Beginner's Guide: What Do Ants Eat?

You just got your first ant colony or maybe you are thinking about it?

One big question is: “What do ants eat?”. Getting their food right is key for a healthy growing colony, especially for a beginner.

Feeding pet ants doesn’t have to be hard, you just need to know the basics. Here is an easy guide on feeding ants for beginners. It covers the beginner ant diet, what beginner ants eat, and common ant food types beginners should know.

Essential Nutrients for Ants

Like most animals, ants need different kinds of food for energy and growth. For a beginner ant diet, we break it down into two main types:

1. Carbohydrates: Provide energy for the adult worker ants. This is like their fuel to forage, move, and do colony tasks.
2. Protein: Is for the queen and the larvae. This is crucial for the queen to lay eggs and for the larvae to grow into new worker ants. Without protein, the colony can’t get bigger.

Caring for ants means making sure they get both.

Carbohydrate Food for Ants

This is usually sweet liquid food for pet ants.

The most common and easy ant food for beginners is sugar water. It’s a simple ant food recipe: dissolve sugar in water. Keep it simple, don’t make it too sticky, too concentrated, or dilute. Use about a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of sugar to water. For example, one part sugar, three or four parts water.

Some keepers also use diluted honey. But make sure the honey isn’t raw, as it can have spores harmful to ants. A simple sugar water recipe for ants is best to start.

Other carbohydrate foods can be offered, but start with sugar water first; it works for most species.

Protein Food for Ants

This is usually some type of insect.

Feeding insects to ants provides that needed protein. What can I feed my pet ants for protein? Think small, safe bugs. Dead insects are easiest. Never feed wild-caught bugs, they can have pesticides or parasites.

Good sources include:

• Small pre-killed mealworms
• Pieces of crickets
• Fruit flies

Many pet stores sell feeder insects, just make sure they are dead before you offer them to the ants.

These are solid food for pet ants. Protein is essential, especially for feeding ant colony beginners when they’re trying to grow quickly. Natural ant food for beginners in the wild is mostly other insects, so you are mimicking that.

How to Feed Your Ants

Feeding small ant colonies is usually pretty simple. They don’t need a lot of food when they are small. Overfeeding is a common mistake when feeding ants.

1. Sugar Water: Place a small drop of liquid sugar water in their outworld or foraging area, away from the nest entrance. Don’t put too much out. If it dries, it gets sticky and ants can get stuck.
2. Protein: Offer a small piece of insect. Remove any uneaten protein within 24-48 hours. It will mold and attract mites quickly—this is another big mistake beginners make regarding ant food.

How often should I feed my ants? Generally, offer sugar water a couple of times a week or keep it always available depending on the colony size. Offer protein about once or twice a week. Watch your colony: if they eat everything fast, offer a bit more; if food sits for days, offer less. It’s about watching their activity and needs.

For feeding ants in an ant farm, make sure you are placing food in the designated foraging area. The ant farm food guide usually explains where to place food correctly.

Common Feeding Mistakes

• Using wild-caught bugs: Never do this.
• Feeding too much food: Leftovers mold fast.
• Putting food too close to the nest entrance: Can attract pests right into the nest.
• Not removing old food: This leads to bad things like mold and mites.
• Using food with preservatives or pesticides: Only feed safe food for pet ants.

Conclusion

So, what do ants eat? It boils down to simple sugar for energy and protein for growth.

This beginner ant feeding guide shows it’s pretty straightforward: Give them sugar water and safe insect protein. Don’t overfeed, and keep things clean. This beginner ant diet will help your ant colony grow.

Getting the best food for pet ants just takes a little practice. You got this!