Live ants buying guide

Do you want to get ants? Here is what you need to know when buying ants!

Before buying...

You have to inform about the ant species. Many ants are not friendly for beginners and are hard to keep. They can also cause damage to your home or the environment if they are invasive.

Inform yourself about the conditions: What kind of formicarium / nest does this species need? You may also need to heat your formicarium. We don't recommend buying ant farms.

What equipment do i need?

Short answer: It depends on the ant species. In general, most ant species are fine with a nest and a glass tank as an arena.

Like with ants, you can buy quality equipment from shops or private sellers. You can also build the home for your ants yourself, you dont need to be a talented craftsman to do this.

Where to buy ants

Luckily, there are plenty of options where you can buy ants since the ant keeping hobby is constantly growing!
Official shops
Of course, you can search for ant species on many shops or visit the shops page directly. When buying from shops, you have a live arrival guarantee in the most cases. Best to look up shops reviews in the internet or ask in internet communities if they made good or bad experiences with a certain shop.
Private sellers
Have a look at ant communities (e.g. at forums, discord, facebook) and check, if anyone sells ants or ask them. Important: Be careful buying over the internet. Check, if the seller is trustworthy but at best, search for local offers. Then you can have a look at the ants if they are heatlhy and you prevent postage stress for the ants. Catch them yourself
When it's nuptial flight time, you may be lucky and catch mated ant queens yourself. Please inform yourself about endangered species and if it's allowed in your country.

Risks of buying ants online

Note that trusthworthy, good sellers will prevent all these risks and you should not have to worry about any of these points!