Terms of service

1. Eligibility and Lawful Use

By using this website or placing an order with Queen’N’Colonies, you confirm that you are legally able to enter into these Terms under the laws of your place of residence.

You agree to use this website only for lawful purposes and in compliance with these Terms of Service and all applicable laws and regulations.

2. General Conditions

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, at any time, for any lawful reason.

We may limit, reject, or cancel orders in cases involving suspected fraud, misuse, reseller activity, legal restrictions, shipping limitations, inventory issues, animal welfare concerns, or other business-protection reasons.

3. Products and Availability

Queen’N’Colonies sells both live goods and non-live goods, including but not limited to queen ants, ant colonies, habitats, formicariums, outworlds, modules, feeders, and supplies.

All products are subject to availability. We reserve the right to modify, discontinue, limit, or update any product, species, product description, price, or promotion at any time without notice.

Some products may have longer preparation or processing times, including made-to-order products, pre-order products, specialty items, and larger live colonies. Canada Ant Colony similarly notes that some items require longer processing times, especially made-to-order items and larger colonies.

4. Live Animal Orders

Live ants and colonies are living organisms and are sold subject to availability, seasonality, destination restrictions, weather conditions, and safe-shipping considerations.

By placing an order for live ants or colonies, you acknowledge that:

  • live-animal orders may be delayed, held, adjusted, or cancelled by us where weather, seasonal conditions, carrier limitations, destination restrictions, or animal welfare concerns make fulfillment unsafe

  • live organisms may vary naturally in colour, size, brood quantity, growth rate, and behaviour

  • temporary stress after transit, reduced activity, or delayed egg-laying may occur and do not automatically mean the order qualifies for a refund or replacement

Specific DOA eligibility, shipping-method requirements, and seasonal packaging requirements are governed by our Return & Refund Policy and Shipping Policy. Canada Ant Colony also handles these rules outside its general Terms, through separate live-guarantee and shipping pages.

5. Legal Compliance and Customer Responsibility

You are responsible for ensuring that any live animal or related product you purchase is legal to possess, receive, import, transport, or keep in your destination.

We reserve the right to refuse, hold, or cancel any order that, in our judgment, may violate applicable laws, regulations, permit conditions, carrier rules, or destination restrictions.

Canada Ant Colony publishes a dedicated permit conditions page stating it distributes imported ants in accordance with Canadian Food Inspection Agency permit conditions and warns customers not to misuse those permits, which supports having a clear customer-responsibility clause here.

Queen’N’Colonies is not responsible for losses arising from customs action, seizure, destination-based restrictions, import issues, legal prohibitions, or other compliance issues outside our control.

6. Order Information

You agree to provide current, complete, and accurate billing, contact, and shipping information for all orders placed with us.

We are not responsible for delays, failed delivery, or other losses caused by incorrect or incomplete customer information.

7. Pricing and Errors

All prices are listed in the currency shown on the website unless otherwise stated.

We reserve the right to correct pricing errors, product description errors, availability errors, or typographical errors, and to update information or cancel orders affected by such errors.

8. Shipping and Fulfillment

Shipping times are estimates only unless otherwise expressly stated.

We reserve the right to select, delay, split, reschedule, hold, or refuse shipment where necessary due to weather, destination conditions, carrier issues, live-animal safety, processing requirements, or operational limitations. Canada Ant Colony’s shipping page likewise states that most orders ship on a schedule, that some items require longer processing, and that weather affects shipping timing.

Further details regarding shipping methods, timing, live-arrival eligibility, and seasonal protection are set out in our Shipping Policy and Return & Refund Policy.

9. Returns, Refunds, and Claims

All returns, refunds, replacements, credits, and DOA claims are governed exclusively by our posted Return & Refund Policy.

Nothing in these Terms creates any return, refund, replacement, or cancellation right beyond what is expressly stated in that policy.

10. Product Use and Care

You are responsible for the proper housing, setup, care, feeding, hydration, heating, cooling, handling, and maintenance of any live animals or products purchased from Queen’N’Colonies.

Any care guides, species notes, setup suggestions, educational content, or support we provide are for general informational purposes only and do not guarantee specific husbandry outcomes, survival, colony growth, or breeding success.

11. Intellectual Property

All content on this website, including branding, logos, text, graphics, images, product descriptions, layouts, and designs, is owned by or licensed to Queen’N’Colonies and may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, modified, or used without our prior written permission.

12. Third-Party Services

Our website may use or provide access to third-party services, including payment providers, shipping carriers, apps, tools, and integrations. We are not responsible for the policies, actions, or service interruptions of those third parties.

13. Website Accuracy and Availability

We do not guarantee that the website will always be available, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

We reserve the right to correct errors, inaccuracies, or omissions and to update or change website content at any time.

14. Prohibited Uses

You may not use this site:

  • for any unlawful purpose

  • to violate any law or regulation

  • to submit false or misleading information

  • to interfere with website security or operation

  • to copy, scrape, or exploit site content without permission

  • to misuse our products, policies, or services

We reserve the right to restrict or terminate access to the site where these Terms are violated.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Queen’N’Colonies and its owners, operators, affiliates, employees, contractors, suppliers, and service providers are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of revenue, profits, opportunity, data, or goodwill arising from your use of the site or purchase of products.

Without limiting the above, Queen’N’Colonies is not liable for losses relating to delayed shipment, carrier error, failed delivery, weather-related disruption, legal restrictions, improper post-delivery care, or customer misuse of products.

Where liability cannot be excluded, our maximum total liability shall be limited to the amount paid by you for the specific product giving rise to the claim.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Queen’N’Colonies and its affiliates, owners, officers, employees, contractors, and service providers from any claim, demand, damage, liability, cost, or expense arising out of your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the website, your violation of law, or your improper possession, transport, care, or use of live animals or products purchased from us.

17. Governing Law

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements through which we provide goods or services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the applicable federal laws of Canada.

18. Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to update or modify these Terms of Service at any time by posting the revised version on our website. Your continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of those changes.

19. Contact Information

Questions about these Terms of Service may be sent to:

Queen’N’Colonies
Email: queens.n.colonies@gmail.com
Contact page: [URL]