When treating Ants determining what is the best ant bait to use will come down to which ant species you are treating and what their taste preferences are. When it comes to using an Ant Bait, identification can be important as the ants primary food preference will determine what type of bait they will prefer. Generally, ants can be classified into two categories: sugar feeders and protein feeders.
Sugar Feeding Ants Vs Protein/Oil Feeding Ants
Sugar feeding ants have a strong preference for sugar based foods and protein feeders prefer protein based foods, however both these types may not feed exclusively off their preference, meaning that a sugar feeder may still eat protein based foods and vice versa. An example of this is the White Footed House Ant whose food preference is sugar but may at times also eat protein. Additionally, some ants may eat both Sugar and Protein.
So which ant bait should you use if you’re not quite sure what they eat?
We understand that sometimes identification can be difficult. We have a simple test that may be able to help you determine whether you need to treat for a sugar feeder or a protein feeder. Place a small amount of peanut butter in a bottle top and a similar amount of honey in a separate bottle top. Put both bottle tops close to where the nuisance ants are travelling and observe which bottle top they are attracted to and eat from. The ants that prefer the peanut butter are likely to be protein feeders. If they feed from the honey they are sugar feeders. Ants that seem to feed from both they may eat either protein or sugar. Now you can choose your ant bait accordingly!
