Permits: Shipping Queen Ants to Other States

Ants are strictly regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for distribution across state lines to protect American agriculture and the environment from plant pests. Permits are issued by the USDA to commercial companies who must follow permit conditions such as shipping and packaging methods, including documents with the shipment, record keeping, communications, and following disposal instructions. By only allowing permitted companies to ship ants, accidental release of ants can be prevented.

We have to apply for the permit and we have noticed that if the ant species isn’t native in the state, it will not get approved. If you know the species is native in your state and we don’t have it listed, please let us know! We will do some research to double-check and then we can file for an amendment to our permit for your state. It often takes a short time (less than a month) to have a permit amended.

No, you don’t need a permit to buy ants from us. If we have a permit for the species of ant you want to buy in your state, we will ship it to you, no problem. If you attempt to buy a species that we don’t have a permit for, your order will not go through.

Yes, the USDA requests that you follow these two rules: 1) Don’t sell or give the ants to someone else, 2) Follow APHIS disposal instructions when you are ready to dispose of the ants. We will ship a copy of our permit for your state to you with the ants, and also include the disposal instructions.

You can visit the USDA plant pest website here.