How to Get Rid of Ants the Safe (and Cheap) Way

Remove ants from your home safely and naturally.

If you see one ant in your home, it will not be long before you see a dozen more. Protect your home from ant infestations and take care of any ant problems that already exist by utilizing natural and cost-effective ant control methods. These methods are safe for homes with children and pets, and they are typically much less expensive than commercial pest killers. If you would like to get rid of ants for good and keep your family safe while doing so, try out a few natural ant control methods.

Things You'll Need

• Air-tight food storage containers
• Lemon juice or cucumber peels
• Water
• Sugar
• Borax
• Cotton balls
• Plastic container
• Mint jelly
• Masking tape
• Boiling water or apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Clean up your kitchen. If you hope to keep ants out once you've gotten rid of them, keep your counters crumb-free and store all of your food in air-tight storage containers. Clean up spills as soon as they happen, and frequently sweep and mop your floors -- including the space under cabinets and appliances.

2. Locate the cracks and crevices ants are using to enter your home. If you have a serious ant infestation, this could be as simple as following the ants back to the entrance. Check floorboards, windows, door frames and corners for cracks where ants can gain entry into your home. Seal up cracks where possible.

3. Squeeze lemon juice or sprinkle cucumber peels along any points of entry the ants are using. These natural materials are safe and non-toxic. Their odors are effective in repelling ants. Continue to apply fresh lemon juice or sprinkle fresh cucumber peels in these areas throughout the course of your ant-control efforts.

4. Mix 1 litre of water with 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. of borax to make your own ant bait. Soak a few cotton balls in the liquid bait and place them inside a plastic container, such as a yogurt cup, and punch holes in the sides for ants to crawl through. The ants will crawl into the container, take the bait, and bring it back to the colony where the poison can do the most damage.

5. Trap sugar ants by mixing 2 tablespoons of borax with an 8-ounce jar of mint jelly and line the sticky side of a few strips of masking tape with the jelly mixture. Place the strips of tape sticky-side-up in areas where you have seen ants congregating. Some ants will get stuck on the tape and others will simply take the bait and bring it back to the colony where they, and other ants, will eventually die from it.

6. Locate any ant nests outside your home and destroy them to reduce the population of ants entering your home. Pour boiling water or apple cider vinegar into the nest several days in a row until the ants are dead.

Tips & Warnings

• The key to ridding your house of ants for good is to keep your kitchen clean to avoid attracting ants and to be persistent in your control methods. Destroy ant nests whenever you find them near your house and continue to sprinkle or spray natural repellents like lemon juice and cucumber peels around possible entrances.

References

• Texas A&M University; Controlling Indoor Pest Ants with Homemade Baits; October 2009
• Earth Easy: Natural Insect Pest Control