival warranty coverage). When your order contains live specimens, we typically ship via Canada Post Xpresspost with a delivery notice card for pickup at your nearest Canada Post location, so your package won't sit outside exposed to the elements; if conditions warrant, we may use an equivalent or faster express courier (Purolator, UPS, etc.) See our "Shipping Policy & FAQ" page for full details.
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If ants arrive dead: Contact us immediately with photos within 24h of delivery. We’ll determine the cause and resolution according to our "Warranty Policies," which include the required details and instructions.
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Housing requirement: Our warranty covers ants housed in proper formicaria only. Unsuitable gel ant farms, low-quality formicaria, overly large ant farms, and toy-like setups (commonly sold on third-party marketplaces) do not provide suitable conditions. See our "Gel & Sand Ant Farms Q&A" for details. We assess housing and care practices when evaluating any warranty claim.
What’s Included in Your Customized Test Tube
This is your colony's first home. Every colony ships in an optimized tube setup designed to last longer, help your ants recover from shipping stress and have a great founding start, so you don't need to worry about immediate rehousing. The inclusion of tubing adapters makes connections easy.
We focus on functionality over unnecessary features, using our own designed hardware to solve real issues ant keepers face. We avoid bare tubes due to leak risks and include only components that make life easier.
Below are the components we may use and their benefits. Each ant species in stock displays its current tube configuration.
Need additional tubes for your own setups?
Water chamber options:
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Clean tube: the traditional plain test tube filled with water and a cotton ball.
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Long cotton water keeper: prevents the cotton or fibre plug from shifting backward as water evaporates and ensures a tight fit against inserts to keep them securely in place.
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Refillable perlite chamber: the back of the test tube has a small hole that allows refilling the water chamber as needed, it contains absorbent perlite grains that have been sifted, washed and sterilized to retain and deliver humidity. The cotton and perlite are tightly packed to keep inserts in place against the cone adapter and silicone fitting.
How to add water to a refillable tube:
Using a pipette or syringe, slowly add water through the rear refill port (hole) in small amounts until the cotton/fibre plug looks wet. Add only a little at a time to avoid overfilling and flooding—it’s ready when the cotton appears damp. Do not wet the underside of the insert; this is only beneficial for a few select species that require very high humidity.
Insert surface texture options:
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Plain plastic: 3D-printed micro-texture with floor grooves for cocoon spinning; helps keep the cotton/fibre plug firmly in place.
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Sand texture: All benefits of the plain plastic insert, plus a rugged mineral surface for better grip, helps buffer humidity and absorb liquid spills.
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Inserts can be short (35mm) or long (82mm) depending on colony size.
Cone adapter tubing diameter:
Plastic cone adapter with silicone fitting enables connection to standard vinyl tubing, allowing direct connection with formicaria, outworlds and other adapters, based on ant size the diameter can be:
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For 9.5mm (3.8") tubing.
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For 12.7mm (1/2") tubing.
Light protection and rings:
We use black jackets to reduce exposure to ambient light, providing a dark nesting chamber. Short rings elevate the tube 2mm above ground and help prevent tubes from rolling. Tall rings elevate the tube by at least 4 mm to allow a heat cable to pass underneath and align tubes to the standard connection height used across our gear (nest test-tube ports, array formicaria, and most outworld openings); the image above shows a tall ring in use. Options are:
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Black jacket + 2 short rings: Short jacket for 35mm inserts; slides along the tube to reveal the nesting area. Two independent short rings can be positioned as needed along the tube.
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Black jacket + 2 tall rings: Same as the previous option but with tall rings instead.
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The longer black jacket + 1 tall ring: Long jacket for long inserts; one permanently attached ring at one end, plus one separate tall ring to position/stabilize the opposite end.
Where do the queens come from?
Want to know where our queen ants come from? At Por Amor Art - Ant Shop, we have partnered with reputable ant keepers and queen ant supply businesses to bring you a curated selection of local Canadian species. Our queen ants are captured across Canada and are available for sale during weather-permitted months, mainly from April to October. So whether you're a beginner or an experienced ant keeper, our selection of live queen ants and ant colonies at different stages of development will suit your needs.
Pair your ant colony with hardware from our ant shop, and you'll have everything you need to start your ant farm. Our queen ants have been carefully monitored and cared for since their founding stages, ensuring the health and well-being of each colony.
We're dedicated to creating a solid Canadian community of ant keepers and always looking for new local queen ants to feature in our shop. If you live in Canada and capture queen ants locally, we'd love to hear from you. Reach us at info@poramorart.ca, and we'll go through a simple review process to ensure the quality of your queen ants. Don't miss out on the chance to participate in our community and sell your queen ants at Por Amor Art - Ant Shop.