What Can Ants Eat?

Ants have remarkably flexible diets, and what they eat depends heavily on their species and their role within the colony. Their ability to adapt to whatever food sources are available is a major reason they become persistent household pests:

Sugars and Carbohydrates: Many ant species are strongly attracted to sweet, sugary foods. They will feed on spilled soda, fruit juices, candy, pastries, syrups, honey, and anything else that provides fast energy. Outdoors, they consume natural sugars such as nectar, honeydew from aphids, and sap.
Proteins: Protein is essential for colony growth, especially for developing larvae. Ants will scavenge for meats, dead insects, pet food, and even greasy kitchen scraps. In the wild, they often act as natural clean-up crews by consuming other insects and small invertebrates.
Fats and Oils: Some species, especially certain pavement ants and thief ants, are drawn to fatty or oily foods. Grease, peanut butter, nuts, and oily leftovers can be major attractants.
Seeds, Grains, and Plant Material: Harvester ants and other similar species collect seeds and grains, while some ants chew plant material or feed on fungi they cultivate inside their nests.
Water: Although it’s not “food,” ants require a consistent water source. Leaky pipes, condensation on appliances, or even damp wood can help sustain a colony indoors.
Specialized Diets: A few species have unique food preferences. Carpenter ants, for instance, don’t actually eat wood—their damage comes from excavating it to build nests. They primarily feed on proteins and sweet liquids. Pharaoh ants often prefer greasy foods. Fire ants aggressively seek proteins. Leafcutter ants harvest leaves not to eat directly, but to cultivate a specific fungus they rely on as their main food.

If you're treating an infestation, understanding the diet of the ant species involved helps determine the right bait and control strategy, since matching the bait to the ants’ active food preference significantly improves success.

What Do Ants Eat?

Most ants are opportunistic feeders, but the food they most consistently prefer is anything high in sugar. Sweet, carbohydrate-rich foods provide quick energy, which foraging workers need to fuel their constant activity. Indoors, this often means spilled soda, fruit, candy, syrups, pastries, and even the residue left on countertops or trash. Outdoors, their primary sugar source is honeydew—the sticky secretion produced by aphids and other sap-feeding insects—which many ant species actively “farm.”

After sugars, many species also show a strong preference for proteins, especially when the colony is growing or raising larvae. This includes meats, dead insects, pet food, and greasy kitchen scraps. Preferences can shift depending on the season, colony needs, and species, but if there’s one category ants consistently gravitate to first, it’s sugary foods.

What Insects Do Ants Eat?

Ants are opportunistic predators and scavengers, so they’ll eat a wide range of insects depending on the species of ant, the season, and what food sources are available. Many ant colonies rely on high-protein prey to feed their larvae, and insects are one of their most dependable sources. Common targets include soft-bodied insects such as termites, springtails, small caterpillars, and insect larvae of many kinds. Ants will also attack slow-moving or injured insects like beetle larvae, flies, and small crickets. Some species—especially aggressive hunters like army ants and fire ants—are capable of overwhelming much larger prey, and even other ant colonies.

Scavenging is just as common as hunting. Ants frequently consume dead insects they find around homes, foundations, mulch beds, and outdoor structures. They typically strip a carcass down quickly and carry the pieces back to the nest to feed developing brood. This flexibility gives ants a major survival advantage, but it also means that finding ants feeding on insects around a property is often an early sign of an underlying pest issue—either an active insect population or conditions favorable to both insects and ants.

Do Ants Eat Cockroaches?

Ants don’t typically hunt healthy cockroaches, but they will absolutely eat them when the opportunity is right. Their behavior toward roaches depends on the ant species and the condition of the roach:

Dead or Dying Roaches: Most ant species readily feed on cockroaches that are already dead or weakened. Roach carcasses offer an easy, protein-rich meal, and ants will quickly dismantle and carry off pieces back to the colony.
Injured or Immobile Roaches: If a roach is injured, poisoned, or trapped, ants may swarm it and consume it, especially species known for scavenging behavior.
Healthy, Moving Roaches: A strong, active cockroach is fast and tough. Ants usually don’t attack them unless the ants are aggressive species like fire ants, army ants, or larger predatory ants. In most household situations, ants will not successfully prey on a healthy roach.
Why Ants Are Attracted to Roaches: Cockroaches contain the proteins ants need for brood development. If ants locate a dead roach in a home, it can actually signal a larger infestation—either roaches, ants, or both.

Ants don’t normally hunt live cockroaches, but they very commonly eat dead, dying, or vulnerable roaches, using them as a convenient protein source.

Do Ants Eat Spiders?

Ants may eat spiders in several situations, and it usually comes down to availability, vulnerability, and colony needs. Most ants aren’t specialized spider hunters, but they’ll readily turn a spider into a food source when circumstances favor it. One of the most common scenarios is when ants encounter a weakened, injured, or dead spider. Scavenging is a major part of ant foraging behavior, so if a spider is already compromised, ants quickly break it down and carry it back to the nest as protein for developing larvae. Ants may also attack and consume live spiders when they outnumber them significantly. A lone spider—especially a smaller or softer-bodied species—can be overwhelmed by a coordinated group of worker ants, making it an efficient protein source.

Another situation occurs when ants invade a spider’s web or hiding place while searching for food. If the spider stays to defend its territory, the confrontation can end with ants overpowering it and turning it into prey. Certain ant species, such as army ants or fire ants, are particularly aggressive and will target spiders more readily when clearing an area or expanding their foraging territory. Even in gardens or around homes, ants may consume spider egg sacs if they find them unguarded, treating the eggs as high-value nutrition. While ants and spiders often avoid one another, ants become predators when opportunity, necessity, and strength in numbers align.

