Boric Acid & Ant Control
Rarely does the average homeowner think about ants. It's only when they take up residence in the home that their presence becomes a major concern. Many commercial pesticides are available for the eradication and control of these unwelcome visitors, but they often have only limited effect. They tend to kill only the ants you see, not the entire colony. Boric acid is an effective control of the whole ant colony that has proven itself for more than a hundred years. Does this Spark an idea?
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Toxicity
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Boric acid is highly toxic to ants and cockroaches. It is a stomach poison and also works through abrasion, removing the wax coating from an insect's exoskeleton. Small amounts act as a slow poison, killing insects hours or days after ingestion, while larger amounts kill much more quickly, resulting in the insect's death within hours.
Action
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Boric acid works to control ant infestations through ingestion. To encourage ingestion, baits are formulated using boric acid mixed with sugars or food substances and are strategically placed where ants are found. The baits are found by foraging ants, who eat the boric acid laced bait and carry it back to the colony, feeding it to the colony and the colony's queen, who also ingest it and later die. Boric acid is also used in a powder form where it is applied to infested areas without mixing. In unmixed form, boric acid works by clinging to the legs of ants that walk through it. They clean themselves, ingesting the poison during grooming, and then later die.
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Concentration
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Boric acid does not need to be highly concentrated to be effective against ants. Baits made of formulations containing only 1 percent boric acid are just as effective in killing ants as higher concentrations. Higher concentrations of boric acid in a bait result in refusal of foraging ants to eat the bait, or it results in the foraging ants dying before returning to the colony to spread the poison, thus reducing the bait's effectiveness. Bait formulations should have 1 teaspoon of boric acid to 1 cup of food material to result in a 1 percent boric acid solution.
Placement
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Boric acid is typically placed where foraging ants are seen entering a building or where they congregate. It is also placed inside walls by drilling small holes in the wall and blowing the powdery boric acid inside with an applicator. It is used outdoors, as well, by spreading it over ant colony mounds and entrances to their hiding places.
Ant Species Controlled
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Boric acid is effective against most ant species. Effectiveness with all ant species relies on prolonged and consistent application, usually lasting several weeks. Baits formulated with boric acid are considered to be the most effective type of poisoned bait against a wide range of ant species, and they are tailored to specific ant species through the use of food materials known to be favored by those species.
Bait Formulation
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Ant baits made with boric acid usually contain sugary, fatty or high-protein food materials mixed in a liquid or gel solution. Recommended mixture ratios call for one part boric acid to 100 parts food material, resulting in a 1 percent or 2 percent boric acid bait solution.
Safety
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Boric acid should not be applied where children or pets will come into contact with it. It should not be applied in wet areas or near food. It should be stored in airtight containers away from food and children and labeled as a poison. Boric acid is considered mildly toxic to humans and can cause serious problems if ingested.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit ants image by NataV from Fotolia.com
