Need all natural way to get rid of ants

[fakereadhed]

OK, personally I've tried all those natural things(except the dichotomous earth stuff) and I'd just skip them and go with the anteater like Cheshire suggested.

Or try Terro liquid. That I can recommend.

 

[tink2dw]

For a quick kill of the ants, especial if they swarm, the Best Thing I found was blue Window Cleaner with ammonia. It will stop them cold. But won't keep them away permanently.

Second best is an open bag of powder sugar at least a 1lbs, leave it where they can get into it, once they discover it and swarm it, use your best and hardest throw to throw it far away from your kitchen or bathrooms, the ants will follow the free food and snack on it all year, you will need to give them new bag every spring. They also need an outside water souce far away your house!

However, if they are trying to find water in you house nothing will stop them but Orkin, but you have to hit hard and fast!!!! It only takes one scout ant to give you real headaches!!!

And earth friendly pest companies are worthless, and costly and the ants return.

 

[Kimmumum]

I second the chalk line. Also, we sometimes put down a Bay Leaf. They don't like them either.

 

[bavaria]

The coffee grounds trick doesn't work for me (maybe it's the type of coffee we use? It's not decaf.). I sprinkle the used grounds around the house, and the next day, there's an ant hole right in the middle of the grounds. They don't seem to mind the coffee at all.

I was going to post a similar response! I spent five weeks in India this summer infested with giant ants. They moved into my German coffee and every morning I boiled more than a few carcasses in my french press.

A Perrier bottle rolled along the line of ants works very well to kill a few hundred at a time Of course, it does leave behind interesting patterns on the wall

 

[Tigger girl]

We have had ants this past month too. Putting baby powder around the pet food dishes is the only solution I have found to keep them out of it, but have had a difficult time keeping them completely out of the house. They are everywhere! in the kitchen, bathrooms, on my desk and I even found one on the wall in my closet.

Be careful with the Lysol, my DH will pick up anything close by in a spray bottle to kill the ants. He has successfully left permanent bleach drips on my kitchen cabinets. I was horrified when I saw what he did, the cabinets are brand new!

 

[bumbershoot]

When i was pregnant and we had a house-cat, we used a cinnamon product we got from Home Depot. Worked beautifully.

 

[Donnask8pro]

I am not sure of this but I have heard sticks of gum. Some type of mint. Sorry if thats funny but thats what I heard..

 

[Debbie]

Inside your house, put small containers of sugar (for the sweet) and baking soda equally mixed (lids, saucers etc). The ants eat the baking soda, and it reacts within.

For outside, I always put a stream of cucumber rinds at entrances as they don't seem to like to cross them.

Good luck!

 

[brivers222]

How about checking with a store that sells exotic animals and buy an anteater?

I was just going to post that... nothing more natural than that!!!

 

[sylvenmaid]

I have never had to use them inside but I do walk around every 2 weeks sprinkling instant grits outside on any ant mounds. The next day they are gone. Pretty cheap too esp if you get the store brand.

 

[gottaluvdis]

OK, personally I've tried all those natural things(except the dichotomous earth stuff) and I'd just skip them and go with the anteater like Cheshire suggested.

Or try Terro liquid. That I can recommend.

Even better - the Terro ant traps. It's a gel like consistency, but you don't touch it. You cut off the end, place them on the floor in your problem spots, and let the ants crawl in, eat the gel, and return to the nest to die. Works the best of anything I've ever tried. I use 3-4 around the house - they're tiny and not very noticeable. I have a child and 2 cats and have never had any trouble. I replace them after 3 months during the spring/summer - I don't have ant problems in Fall and Winter. I haven't seen any ants since early spring when I put them down, other than when I needed to replace them.

 

[java]

A little sugar and Borax mixed together in a saucer.
I have tried the chalk- didn't work.

I am going to try the instant grits though- that sounds easy.
We always get them same time every year.*thankfully not now!

 

[donnabc]

Some good old ant bait works great. We buy ours at Home Depo. The chemical doesn't get "in your house." You just take the paper off the the little packages of bait (the bait is like peanut butter and is inside a plastic thing so you never touch it). Put the bait out and let the ants eat the bait. The ants will take the bait back to the nest which will kill off the nest and the queen. The temporary fixes are just that -- the ants find some other place to go near or in your home (maybe where you can't see them) while the nest keeps multiplying. If you use the ant bait, it will kill the nest and all of the ants. It takes a couple of days until you see no more ants, so if you can tolerate the gross buggers for a couple of days so that they can get some of the bait back to the nest, you'll be in good shape. Then you can just throw the little bait containers away.

If you have a dog, be careful. They are drawn to the "bait" as well (yes voice of experience)

 

[momo3hods]

Go for the baby powder. Sprinkle a line where they are coming in, they won't cross it.

 

[sabrinadv1]

Avon's Skin So Soft. Spray it on them it will kill them and not harm you or your pets.

 

[tink2dw]

The strangest place I found ants, was after a WDW trip, we had done everything the Dis'er listed to do before leaving home, tired form the 8hr plane trip, all I want was to go to bed in my waterbed, But it was full of ants!!! Even under the mattress!! What a mess!! After it was cleaned up.

I went out and bought a new bed!!