Safe Natural Homemade Ant Killers and Repellants

Rid Homes and Yards of Ants Without Pesticides Using Non-toxic Baits

Sep 3, 2009

Use common household products along with these safe and non-toxic homemade remedies to organically control, repel, bait and poison ants, outside and in the home.

Ants naturally are attracted to kitchens, baths and laundry rooms, because that's where they find the food, moisture and warmth that interest and sustain them. The first line of defense against domestic ant infestations is good housekeeping practices. After that, try these time-tested home remedies:

Borax

Borax is a good slow-acting bait that's effective on most household ants (pharaoh, pavement, and little black ants). Borax (sodium borate decahydrate or sodium tetraborate decahydrate) is a naturally occurring mineral discovered 4000 years ago, and is found in the western U.S, Chile. and Tibet. The household cleaner 20 Mule Team Borax (not Borateem) is pure borax.

Borax is an insect stomach poison that is also abrasive to ants' exoskeletons. At full strength, it has relatively low toxicity, about the same as table salt, although it can cause mild skin and respiratory irritation.

Do not use borax as-is. Dilute it to make an effective but very weak solution or mixture that won't harm curious pets and toddlers if they accidently ingest it. To kill sweet-craving ants, mix it preferably with a white table sugar solution (1/4 C sugar dissolved in 1/2 C water), or with brown or powdered sugar, corn syrup, maple or pancake syrup, honey or molasses at the rate of 5% (e.g., one spoonful of borax to 20 spoonfuls of sweetener powder or liquid). Alternatively, create a 5% paste or gel with jam, jelly or peanut butter using the same 1:20 proportions. Place the borax bait in shallow vessels that ants can access: soda bottle caps are ideal. This remedy takes about 10 days to work.

Borax is the active poison in some commercial products like Terro Ant Killer. Home preparations of boric acid powder (orthoboric acid) used in commercial products like Drax is not recommended, as undiluted boric acid is irritating to the sinus membranes and is more toxic than borax.

Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT) is used in Tim-bor and Uncle Albert’s Super Smart Ant Bait.

Soapy Water

Try a solution of one or two teaspoons of dishwashing liquid in a gallon of water, and pour it around and down ant hills, and on swarms of ants. Alternatively lye soap dissolved in water works as well if not better. Caution: lye soap can be caustic to eyes and skin.

Artificial Sweeteners

Reportedly these are effective poisons. Pour a few packets of saccharin (pink) or aspartame (blue) where ants congregate.

Dry Uncooked Grains

Sprinkle cornmeal, grits, quick oats or farina in areas ants congregate or on ant mounds and hills. Ants eat these grains which then evidently swell in their stomachs when they drink water, popping and killing them.

Household Chemicals

Wipe and/or spray diluted bleach, ammonia and vinegar on counters and floors to repel ants, if not kill them.

Essential Oil

Peppermint and orange (d-limonene) oil sprayed generously around the affected area repels more than it kills. Use oils as firewalls where ants enter the house. Avoid contact with plants.

Herbs and Spices

Cinnamon, cloves, garlic, bay leaves chili pepper, turmeric and black pepper reportedly have all been effective in acting as firewalls to repel invading ants and sometimes killing them. Sprinkle or place these on hills, and use as entry point barriers to prevent infestations.

Boiling Water

Reportedly a very effective strategy, especially on fire ant hills. Pour several quarts to several gallons directly onto the hills, to scald and kill the colony and the queen. Some people report greater success when they add dish soap or borax to the water.

Diatomaceous Earth

Made up of silicate shells of microscopic sea creatures called diatoms. The shell fragments contain millions of razor sharp edges, which lacerate the exoskeleton or disturb the waxy coating that retains moisture. Diatomaceous earth evidently causes dehydration in 12 to 24 hours and may be more successful when it is hot and less humid.

Human Urine

Carpenter ants burrow into wood but don't actually consume it like termites. They are protein-eaters and are averse to many baits. They often must be sprayed or dusted with diatomaceous earth and boric acid.

The copyright of the article Safe Natural Homemade Ant Killers and Repellants in Natural Products is owned by George Daleiden. Permission to republish Safe Natural Homemade Ant Killers and Repellants in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Sep 7, 2009 2:08 PM

Guest :

The soapy water solution worked great! Have been terrorized by massive ant trails surrounding and inside our home. Recently purchased Spectracide- "guaranteed" to kill ants in 24 hours; after 3 weeks, the colony is twice the size; am now writing for my refund. Just now filled a spray bottle with water and a tablespoon or so of liquid dish detergent and had at them. in about 5 seconds, they're all dead.