What Types of Food Are Bugs Attracted To?

Bugs come in droves into homes, sometimes without anyone noticing. They are searching for things like food and shelter. The reason they enter your home is because they detect food somewhere in the house either from cooking or from the trash. It;s wise to keep food in containers and it's important to know which types of foods attract specific bugs.

  1. Fruits and Vegetables

    • Fruit is a nesting place for fruit flies and even spiders because it provides natural sugars bugs feed on. Fruits attract bugs when they're overripe or starting to go bad. Fermenting fruit releases gases and smells that bugs can sense and they will go in search for these foods. Ants, flies, spiders, bees and hornets are just a few of the bugs attracted to rotting fruits. Bugs even occupy beans and rice. The bean weevil and rice weevil nest inside beans and rice, respectively. The bugs lay eggs and infest the home if these products are stored inside.

    Sugar

    • Bugs like sugar and sugary foods. Most foods have sugar in them so nearly any type of food will attract some insects. However, there is more sugar in certain foods like doughnuts, candy and gum. Ants, bees and flying insects particularly enjoy sugary foods. Placing a piece of candy on the ground in summer will likely attract a storming army of ants in just a few minutes. This is also true of storing candy or sugary foods on the counter in your home.

    Alcohol

    • Alcohol contains sugar and therefore is another attractant for bugs. One method of attracting bugs for capture or study is to spread a mix of sugar and alcohol like rum onto the base of a tree or another object. This method is called sugaring and it attracts nocturnal insects and bugs like fireflies and moths.

    Meat

    • Meat is another attractant used to collect bugs. Rotting meat is especially attractive to many different types of bugs including the common house fly, and other meat-eating or carrion bugs. Beef, chicken, fish or pork is attractive to houseflies because they lay their eggs inside the meat. The larvae eat the meat after hatching as a means of feeding themselves.