Even though ants seem to be tiny insects, they can rip through hard things in general. So, can ants actually chew through cardboard? It is a vital question to be answered.
Ants can chew through cardboard using their jaws and mandibles to build their nest inside. Nevertheless, ants do not eat cardboard.
Well, why do ants chew through cardboard? Are they actually eating them? How can you preserve cardboard from ants? Hang on with me. I will cover all of these in this article.
Do ants eat cardboard?
Naturally, the mandible is the strongest body part in an ant’s body, and the jaw is the following. Because their main job of collecting food and attacking prey, and enemies has to be done by the mandible and jaw.
Hence, many ant species can chew through materials like cardboard, cotton, and even concrete.
But can ants actually eat and digest cardboard?
Ants do not eat cardboard at all since it doesn’t contain any nutrients. Instead, they just chew through the cardboard and spit it away to chew continuously.
You can confirm this by clearly observing a cardboard box recently damaged by ants. You may find some tiny particles of cardboard here and there inside the box.
In fact, cardboard contains a chemical substance called cellulose. And cellulose isn’t digestible for ants.
That’s because ants do not consume cardboard.
Note: Cellulose is usually contained in wood. Since termites can digest cellulose, they can eat both wood and cardboard.
Which ants can chew through cardboard?
Except for some tiny ant species that can be seen quite often in the house, many other ant species can chew through cardboard.
According to the data I have gathered from observing and reaching out to pest exterminators, tiny black ants and grease ants can not chew through cardboard.
Here are some commonly seen ants that can chew through cardboard.
- Fire ants
- Sugar ants
- Carpenter ants
- Bullet ants
Are ants attracted to cardboard?
Now you already know that even though ants can chew through cardboard they do not eat them.
But why do ants chew through cardboard? Do ants attract to cardboards?
Ants are not attracted to cardboard unless the cardboard contains some food or food spills. Furthermore, cardboard isn’t made of any substances that attract ants cause they are made of wood fiber and chemicals.
Why do ants chew through cardboard?
Here’s my question for you.
Let’s consider ants found a cardboard box in your house. But why do they chew it? What might be the reason?
That’s what I am going to talk about now.
There are several reasons why ants chew through cardboard or start to live inside the cardboard.
- To hide themselves
If ants find some threatening effects wherever they are living now, the worker ants are always searching for a new place to move their colony.
And also ants prefer the shade and darkness and are less likely to be exposed to the sunlight. Moreover, they need to make sure that they are living somewhere invaders and predators can not reach.
Furthermore, ants chew through cardboard and hide themselves as a colony because it has less interference from humans.
For instance, ants are more likely to make their nests in corners of the garages, in boxes that do not reach any other disruptions or sunlight.
If you look closer at cardboard, it is made by compressing two plates of thick layers together. Ants usually hide between the two layers.
- To find food
This is a very obvious fact.
If ants feel the aroma of food spills that have previously been stored in a cardboard box, they will surely reach there. If they do not have any other way to enter they might try to chew through cardboard.
- To live in the preferred moisture and humidity level
Cardboards can absorb water as much as they turn soggy. Therefore, this ability will help to retain moisture on the cardboard.
On top of that, ants are likely to chew through the cardboard and establish an empire on that.
Here is a thing I have observed.
In summer and spring, ants are more likely to build their empires underneath cardboard in my garage.
Also, I have seen black ants making their nests in humid areas near bathrooms.
So, if you let the cardboard of your house be wet more frequently, you may end up with a risk of an ant invasion.
Can ants live in a cardboard box?
As long as ants get the required humidity, moisture, darkness, and ease of accessing food sources nearby, ants can live in cardboard boxes.
Although ants do not eat cardboard there aren’t any chemical compounds that are toxic for the ants.
Can you keep ants in a cardboard box?
Ants can be kept in cardboard boxes by feeding them and controlling the amount of sunlight, and humidity you provide.
The main trouble here is trapping the ants into a cardboard box. Because some aggressive species like fire ants may try to chew through cardboard.
But the advantage is you can keep a large number of ants comparatively with the other ant-keeping equipment.
How to preserve cardboard boxes from ants?
- Remove unwanted cardboard boxes
As the first thing you can do to prevent ants on cardboard is discarding the old, hard-to-use cardboard boxes.
Please don’t habit of storing all the old grocery stuff in these boxes. It will make all the ants, bugs, and even termites attract to them as you have made a better place to hide, also something to eat for termites.
- Be aware of what you storing
If you are storing any kind of food on cardboard boxes, you are always taking a risk with ants taking over your food.
Especially, if you are storing some sugary liquid, ensure it doesn’t have any leakages. If there is any, ants will surely take over it.
Plus, you have to keep the cardboard dust-free, so it won’t attract any kind of insects.
- Don’t let cardboard to moisture
As I have observed, ants are more attractive to cardboard when they are wet.
So, if you are currently storing cardboard closer to a water pipe in your house, please remove it from there and store it somewhere dry.
Can ants chew through paper?
Ants can chew through paper, and they chew the paper when any foods are wrapped on paper or food spills are found on paper.
Same as cardboard, paper is also made with soft wood such as pine, and it includes cellulose.
Hence, even though ants can chew through paper, they won’t eat paper since it is not digestible.