Last reviewed: June 2026. Claims in this guide are drawn from first-hand keeping and the peer-reviewed and university sources linked inline and listed below. No, ants do not truly hibernate. Hibernation is a term for mammals. Instead, temperate ant colonies enter a winter dormancy: the larvae fall into true diapause (a programmed developmental pause) while…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. The queen is the heart of an ant colony, the single mother of every ant in it, and yet she may be the strangest eater of them all. So what do queen ants eat? The honest answer is that it depends entirely…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. You spot a thin line of ants marching across the kitchen counter to a single sticky spot, and the question is immediate: what do house ants eat, and what brought them in? The short version is that house ants are opportunists drawn…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. Acrobat ants are named for their party trick: when alarmed, they flip their heart-shaped abdomen up over their heads like a tiny gymnast. So what do acrobat ants eat? Mostly sugar. These small, arboreal ants are honeydew-loving omnivores, harvesting the sweet liquid…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. Red wood ants are the great mound-builders of European woodlands, and despite their name, the one thing they do not eat is wood. So what do red wood ants eat? Mostly sugar. The bulk of their diet is honeydew, the sweet liquid…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. The yellow crazy ant is one of the most destructive invasive species on Earth, and its diet is the reason why. So what do yellow crazy ants eat? Almost anything. They are extreme generalists that hunt and scavenge a huge range of…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. Trap-jaw ants are living mousetraps. They stalk through the leaf litter with their enormous mandibles cocked wide open, and when prey trips the trigger, those jaws snap shut faster than almost any movement in the animal kingdom. So what do trap-jaw ants…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. Army ants are the great hunters of the ant world, famous for sweeping across the forest floor in living rivers that overwhelm anything in their path. So what do army ants eat? Unlike almost every other ant, they are pure carnivores: they…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. Ghost ants are so tiny and pale that you often notice the sugar before you notice the ant. So what do ghost ants eat? Above all, sweets. These tiny tropical tramp ants are among the most sugar-driven house ants there are, running…
Written from an ant keeper’s perspective, with peer-reviewed sources. Last updated: June 2026. Pharaoh ants are tiny, pale, and almost impossible to get rid of, and a big part of why comes down to their stomachs. So what do pharaoh ants eat? Almost anything. They are extreme omnivores that will take sweets, grease, meat, dead…
