***NOTE: These colonies just came out of diapause, and some of the brood is advancing to the next stage of development beyond 1st and 2nd instar.  You will receive a colony that is beginning their second year of growth, the queens are from a nuptial flight in the summer of 2023.***

States That Camponotus modoc can be sent to (permits included with shipment):

Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

 ***Each Colony is shipped with the permit and a care sheet***

General information

Camponotus modoc is almost always found in rotten wood cavities in its native range (see list of states above) from Canada all the way down to Mexico, and throughout much of the western half of the U.S.  Colonies can survive in considerably cold environments at higher elevations as well as very warm areas in forests.  Colonies can achieve very large sizes of 50,000 or more workers.  This species does have major workers as well as several other sizes of workers smaller in size (minor workers).  This species is very similar to Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Camponotus herculeanus.

Shipping Information

We typically ship ants and bundles including ants on Monday, Tuesday and Saturdays with some exceptions.  If you live in a neighboring state where shipping is 1-2 days, we can ship Wednesday or Thursday, but almost never ship ants on Friday without specific arrangements to do so through email or phone communication.

We offer heat and ice pack options, so please use these if you expect them to be helpful to the safe arrival of your ant colony.  We do check national and local temperatures prior to each shipment, and will contact you should there be need for further communication about your delivery due to weather complications.  If temperatures are 90-110 Fahrenheit, ice packs will only help for a short time.  Please plan ahead and setup notifications to your phone or email address with your tracking information we send to you upon completion of your order.  Boxes left out in the sun with live ants should be brought inside as soon as possible.  Ice and Heat packs are for protection DURING transit, not for protection once they are dropped off.  We require you to plan for the ants to be brought inside within 30 minutes of their arrival if temperatures are below 40 Fahrenheit or above 80 Fahrenheit OR if they will be left in a sunny location.

After Arrival

The ants are shipped in a temporary shipping environment, meant to shield them from harsh conditions and prevent flooding.  The humidity is kept constant during the shipment.  The ants will need a new home (we offer bundles including ant habitats for these ants that include a formicarium) shortly after arrival, no later than one week after being shipped is our recommendation.  If you cannot move them right away, keep them in a cooler area of your home (no heating during this time is needed) and also try to provide them a moist Q-tip or something similar to drink from.  Call us for questions (919)348-3642 related to the care of your new ants.

Why We Think You Should Choose Tar Heel Ants For Your Ant Colony Purchases?

We keep a large amount of colonies and queens year round.  We have over 12 years of experience with raising ant colonies from all over the U.S., as well as communicating with thousands of hobbyists and professionals during that time about ant care.  Leaning on our experience on raising ants and through networking with others, we offer our own unique approach to selling ants colonies:

• Always choose the best colony from the available colonies we have in stock.

• Ants are cared for and maintained in clean environments.  We do not leave ants in dirty test tube habitats.

• Feeding schedule maintained on a daily basis.

• We ship ants safely and humanely in our genesis test tube habitats, under 6 layers of protection at minimum.