What Do Ants Eat: Complete Guide to Ant Diet by Species, Food Types, and Feeding Behaviour

Ants eat an exceptionally wide range of foods. With approximately 10,000 species distributed across nearly every habitat on Earth, ant diets range from seeds and nectar to living prey, cultivated fungi, and the sweet secretions of other insects. Most species are opportunistic omnivores, adapting their diet to whatever their environment provides. Understanding what ants eat also explains much of their foraging behaviour and why certain species invade homes and gardens.

Are Ants Omnivores?

Most ants are opportunistic omnivores that require a mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats and will eat both plant-based and animal-based food sources depending on availability.

Britannica confirms that while many ants are generalist feeders consuming nectar, sap, dead insects, and plant matter as they encounter them, certain species are more specialised: some are dominantly herbivorous seed collectors, some are active hunters, and some, like leafcutter ants, are full-time fungus farmers. The common thread across almost all ant species is nutritional versatility. Colonies can survive dramatic changes in food supply by switching between available sources. Many ants can carry food items many times their body weight, and large colonies may transport several tons of food annually.

What Do Ants Eat? The Full Food List

Ants eat sugar and nectar, seeds, fungi, other insects and invertebrates, dead animals, plant sap, honeydew from aphids, fruits, and in some species, each other’s eggs and larvae.

Sugar and Nectar

Sugary substances are the single most universally sought food across ant species. Carbohydrates from sugar fuel foraging workers, support reproduction, and power colony maintenance. Ants are strongly attracted to flower nectar, extrafloral nectaries on plant stems and leaves, fruit sugars, and any human food containing sucrose. Notably, ants are not attracted to artificial sweeteners such as stevia or aspartame, only to naturally occurring sugars.

Honeydew from Aphids

Many ant species farm aphids as a living food source. Aphids excrete honeydew, a sugar-rich liquid produced as a byproduct of feeding on plant sap. Ants actively tend aphid colonies, stroking them to stimulate honeydew production and guarding them against predators like ladybirds. This mutualistic relationship benefits both parties: aphids receive protection, ants receive a reliable carbohydrate supply. Harvard Forest documents this behaviour as one of the most well-established examples of insect mutualism in temperate ecosystems.

Seeds

Seeds are among the most nutritionally complete foods available to ants, offering proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in a compact, storable package. Harvester ants, found across North America and the Mediterranean, specialise in seed collection and store large quantities inside their nests for later consumption. Ants also participate in a process called myrmecochory: they collect seeds with an elaiosome (a nutritious fatty appendage), consume the elaiosome, and discard the seed intact, effectively dispersing it away from the parent plant. Many plant species have co-evolved specifically with this ant behaviour to aid their own propagation.

Fungi

Leafcutter ants from the genera Atta and Acromyrmex, found primarily in Central and South America, are sophisticated fungus farmers. Worker ants cut fragments of fresh leaves and carry them back to underground chambers, not to eat the leaves directly, but to use them as a substrate to cultivate a specific fungus. That fungus becomes the colony’s primary food, feeding both adult ants and larvae. This agricultural system is one of the most complex food production strategies found in the animal kingdom outside of humans.

Other Insects and Invertebrates

Protein from animal sources is essential for larval development and queen reproduction. Many ant species prey on other insects, including beetles, spiders, termites, flies, and caterpillars. Some species, such as fire ants, are aggressively predatory and will attack prey larger than themselves by swarming in coordinated groups. Driver ants and army ants move en masse to overwhelm and consume anything in their path, including frogs, small reptiles, and other invertebrates. Bullet ants, known for the most painful insect sting recorded, are also active hunters.

Dead Animals and Carrion

Ants are highly effective scavengers. Many species, including Sahara desert ants, subsist largely on dead insects they locate across vast terrain in extreme heat. Worker ants detect carrion through chemical signals and rapidly coordinate retrieval, breaking bodies into manageable pieces for transport back to the nest. Scavenging provides a concentrated protein source without the risk of hunting live prey.

Plant Sap, Resins, and Leaves

Carpenter ants (Camponotus species) feed on tree sap and plant secretions in addition to insects and honeydew. Some tropical ant species live symbiotically inside Myrmecophyte plants, which provide hollow chambers for nesting and food sources including nectar and protein-rich structures in exchange for the ants’ defensive protection against herbivores. Leafcutter ants, though they farm fungi from leaves rather than eating the leaves directly, rely entirely on the plant material as a farming substrate.

Fruits and Vegetables

Sweet fruits, including mangoes, oranges, berries, and melons, attract ants through their sugar content. Starchy carbohydrates such as bread, rice, and grains are also common targets. Pharaoh ants are particularly associated with starchy and sweet plant foods. Indoors, ants gravitate toward kitchen surfaces where fruit sugars, crumbs, and food preparation residue accumulate.

Animal Products: Meat, Eggs, and Dairy

Protein and fat from animal products draw many ant species indoors. Meat, cheese, dairy, grease, and cooking oils all attract ants, particularly species with higher protein requirements such as fire ants and Argentine ants. Grease traps, cooking residue on stovetops, and unwashed pet bowls are frequent access points for ants seeking protein-rich food in households.

What Different Ant Species Eat

Ant diet varies significantly by species, with some specialising in seeds, others farming fungi, some acting as active predators, and many functioning as generalist scavengers.

How Ants Feed Inside the Colony

Adult worker ants can only digest liquid food, so they chew solid food into a liquid form and share it with nestmates through a process called trophallaxis, where regurgitated food is passed mouth to mouth.

Larvae are fed solid food by workers, then chew it and regurgitate a liquid portion back to the workers. This creates a mutual feeding loop that distributes nutrition throughout the colony efficiently. Workers share liquid food with queens, other workers, and larvae through trophallaxis. Queens receive high-protein food during egg-laying periods to sustain reproduction. Individual ant workers typically eat up to 33% of their body weight per day, which amounts to roughly 1 mg of food for an average 3 mg ant.

What Attracts Ants into Homes?

Ants enter homes primarily in search of sugar, protein, and fat, all of which are commonly found in kitchen environments, and are guided by pheromone trails laid by scout workers who have already located a food source.

Scout ants leave chemical pheromone trails from a food source back to the nest, which other workers follow. A single unattended crumb, open container, or unwashed pet bowl can recruit an entire foraging column within hours. Some of the most effective pest species, including Argentine ants and pharaoh ants, form supercolonies that can sustain foraging pressure on a home indefinitely if food access is not removed.

• Sweet foods: honey, syrup, fruit, spilled drinks, candy, baked goods
• Protein sources: meat, cheese, pet food, eggs, cooked grease
• Fats and oils: cooking residue, butter, lard, greasy surfaces near the hob
• Starchy carbohydrates: bread, rice, crackers, cereal
• Moisture and food residue: unwashed dishes, sink areas, drains, overripe fruit

How to Stop Ants Being Attracted to Food

Sealing entry points, storing food in airtight containers, cleaning up spills promptly, and removing pet food bowls overnight are the most effective ways to reduce ant foraging in the home.

Cracks around windows, doors, and foundations give scout ants access. Once a pheromone trail is established, simply removing the food is not enough: the chemical trail persists and continues attracting workers. Wiping surfaces with a mild detergent disrupts pheromone trails. Keeping bins sealed, cleaning beneath appliances, and trimming vegetation away from the building exterior all reduce the conditions that attract ant colonies close enough to forage indoors. For pest detection guidance on other common household insects, early identification is always more effective than reactive control.