do those big'ol ants eat leaves????

i have a baby scarlet maple, it was getting the cutest little leaves, well i noticed an ant hill near the base of the tree with those big honkin' nasty ants all over the place, then i go out there this morning and my little leaves are gone!!!!!!
could it be those ants? nothing else is touched? strange!!!
Thanks
tammy

I don't think ants would do that--my guess would be deer. Although I'm surprised they didn't touch anything else, usually they eat everything in sight. Maybe they weren't that hungry this time

Usually I would say no. Ants can't "eat" leaves, because they can't eat solid food. However, a few kinds of ants use leaves to grow fungus - they are leafcutting ants. These however are usually pretty conspicuous in their activity - they make characteristic cuts in the leaves (not take the entire leaf) and walk around carrying pieces of leaves above their heads.

I don't know if you have any leafcutting ants in your area of the country or what species. However, you could probably take a few ants to your local extension office to find out what they are. If they aren't leafcutting ants, they likely would be good insect predators, so I would want to know first before suggesting their death.

they sound like carpenter ants. they like to nest in rotting stumps, etc. i've never found carpenters to be a detriment to the garden, but maybe someone else can add something to aspect.

tracksinsand - the only time I had "problems" with carpenter ants is when I had a feud with them over them putting aphids on my chinese bean pods (I would've gladly let them stay on the foliage, but not the pods). I'd blast the aphids off with the hose, the carpenter ants would put them back on - heh.

Otherwise they did a good job of preying on bugs in my garden, so I didn't want to kill them - despite their aphid weilding menace - hee.

Carpenter Ants. AAAARGH! The scourge of the Northeast. Yeah they nest in rotting stumps. They also nest in house foundations. And they FLY. Where I live they invade houses (even new build). They don't eat leaves to my knowledge. They eat houses! The only pesticide that kills 'em is Dursban which I think is now banned. Even that didn't keep them out for long. I actually found one on the 3rd. floor in my house. (I have no idea). Some years are worse than others. But when you see them, you know that spring has arrived. Professional exterminators will gaurantee removal.
HA HA HA HA HA

If I found an ant hill at the base of a tree I wanted to survive, I would be getting rid of that hill ASAP!!!! As the hill size increases up around the trunk, it eventually smothers the tree. I have seen it happening here in the woods that border my property. The fir trees were not treasured specimens, but the same thing could just as easily happen to an important tree, as well. It is the same reason why you don't plant a tree deeper than the soil in which it originally grew....no smother!

Thank you all for your suggestions and info, there are no deer around, but i do have rabbits, i just dont know if they would bother with standing on their hind legs to eat leaves off my tree when the rest of my yard is a virtual smorgasbord!! if it was the rabbits, i hope the ants stung the crap out of them!!! i am using sevin dust on the ant hill, trying to get rid of them, but i think they like it, cause they arent leaving, geesh, i hope the tree survives, its just a baby, my baby, hehe.
Tammy

one thing i'd like to add in defense of carpenter ants is that they don't "eat" houses. termites do that. carpenter ants will come into the old termite tunnels and they will also find places where there is rotted, damp wood in a house. they chew the damp wood in order to get it out of the way so they can make new tunnels. if you see them flying, it's just mating time. they won't stay if your house doesn't have a damp wood problem. an infestation of carpenter ants is a sign of a bigger problem (not caused by the ant). in a way, they are doing you a favor by alerting you to the problem.

trackinsand...this is true. Here in the Northeast we have houses 100 yrs. old and lots much older. Mine was built in 1878. Most that old have damp wood problems. Plus, lots of trees have rotting problems. (these are street trees for the most part) One spring I followed a trail of carpenter ants from the tree up my walk to under my front porch. The next year I ripped the whole porch down & there were a million of them. Once you get them in your house you can't get rid of them. They tunnel in the foundations. For 5 straight years I had exterminaters over to no avail. When you mention Carpenter ants to a home owner....they just shrug. A fact of life. Now they are in the burbs.

Maybe that's why so many northeasterners move to FL :) Nah, it really is because of the snow & cold.

it's the cold and snow! we have carpenters here too! LOL