Make a solution of 1/2 teaspoon borax, 8 teaspoons sugar, and 1 cup warm water. Stir until the sugar and borax are dissolved. Saturate cotton balls and place them around your home in areas where you commonly see ants. After use, wash containers thoroughly or discard.
Try combining three parts powdered sugar with one part boric acid. The sugar will lure the ants in and the boric acid will kill them, Pereira says. Liquid is better—adult ants prefer to drink their food—so water this stuff down a little. “I recommend this to a lot of people,” Pereira says.
Vinegar—whether white vinegar or apple cider vinegar—is a common ingredient in many kitchens. That's probably why many homeowners hope that vinegar or a mixture of apple cider vinegar and dish soap will kill ants. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
Home Ant Control Tips
Windex, the glass cleaner, is a known insect killer. When you have an ant swarm in your house, spray them all with Windex and they will die nearly instantly. Windex can also eliminate some of the scent trails that ants follow to find food.
Use this white vinegar solution to spray all entry points of your home, try to spry all windows, doors, baseboards and the common paths that ants would travel within your home. Give about an hour for this solution to take effect, then after a few hours the ants should be dead.
Mix a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray it directly on the ants to kill them, then wipe up the ants using a damp paper towel and discard them. You can also use vinegar and water as a deterrent; spray it around your windowsills, doorways and other places where you see ants coming inside.
Baking soda and powdered sugar: Spreading baking soda with powdered sugar mixture with equal parts may disrupt the digestive systems of ants and kill them. Vinegar: Wiping ants with a solution of equal parts of vinegar and water or only vinegar may work the best.
Two of the best ways to eliminate ants are Borax and diatomaceous earth. Essential oils, including peppermint and clove, are a natural way to repel and kill ants. Food and moisture attract ants, so keep your home clean and dry to get rid of ants permanently.
On the other hand, plain table salt does not. It is only effective in intercepting the ants. This should not be applied on heavy ant-infestation.
The sugar attracts the ants, and the baking soda is what kills them: It reacts with the acid in their digestive system, and they explode. Place the mixture in strategic locations and wait for the baking soda to do its thing.
Ants hate Vinegar. The smell of Vinegar will cause them to stay away from it or permanently leave the house. Ants crawl in a straight line, marching towards the food sources. The Vinegar solution will interfere with these pheromones, and the ants will get lost.
Castile soap.
Make a spray of 1/4-cup Castile liquid soap and 1 quart of water. This spray kills ants on contact. It's effective against scout ants but won't kill ants back in the nest.
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is not only inexpensive and effective; it's non-toxic to kids, birds, and pets. And yet it destroys ants, earwigs, slugs, beetles, ticks, fleas, cockroaches, and bed bugs. As these pasts move across the powder, it sticks to their feet and legs only to get into their joints and exoskeleton.
Simply sprinkle baking sofa directly on an ant nest, then spray with white vinegar. This will cause an a foam-like reaction to help kill the nest. The acetic acid in the vinegar will treat a wide range of garden and common houseplant pests but it requires contact.
It kills them DEAD. I also put it in a spray bottle and spray it around the picnic tables and chairs. A: Thanks for the tip. We heard about an even more unorthodox method of killing bugs: “A better way to kill insects is ordinary hair spray.
WD-40. Spray any areas where ants are feeding or accessing your house with WD-40. The spray will kill ants and also serve as a deterrent from further access as long as residue from the spray remains.
All brands of bleach can kill ants. Clorox is the most popular brand of bleach out there but there are other brands that can also get the job done when it comes to killing ants. Although bleach can kill ants, like traps and baits, it will not be able to completely get rid of the ant problem.
Better Than Hopscotch: Ants will not cross a chalk line. Draw a chalk line in front of exterior doors, to prevent ants from coming into the house. You can also draw a chalk line around tables on the porch or patio, to keep pesky ants away while dining outdoors.
Ants hate the smell of strong citrus fruits. Save your orange, lemon and grapefruit peels and scatter them around entry points. It's a natural way to deter ants without harming them.
Aside from garnishing your tea, lemons can also be extremely helpful when it comes to combating ants in your home. The smell of the lemons masks the scent trails that they use to get to and from food, and also generally deters them from taking up residence.
Ants hate cayenne pepper. Sprinkle some cayenne pepper or black pepper around that area to repel ants. Make a concoction by mixing pepper + water and spray the solution at the ants. This solution will deter ants from coming back.