Lasius umbratus are a well-known parasitic Lasius species also known as the yellow shadow ant in the wild they will actively highjack a lasius niger nest by killing a lasius niger worker and gaining its scent then then the queen will enter the nest and seek out the rival lasius niger queen and fight and kill her if successful she will inherit the colony and will force the Lasius niger workers to raise her own young until eventually all workers are replaced with Lasius umbratus workers.
All queens/colonies will come with umbratus eggs and lasius niger workers.
Keeping difficulty: Medium (Kept at least one colony previously is recommended)
Colony form: mostly monogyn
Queen size: 9mm (black light brown shimmer)
Worker’s size: 2-5 mm yellow/orange,
Food: honey water and insects
Temp: 18-26°C
Humidity: 50-60%
Founding: Claustral without feeding
Colony size: 1-40,000 workers
Hibernation: November until end of February at 15°C
What you will get in addition to your colony:
1x protein shake
1x pipette
1x care sheet which can be found on our care-sheet page
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.
