On Aug 21, 12:01*pm, Donita Luddington wrote:
Are ants cannibals?

A huge trail of ants (many hundreds) was on my kitchen counter last night
so I sprayed them with vinnegar (I was out of windex so I used vinnegar
instead). Being late, and wishing the vinnegar to discourage new foragers,
I retired for the evening.

Much to my chagrin, another, even larger swarm of Argentine ants had taken
over my counter top, this morning - and the dead ants seem to have
disappeared. I was surprised.

So, I sprayed 'em again and left the area for a while. Sure enough, yet
another swarm replaced the second, and I noticed some carrying away the
dead bodies of their camerades.

My question..... Are ants cannibals or did the inadvertant pickling entice
them to cannibalism?

Sure, they'll eat any old dead bug.

Stop spraying and get some ant traps with the poison they take back to
their nests, and put down some boric acid powder such as Terro
http://www.terro.com/antdust.php . It's the best way to control them.

R