# Ants - why do they bite me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342 "2003-06-07T21:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/1 "2003-06-07T21:25:58Z")
Ants were infesting my bedroom, through a tiny hole in the window frame. They would carry away any crumb of food they could find. However they also used to crawl on me and bite me, while I was in bed. Why? Did they want to eat me? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/2 "2003-06-07T22:37:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by istara \* > \*\*Why? Did they want to eat me? \*\* That, I’m afraid, is the nature of the ant. After they carried away all the easy-to-tote crumbs, they went for the next best thing…you. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/3 "2003-06-08T00:24:28Z")
Because they can. Most insects stay hidden 'til dark then go looking for snacks and run hide again if you turn a light on. Not ants though. Them little suckers aren’t scared of anything, they just go everywhere looking for food and attacking anything that gets in their way. I know some species of ants are blind, but not all of them are blind, are they? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/4 "2003-06-08T00:59:32Z")
The ants probbaly bite you because you roll on them. they are attacking you becase you attack them. I don’t know of any species of ant that is actually blind. They can all detect light and movment AFAIK. Very few have good eyesight however. ---
**Author:** ![firagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/13edae/32.png) [@firagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firagon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/5 "2003-06-08T10:33:10Z")
Do they detect you as edible or do they just like to nip everything until something edible gets bitten off? And maybe they do it in defense, but I’ve had ants crawling on my leg as I’m sitting here and bite me (so it wasn’t like I was putting pressure on it or anything). I’ve also had ants bite the skin between my thumb and index finger; that was probably in self-defense. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/6 "2003-06-08T19:32:15Z")
I am not sure. However, an atrocity has now been committed: ANTICIDE. By a visiting friend who couldn’t understand why I’d put up with them so long (“it’s _your_\* bedroom, not theirs”) and has scattered some deadly powder all around. I objected at first, until I found out it did cockroaches too. I have NO guilt about those vile things. ---
**Author:** ![CutiePengu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed8c4c/32.png) [@CutiePengu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutiePengu)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/7 "2012-09-12T06:01:46Z")
I too have the problem of ants biting me. I have to have my friend put alcohol on my legs because they bite them so much. I can be sitting in my rollator (a type of walker) and there not be an ant in sight when we stop. But let me get sat down, and it seems like they just know I’m there, and attack. I have this same problem in bed. He don’t get touched, and he is right beside me, yet I get chewed to pieces. It is very frustrating when you need to get some sleep, and the ants keep you awake because they think of you as dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/8 "2012-09-12T06:38:03Z")
I have problems with zombies biting me. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/9 "2012-09-12T06:39:41Z")
Zombies are a pain too. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/10 "2012-09-12T07:00:33Z")
Snap! ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/11 "2012-09-12T08:33:04Z")
Stop formicating, and they’ll stop biting you. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/12 "2012-09-12T13:46:14Z")
This thread talks about ants biting, but the ants that I have experience with sting instead of bite. The ones I know are mostly fire ants and harvester ants. Ants are, after all, closely related to wasps and bees, the workers are all female, and the stinger is a modified egg-laying contraption. Are there ants that inflict painful bites? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/13 "2012-09-12T15:17:58Z")
I’d expect the ants whose bites can be used as sutures have painful bites. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ants-why-do-they-bite-me/180342/14 "2012-09-12T15:28:54Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I’d expect the ants whose bites can be used as sutures have painful bites. Or better yet, [Bullet ants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index): > [@](#): > > Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail grinding into your heel. Although those sting as opposed to biting.