When you open the cupboard and find a group of ants carrying away the candy you spilled, do you want to use strong chemicals to eliminate them as soon as possible? However, pesticides are harmful to humans, pets, and other beneficial organisms. Fortunately, there are many effective ways to get rid of ants, and you don’t need to use pesticides. Learn how to remove ant nests, repel ants, and prevent them from entering your home without using pesticides.
Method 1: Use Natural Pesticides
- Use dishwashing liquid and water. Pour dishwashing liquid and water into the bottle in a ratio of 1:2 and shake them well. As soon as you see ants (either individually or in a group), spray the solution on them. The ants will immediately freeze and suffocate. Wipe away the dead ants with a damp cloth and save the solution in the spray bottle for next time.
- Use white vinegar and water. Ants hate vinegar, so you can make a cheap and easy insecticide using just vinegar and water. Pour equal parts vinegar and water into a spray bottle and shake well. Spray directly on ants to kill them. Then wipe it clean with a wet paper towel and throw it into the trash.
- Homemade Lemon Juice Spray. Can’t stand the smell of vinegar? Then use lemon juice instead. Ants hate the citric acid in lemon juice, so you can also spray it around your house to keep ants away. Mix lemon juice with water (1:3 ratio) and use it as an all-purpose spray.
- Spread diatomaceous earth around the house. Food-grade diatomaceous earth is a very effective pesticide and is completely harmless to humans or pets. Grind petrified diatom into powder to become diatomaceous earth. Once the insects crawl over, the tiny fossil fragments scratch the exoskeleton’s protective waxy layer, dehydrating their bodies. Spread diatomaceous earth along baseboards, window sills, and around the house to eliminate ants.
- Use boric acid. It is an all-natural substance and very effective against ants. After ants eat boric acid, they will suffer from stomach poisoning and die. Boric acid, like diatomaceous earth, also damages ants’ exoskeletons. Boric acid comes in white or blue powder form and is sprinkled in areas where ants often hang out, such as near baseboards or on window sills.
Method 2: Set a Trap
- Make a trap using boric acid and sugar. The ingredients are easy to find, don’t cost a lot, and most importantly are very effective. All you need is a few pieces of cardboard or index cards (1 for each trap), a bottle of corn syrup or other sticky, sugary food, and boric acid powder.
- Place traps in areas frequented by ants. Do they like to congregate on the bathroom floor? Put one there. Also, put one under the sink and one on the front porch. In short, set the trap in a place where ants like to congregate.
- Wait for the ants to fall into the trap. Have an ant infestation in your home? Then the trap will soon be filled with ants. They come to the cardboard in search of sweet treats, feasting on syrup tainted with boric acid. The ants do not die immediately, but the poison quickly takes effect in the stomach. During this period, the ants returned to the nest and brought some food to their companions, causing the latter to also eat the poison.
- Once the syrup has dried out, the trap will have to be replaced. After a few days, you may need to set a new trap. Prepare new ant-killing poison, apply it on cardboard, and place it in areas where ants are infested.
- Continue using the trap until the ants stop coming. After a week or two, you will notice a significant reduction in the number of ants coming to eat the syrup. The trap’s job is complete when dead ants begin to appear around the trap and swarms of ants no longer enter the house.
- Use cornmeal and boric acid to kill young ants. The worker ants only drink sap and do not eat solid food, but they will carry cornmeal back to the nest for the young ants to eat. The latter converts it into liquid, which is eaten by the worker ants. In this way, boric acid is consumed by generations of ants.
Method 3: Eliminate Ant Nests
- Follow the ants to find the nest. No matter what you spray or trap, there’s still a swarm of ants in your house. You need to attack their nests and eliminate the ants from the source. When you see a swarm of ants moving around your house, try to follow them until you find the anthill. Depending on the ant species, the location of the nest may be in an open area, discreetly hidden among rocks or hedges, or inside your house.
- Prepare a pot of boiling water. Pour water into a large pot until half full. Bring to a boil over high heat. After the water boils, you must move from the kitchen to the ant nest you found while it is still piping hot.
- Pour water over the ant nest. Pour as far as you can into the entrance you find. Boiling water can kill hundreds of ants on contact and can collapse an ant nest. If the nest is quite large, you may need to pour more than one pot of hot water.
- Check the ant condition after a few days. If the hot water effectively kills the ants, you won’t have to put up with them anymore. If a swarm of ants slowly crawls back, pour hot water again. Sometimes you have to do this several times to effectively kill all the ants.
- If you don’t have access to the nest, block the entrance. Sometimes, you find the entrance, but it’s difficult to access the entire ant nest. You can pour hot water into the entrance, but simply blocking it will work just as well. Fill the entrance with dirt or rocks, and sprinkle some boric acid around it just to be safe. Ants will actively migrate to other places.
Method 4: Use Natural Methods to Repel Ants
- Set up a line of defense that ants will not cross. There are several natural substances (cinnamon, paprika or lemon peel, coffee grounds) that ants extremely hate and avoid. Simply use one of these substances to create a line of defense along window sills, around the house, and in areas where ants are found to prevent them from entering. Once the defense line is broken, ants can come in, so it needs to be replenished every few days.
- Squirt lemon juice along the exterior edges of the house. Ants will be driven away by the strong citrus smell, and since the house doesn’t need to be sprayed, it won’t become sticky. You can also mix equal parts water with lemon juice and spray it along the outside of your home.
- Use essential oils to keep ants away. Ants hate the smell of many essential oils (lemon, peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender, cedar), but to humans, these smells are very pleasant. Mix 10 drops of essential oil with 250 ml of water and spray it inside and outside the house to prevent ants from approaching.
- Keep it clean so ants have no interest in entering your home. Ants are most likely to enter a house in the spring, so try to keep floors, tabletops, and cabinets spotless. This goes a long way in preventing ant infestations. As long as they can’t smell food, they have no interest in invading your home.
- Block the entrance to your house to prevent ants from entering. As long as the ants are not given a chance to enter, they will have to stay outside. Look for any cracks where ants can get in and out, such as small cracks under doors, around window sills, and in the base of walls. Seal holes with caulk or other sealant to ensure ants can’t find an entry point into your home. Just to be on the safe side, spray these areas with lavender oil or lemon water.
Tips
- Ants don’t like mint toothpaste. Apply toothpaste to areas where ants are infested and the ants will quickly leave!
- Check doorways and window sills frequently, as one ant can attract thousands. Ants leave a subtle odor that can only be smelled by other ants, so it’s best to use cleaning products specifically designed for ants to eliminate their traces.
- Can’t bear to kill ants? At the beginning of summer, try placing a jar of honey on a tree in your garden. With these treats, they’ll happily stay out of the kitchen.
- The best way to get rid of ants is to keep your house clean. Wipe tabletops and sinks frequently to avoid leaving food crumbs behind.
- Prepare tape. When you see ants, put tape on them and squish them with your fingers. The dead ants will stick to the tape and won’t stain the house. Repeat this process until the tape becomes non-stick.
- Remember to wash your hands after squishing ants with your fingers, as many ants are smelly.
- Some say chalk and salt can repel ants, but many people find they are not effective.