Do Ants Eat Dead Ants?

Yes, ants are known to scavenge and eat dead ants. Ants are opportunistic omnivores, which means they will consume a variety of organic matter, including the bodies of dead ants. Here's a more detailed explanation:

Cannibalism: In some ant species, cannibalism is a common behavior. When ants within the same colony die, their nestmates may feed on their carcasses. This behavior serves several purposes, including waste disposal and recycling of nutrients. It can also help prevent the spread of diseases within the colony by removing dead or diseased individuals.
Scavenging: In addition to cannibalism within the colony, ants are scavengers and will feed on the bodies of dead insects, including dead ants, that they come across in their foraging areas. They play a role in the decomposition of organic matter in their environment.
Resource Utilization: Ants are highly efficient at utilizing available resources, and consuming dead ants is a way to extract nutrients from these available sources, ensuring that resources are not wasted.
Colony Hygiene: Eating dead ants can help maintain colony hygiene by reducing the presence of decaying organic matter within the nest. This can contribute to a healthier living environment for the colony.

Not all ant species exhibit cannibalistic behavior, and the extent to which ants eat dead ants or other insects can vary depending on the species, their ecological niche, and the availability of resources in their habitat.

Do Ants Eat Animals?

Ants do eat animals, but usually in very specific forms. Most species feed on small or vulnerable creatures they can overpower, such as soft-bodied insects, spiders, and various arthropods. They rarely kill large animals outright, but they will aggressively scavenge any dead or dying animal they encounter, quickly breaking it down and transporting the pieces back to the colony. Some highly coordinated species—like army ants or driver ants—are capable of swarming and killing small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, or nestling birds, though this is far less common and tied to particular tropical species. In general, ants rely on small prey, insect larvae, and animal remains because these provide the concentrated protein their colonies need to grow.

Do Ants Eat Plants?

While ants are primarily omnivorous, which means they consume both plant and animal matter, the majority of ant species are not known for consuming plants as a significant part of their diet. However, there are exceptions, and some ants do consume plant material. Here's a detailed explanation:

Nectar and Honeydew: Ants have a strong association with plants, especially when it comes to obtaining sugary substances. They often feed on nectar from flowers, acting as pollinators in the process. Additionally, some ant species form mutualistic relationships with honeydew-producing insects like aphids and scale insects. They "milk" these insects for their sugary honeydew excretions.
Seeds: Some ant species are known to consume seeds. They might feed on ripe fruits and play a role in seed dispersal. In some cases, they help to plant seeds in their nests.
Fungus: Certain ants cultivate fungus in their nests. They use plant material, such as leaves or wood, as a substrate for the fungus to grow. These ants feed on the cultivated fungus, effectively making them herbivorous to some extent.
Plant Tissues: While not a common behavior, some ants may chew on plant leaves, stems, or other plant parts. This is not a major component of their diet but may occur in certain situations.

The primary plant-related activities of ants are often associated with their role in ecosystem services, such as pollination and seed dispersal. The consumption of plant material by ants is usually not as significant as their consumption of other food sources, such as insects and other small arthropods.

The specific dietary habits of an ant species can vary based on its ecological niche, and not all ant species consume plants as part of their regular diet. Their diet is often adapted to the resources available in their environment.

Do Ants Eat Grass?

Most ant species do not primarily eat grass or grass-related plant material as a significant part of their diet. Ants are generally omnivorous and have a diverse diet that includes a wide range of food sources. While they may encounter grass as they forage, it's not a primary source of nutrition.

How Do Ants Eat?

Ants have a specialized way of eating that involves several steps. Their eating process is adapted to their social structure and their ability to forage and feed efficiently. Here's an overview of how ants eat:

Foraging: Ants are skilled foragers, and the process of eating begins with the search for food. Ant scouts or foragers leave the nest in search of potential food sources, using their keen sense of smell and the chemical pheromone trails left by other ants to locate food.
Detection and Communication: When a foraging ant locates a food source, it uses its sense of touch and smell to determine the quality and suitability of the food. If the food is suitable, the ant collects it and leaves a chemical trail of pheromones on its way back to the nest. These pheromone trails help other ants find the food source.
Transportation: The collected food is transported back to the nest. Ants can carry food using their mandibles and are capable of carrying loads much heavier than their own body weight. Some ants use specialized workers called "scouts" or "harvesters" to bring food back to the nest.
Regurgitation: In the nest, the forager ants regurgitate, or vomit, the food they've collected. This partially digested food can be passed on to other worker ants. Ants have a social stomach, or crop, that allows them to store and share food with other members of the colony.
Sharing and Distribution: The food is distributed to other ants in the colony. Worker ants with specialized roles, such as nurses, feed the larvae, queen, and other colony members, ensuring that the entire colony benefits from the food source.
Storage: Some ants may store excess food within the nest, particularly in preparation for times of scarcity. They may store food in specialized chambers or cavities.
Feeding the Queen: Worker ants also have the important role of feeding the queen. The queen is the reproductive center of the colony and needs a constant supply of food to lay eggs.
Processing Food for Consumption: Ants may modify the food before consumption. For example, some ant species cultivate fungus using plant material and use the fungus as their primary food source. They chew leaves or other plant parts to create a substrate for the fungus to grow, and they consume the cultivated fungus.
Waste Disposal: Ants also have a process for managing waste. They carry waste materials, such as discarded food scraps and dead ants, out of the nest to maintain cleanliness and hygiene within the colony.

The social structure of ants and their division of labor are crucial in ensuring the efficient collection, processing, and distribution of food within the colony. Each ant has a specific role in the food acquisition and sharing process, which is vital for the survival and success of the ant colony.