Like many other pests, ants are driven by their need for food. Staying on top of cleaning and food storage practices is one of the most important ways to keep ants from taking over your home and yard. If you know what food attracts ants, you can work to stay one step ahead of them by eliminating the substances they’re looking for.

Once you understand what ants eat, ant control can get a whole lot easier.

What do ants like to eat?

Ants are opportunistic omnivores, which means they will eat almost anything. They require a mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in their diet to thrive. A typical ant diet may include:

  • Organic matter: Leaves, fungus, nectar, fruits, vegetables

  • Sugary substances: Honey, syrup, candy. Ants are not attracted to artificial sweeteners like stevia and aspartame.

  • Animal products: Eggs, cheese, dairy, meat, and parts of dead animals they find in the wild

  • Other insects and insect eggs: Spiders, beetles, other ants

If they are living outdoors, ants will stick to organic matter like vegetation and food they find around garbage bins and some species will also feed from the sweet honeydew produced by other insects.

Indoors, they’ll mostly head towards kitchens and dining rooms where food is plentiful. Since ants are so small, the tiniest crumb can look like a feast to them, and when one ant shows up, more are sure to follow.

How ants find food

Ants have a strong sense of smell that leads them to their next meal. They have four to five times more odor receptors than most other insects, so they can detect a potential food source from far away. Ants use their antennae to sniff out food and leave a pheromone trail as a guide for other ants to follow in their footsteps.

Carpenter ants use a combination of pheromones and visual memory to find food. They’ll memorize and use the same path over and over to access a reliable food source. If ants are in your home, it’s most likely because they were attracted to a food or water source.

How do ants eat?

Worker ants—the ones that leave the nest—are food scavengers. They search for food both for themselves and for other ants. When they find a food source, their job is to bring some back to the colony for the rest of the ants, including the queen and the larvae.

Adult ants feed solid food to the larvae, who then chew it up and feed the resulting liquid back to the workers. The workers can eat liquid foods, which they will share with nestmates.

Ant prevention

Preventing ants in your home starts with sealing up any potential entry points, such as cracks in windows, doors, and the foundation. Next, keep up with regular cleaning around the house, especially in the kitchen, to eliminate any crumbs or spills that might attract ants. Store food in airtight containers, clean pet food bowls daily, and don’t forget to clean areas like under the sink and beneath appliances.

To prevent ants in your yard, keep your lawn mowed and watered to eliminate the conditions ants look for. Maintaining the outside of your house and the surrounding yard can help ensure ant populations aren’t close enough to make their way inside your home.

If you need extra guidance, the ant control experts at Terminix can assess your property and recommend the best course of action for eliminating and preventing ants long term. 

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