ANTSTORE World of Ants

[kashmir79]

they look just the same as Lasius niger/Lasius flavus queens. whats the big urge to get one !? lol

[ant dude]

lol, they just look like really great ants to me....

[tail__]

Most interesting is the fact the queens are temporaty social parasites, so you can give them L. niger cocoons and have mixed black and yellow colony. Moreover, L. umbratus are hosts for another very interesting and beautiful species, L. fuliginosus.

[SteveUK28]

I think they have beautiful markings on them, a little simular to my Camp Sub... Just a lot smaller

[JimmyVe]

I had the luck of having a queen of Lasius fuliginosus but she didn't make it. I had here for a few weeks, she did not accept the slaves, why i don't know. (this was a few years ago, didn't find another queen after that)

[bryguy97]

That is an INCREDIBLE queen!!

[Kale^^]

The problem with dying could be that they are NOT to be kept in a closed capsule or even a cotton-sealed test-tube, because their strong odour is toxic for themselves in large concentrations, just like with Formica rufa and some other anthill-making species that live in Finland and Europe. So if you plan on keeping this species Lasius umbratus, you will need a good ventilation and a big formicarium when the colony grows.
A bunch of queens of this species had been caught by a finnish ant-keeper a few years back and he witnessed only one queen survive after sealing their test-tubes with a cotton ball. After he noticed that the other queens were dead he luckily figured out that the airtightness was the problem there and quickly re-opened her test-tube and the queen continued to live.

[Mikey_Bustos]

I have ten of these social parasitic queens in hibernation right now. They were flying the exact date as their Lasius hosts last year. I have brought the Lasius neonigers and L. alienus queens out of hibernation early so they can start a colony and I will introduce the Lasius umbratus afterwards sometime in a few months when I bring them out of hibernation.

Beautiful species and yes they do emit a lot of highly toxic sprays. Kale's advice is very sound.

EDIT: Went to go check the ant vault, and turns out I have ten, not five like I initially thought.