Use only table sugar and never honey or artificial sugars. Use only warm or hot water and a soft brush to clean the feeder. An ant trap can be purchased. Ant traps are designed to keep ants that crawl up a pole onto the feeder from actually entering the feeder. The ant traps do not necessarily work if ants are jumping from trees onto the feeder.
Hummingbirds are very small birds and they have a high metabolism.
A great deal of energy is spent flying, so they must feed almost constantly. They usually feed on nectar and insects. Hummingbirds actually lap up the nectar with their tongues. A lot of people think hummingbirds' tongues are hollow, like a straw. Their tongues do have grooves on the sides that collect nectar, and when the bill constricts, the hummingbirds can swallow the nectar from flowers and feeders.