Ants - solution?!

[Duckiedee]

Hi there, I just wanted to share - because at this moment I am so excited!

It has been a bumper crop year for ants here where I live. They have been really hard to manage. All our friends and neighbours in our area are having a hard time with the suckers.

Anyhow - the discussion came up the other night around a campfire and this solution was shared with me. Yesterday was the WORST day all summer with ants - they seemed to be in nearly every room of the house.

So we did what was suggested.... One box of Borax (laundry section of the store) and mixed it with sugar (half of the empty box of Borax as a measurement). Poured the entire contents the perimeter of the house.

Woke up this morning and there is NOT ONE ANT in my house.

I'm not 100% sure we are in the clear but I am shocked at the swiftness and totality of the results.

Apparently the sugar attracts the ants so they don't even consider raiding your house and they take it, mixed with the Borax, back to their nest where they eat the Borax and it doesn't allow them to reproduce.

You might have to do it once or twice over a summer... but hey it's a whole lot more cost effective then the $300+ the exterminator was quoting me.

And I believe Borax is pretty enviromentally-friendly. (Except to ants of course!)

Hope that helps someone. I know I sure appreciated the info.

 

[thebeesknees]

Can you keep us updated over the course of a couple of weeks or so and let us know if you see a recurrence of the ants? We are having ant problems here, as well. I've been spraying every day, and I know it is killing some - they all seem to swarm out of the nest and decide to die all over my driveway, so we have piles of dead ants every morning! But if they could do their dying/failure to reproduce somewhere that I can't see them, that would be even better.

 

[Duckiedee]

We found spraying, traps etc were NOT working at all.

In the past if we just sprayed Raid around our doors, and my husband sprayed the nests in a day or two they would be completely gone.

I have never seen such an improvement in one day. Usually we have a week or so they might be bad one year - but apparently the weather our past winter did not have enough percipitation to kill last year's colonies - hence why they are driving everyone CRAZY this year.

I will update. So far so good. Although if I had to, I would be totally willing to treat weekly if needed.

It's so budget-friendly.

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

We are having the same problem this year. It seems like it started after a neighbor cut down a few trees and is worse after it rains. I'm going to try this tonight and see how it goes...just got to keep the dog away from it. Can I ask what part of the country you live in?

 

[Duckiedee]

We're in Nova Scotia.

 

[Disneefun]

You can also try using powdered, uncooked grits. Sprinkle it around the nest, or where they are coming in your house. Ants eat it and it expands in their digestive tract, killing them. I thought it was nuts until we tried it a couple of years ago. We had awful ants, including fire ants. We'd sprinkle grits on the mound and by the next morning, not a live ant to be seen.

 

[Twins]

We have the same problem with ants. We've always has problems with them, but this year is the worst. My son even found ants in our basment! My husband just sprayed around the perimeter of the house yesterday and we have ant bait all over the house, but if these things don't work I'm going to pick up a box of Borax. Thank you so much for sharing your tip.

 

[Nik's Mom]

We sprinkle corn meal onto a napkin and place it near the ants. It seems to work. The ants are gone in a day. We also put some Tero pellets around the perimeter of the house.

 

[robinb]

I had ants last year. I found where they were coming into the house (my leaky kitchen windows ... my house was built in 1917) and I spread a line of cinnamon along the sill. Ants HATE cinnamon.

 

[Kitzka]

We don't have ants this year but i am loving these tips!

lara

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Keep us updated!

My house is 6 years old and never an ant until we came back from vacation a week ago. They discovered 2 pieces of kettle corn popcorn under the basement sectional sofa. Next they were appearing on my kitchen floor, but we did find where they were coming in to the kitchen from the garage and hopefully DH has eliminated them for good!

 

[budbeerlady]

We sprinkle corn meal onto a napkin and place it near the ants. It seems to work. The ants are gone in a day.

I am going to try this as I have some at home. With the dog I hesitate to use borax.

 

[dznyacct]

Thanks for this tip . I am picking up some Borax on the way home tonight. We usually have a week or so of ant issues in the early Spring, but this year has been AWFUL . Terro worked great for me in the past, but seems to hardly be making a dent this year. Crossing my fingers for good results .

 

[disneydreamersx4]

Glad all these tricks are working! What I have used is baby powder, sprinkle it where you see the trail and then I had to squeeze the powder at the wall where I also saw them. All the while, DH is going crazy because there's baby powder all over This year, I'm crossing my fingers, haven't seen them yet!

 

[Shmily1]

I didn't have time to go to the store yesterday for Borax and have a question about it anyway so I tried the cinnamon thing... they were quite irritated but it didn't stop the little aggravating critters.

On the Borax, is it safe for small children and animals? I wouldn't want them to have any effects from being around it.

 

[pattibehan]

We used Borax and sugar mixed with water. Soak cotton balls in it, set on wax paper at ant entry points..works like a charm!!

 

[sau418]

Borax is NOT safe for children and pets it is toxic for them to ingest.

At our old house I did use Borax under our sink which was child locked and it worked like a charm. I also hid it in a few corners that the kids could not get to.

This year we had a few and not wanting to run to the store with two kids in tow, I tried the cinnamon and it worked within minutes as I could see exactly where they were coming in.

We had used many different sprays and traps to no avail at our old house, but the Borax and sugar worked so well I will use that as my go to in the future.

 

[r&kmommy]

Yet another use for vinegar... pour it along the permieter of the house and along windowsills and doors and anywhere you see them. they will NOT walk through vinegar. Don't know why, but they don't!

 

[maslex]

Glad to see all these tips about the Borax/sugar. I actually posted this same questiont this morning. Not sure what type of ants you're dealing with, but I have those itty bitty ones. I did put out ant traps a couple days ago but nothing.....it actually seems to have doubled the amount of ants that we had in the beginning. AARRGGHHHH!!!!


I'll have to stop at the store tonight and try that. I just don't see where they're coming in from. Can I just leave a litte bit of the mix on a paper plate or something on the kitchen counter where I do see them? My kids are teenagers and won't touch it.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Borax is toxic to pets I think. It won't make the kids very sick to be around it but if you have a crawling baby, don't put it out because it's obviously not a good idea to ingest.

It works very well, boric acid is good for all kinds of bugs not just ants.

Chili powder will make the ants go elsewhere without killing them but it stains whatever you put it on.