Short answer: pet ants need two things: sugar for energy (sugar water, ant nectar or maple syrup) and protein for the queen and larvae (small pre-killed insects such as fruit flies, crickets or mealworms). Harvester ants also eat seeds. Feed little and often, and remove leftovers before they mould.
Sugar
- Best: byFormica Sunburst Ant Nectar, made for long-term colony growth.
- Homemade: sugar water at 1 part sugar to 4 parts water.
- Also fine: maple syrup, diluted or pure.
- Honey: sugar water is better, since ants get trapped in honey more easily. If you do use honey, never dilute it, because diluted honey grows bacteria.
A liquid feeder keeps sugar available at all times, so it only needs topping up every few weeks. We like byFormica feeders, because they're gravity-fed and ants can't clog them with sand.
Protein
- Fruit flies are the best protein for small colonies. We sell flightless fruit fly cultures and culture kits.
- Crickets and mealworms: cut into small pieces, such as a cricket leg or a slice of mealworm.
- Roaches and flour beetles: Surinam roaches and confused flour beetles are easy feeders to keep going yourself.
- Preserved insects (fresh, not dried) work if you'd rather not kill feeders, though ants take them less eagerly.
- Human food: small bits of unseasoned, lightly processed meat or fish.
Pre-kill feeders by freezing or boiling, which also kills pathogens. Small colonies can't take down live insects. Avoid wild-caught insects unless they're from a pesticide-free area: pesticides will kill your ants.
Carpenter ants need urea in their diet for their gut bacteria. Without it, colonies can collapse after a few years. Feeding termites, roaches and possibly fruit flies helps.
Seeds (for seed-eating ants)
Harvester ants (Messor, Pogonomyrmex) eat seeds as their main food, and some other ants, such as pavement ants, eat them as a supplement. Good options include dandelion, poppy, nyjer, amaranth, millet, Kentucky bluegrass, birdseed and hulled hemp hearts, sized to your ants.
How much and how often?
- Little and often: ants do best fed about daily, though this matters less as colonies grow.
- Small colonies: a drop of sugar and one fruit fly every 3 days is enough.
- Protein: about twice a week. More protein means faster growth.
- Sugar: at least twice a week, though ants can go longer if needed.
- In a test tube: give no more sugar than about half the volume of the ants' abdomens at a time. Underfeeding is safer, because ants can get stuck or drown in sugar residue.
- Clean up: remove uneaten protein after 24–48 hours.
What not to feed
- All-in-one jellies and gel diets. Ants eat them readily, but no artificial diet supports long-term growth.
- Insects from sprayed lawns or gardens.
What about founding queens?
Most founding queens don't need to be fed at all. See How to care for a founding queen ant.
More detail: Guide to Feeding Ants.