25 + natural ways to get rid of ants

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1.Barricade your house against ants,seal,seal seal

Ants often enter your house through cracks and holes in the walls. Try to seal off those areas with putty, glue or plaster. Do not use any temporary seal like petroleum jelly. After trying for an hour or so I finally gave up because there were way too many cracks in my own room where the floor meets the sidewall.

2.Trace them and then…

It is natural step after the first one, trace the location of ants by following them. Since they always live in colonies you will find an ant hill. There are two or three things that we can do to an ant hill. As I am writing this there’s an ant exodus going on. Earlier today I had cleaned the garage and up rooted an ant colony, so the inmates are moving out. I am trying many of the methods to see which one works effectively.
  • Ants always have a queen mother. If you spread grits around the ant hill the worker ants will carry it to the queen and once she is done eating and drinking she will bloat to death. The leaderless ant colony will disintegrate themselves.
  • The second thing that you can do is cover the ant hill with baking soda and then pour vinegar or fruit juice on it. These react together and release carbon dioxide which will cut off the oxygen supply,again killing the Queen.
  • Nicotine water or hot boiling water can be directly poured on the ant hill.
  • Spread orange peels, lemon peels or cucumber peels around the hill. These peels are not good for the fungus that these ants grow for food and they will declare peace.
  • If you fill in a spray bottle with one teaspoon of dishwashing soap and water then you get a handy ant killer. I do not know why only soap works and not the detergent. So fill it and spray. To make it more powerful you can use a drop or two of tea tree oil.

3.Drawing barriers

I already mentioned that I am seeing an ant exodus. I tried a few things to see if any worked. For example I put talc on their entry points and their speed of movement was considerably reduced. A few minutes later they were back full on for they had found three new cracks.
Anyway you can put barriers on their entry points into your kitchen. A barrier is un broken line. The ants will not cross it. Here are a few things that you can try.
  • Powdered charcoal
  • Turmeric
  • Citrus oil
  • Black or cayenne pepper, the ants just go round it or above it,so I used powdered pepper and they never even came close
  • Chalk lines,you can use normal chalk
  • Vaseline
  • Talc as mentioned above

4.Use essential oils


Ants,mice,spiders etc hate strong odours which we usually like. Peppermint oil, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil,citrus oils are taboo for them. If you can dilute a few drops of peppermint oil into water and spray them on areas where ants frequently appear then you have got a solution to your ant problem.

About 10 drops of cinnamon essential oil and water into a small squirt bottle will stop them if sprayed at the right places.
Even cinnamon works great, they hate it. Various plants like mint,lemon grass etc. are ant repellents. You can crush mint leaves and leave them on entry points of ants. Bay leaves do the same magic. Lavender oil, a piece of clove or a clove of garlic too helps.Frontier Ground Cinnamon Certified Organic (3% Oil), 16 Ounce Bags (Pack of 2) Heinz Distilled White Vinegar 16 oz

Camphor is another agent with such a strong smell that ants do not come near.
If you frequently find ants in sugar jars then keep a dried bay leaf inside. The strong smell drives them nuts( Bay leaves are great for cooking chicken)

5. Borax ant bait

As a kid I was always fascinated by ants and spent long hours watching Discovery Channel where there would be shows showing the inside structure of ant colonies. They are tremendously hard working creatures who are very clever. They cultivate their own farms of fungi and have an intricate network of worker ants who work day and night.
I always wanted to set up an ant colony in a glass box to see them live but never got close to building one. But I don’t like their excessive curiosity in my kitchen and on every crystal of sugar. The reason I am suggesting ant baits is because all the above methods which involve killing the Queen ant may not work 100% because in some cases these guys have alternative Queens who are not born yet. They keep those royal eggs for emergencies and when the Queen is dead hatch one of them.
Total extermination is the only way. But if you don’t want that then do not try the borax bait.
For people who do not want to use chemical ant baits may be due to the presence of toddlers who find everything interesting or because of pets can try the borax ant bait. Even though Borax sounds chemical it’s 100% natural and derived from boric acid that occurs naturally.
Borax does not harm us. In fact if you have ever played caroms then you might have come across a crystalline powder used for smoothening the board. Borax is as harmful to you as table salt but for ants it sounds a death knell. It destroys their intestines and their skeleton and they die.
There are many ways in which you can use the borax bait.
First off you can create a sugar syrup and and line the edges with borax. Ants who would be attracted to the syrup will cross the borax line and when they feed they will also ingest borax and that will kill them.
You can also
  • Buy boric acid
  • Pour about a tablespoon of real maple syrup on a saucer.
  • Sprinkle the boric acid around the syrup so that the ants must walk through it to get to the syrup
  • Place wherever the ants are frequenting.
  • It may take weeks
You can also mix sugar,borax and water and soak cotton balls with the mixture and place on points where ants frequent.
Jam plus borax is something that ants can never avoid.

6. Use cornmeal against ants

This works because of the way the digestive system of ants work. They are not able to digest corn meal and grits. Wheat flour and dried rice (any kind) also work. If you sprinkle them around the places they frequent then they will eat it and once it reaches their stomach it will expand breaking their intestine and they will die.

7. Use Farina

Put out cream of wheat (farina). Even this works in much a similar way. When they eat it they die.

8. Use coffee grounds

Ants are susceptible to the coffee grounds- the strain remaining at the end once we drink our coffee. Almost anything that smells strongly irritates their stomach. Leave it in you garden or kitchen and the ants will eat it and die. You have to never give up with this method as it may take weeks to show the results
9.Sprinkle Splenda where you see ants. and they are done
10.Spray ants with vinegar water. If you have a flooring of marble like mine then you should not probably try this because a stain is left.You can mix water and white vinegar in a 50:50 ratio and spray on ants. Ants release some pheromones and an acid on their trail and that is why they are able to follow one another. Vinegar destroys that connection, the low Ph also kills many

11. Use Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Ants won’t enter an area with Diatomaceous earth because it has microscopic edges that harm them.
12.Use a sticky tape to capture ants
13. Now that you are tired with sticky tape squash them with hands and then wash them off.

14.Sprinkle salt on flat surfaces
15.Squirt lemon juice, any citrus juice along sides
16.Spread pureed orange peels around the foundation of your home. Again, ants aren’t fond of the smell of citrus. You can also use cucumber skin.
17.Alcohol
In a spray bottle, add 1 part rubbing alcohol or tequila to 1 part water. Spray at entrance points or trails. Reapply for a few days.
18.Smear petroleum jelly along edges. You must agree with me that you hate the sight of ants on pet bowls. Now you won’t complain.

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