What Do Ants Eat?

3-MINUTES READ

You might be wondering how can ants eat everything when they near you.

When there is a food spill under your table, a group of ants will come to eat it. When there is a dead insect like cockroach, they will come and bring along the corpse with their colony to eat it.

What food attract ants?

Ants are omnivores animal and eat almost everything in nature. They eat a mixture of both plant and animal to fulfill their nutritional needs.

Most of ant species are known as their opportunistic feeders. Meaning, they will eat whatever is found in your house to stay alive. But, you should know that not all species eat the same things, because different species of ants eat different kinds of foods. Let’s take a look at 3 common things that ants eat!

Sugary foods

It's a common known natural fact if most types of ants are very fond of the taste of sugary foods in your kitchen, such as bread, maple syrup, honey and juices.  But, when it's too difficult for ants to get any sugary foods around your house, they will be looking for a sweet substance called honeydew that other insects leave behind.

Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid produced by small insects called aphids when they eat plants. Some populations of aphids will take an advantage by trading the honeydew to ant colony and exchange it for a protection to their populations from larger predators.

Protein foods

Besides of sugary foods, ants also eat protein to grow. High protein in foods like peanut butter, meat and egg will surely attract a group of ants to come. They are also attracted to cooking grease which commonly to be found in kitchen surfaces and cooking utensils.

When ants stay outside where they belong, many of us seeing a colony of ants eating and picking up dead insects like cockroaches and flies. This is because they also could find proteins by eating dead insects too!

Fungus

Did you know? Ants cultivate fungi in gardens and some of their species grow and eat fungus. Ant species like the leafcutter ant grow and eat fungus as their source of nutrition.

How to prevent ants find their way into your house for foods?

• Make it a daily habit of cleaning up spills off counters and floors
• Sweep up daily to make sure crumbs do not provide a readily available food source for ants
• Double check that you have properly stored your food items in your shelves, desks and cupboards

Now you know what ants eat and how to prevent ants in searching for food on your house. Contact Rentokil at 0-8001-333-777 or contact us online for the best option of ant control.