How to Get Rid of an Ant Hill

If you are like most people, you want to get rid of an ant hill as soon as you see one. Here are some ways to get rid of ant hills that will work for nearly all types of outdoor ant populations.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Disturb the ant hill repeatedly. A good way to do this is to spray the ant hill with the garden hose every day until the ants decide to move their home elsewhere. If you're very brave, you may kick the ant hill rather than using water.

2. Dig up the ant hill on a very cold morning. Ants are insensitive to cold. They'll be too sluggish in the cold to mount an effective attack against you and the cold will kill off the colony before they can reconstruct their home.

3. Start a war with another ant hill. This is a fun project for brave children. Using a jar, transplant ants back and forth between ant hills. The ants will fight viciously. Both groups will eventually move their ant hills.

4. Dig up the mound and place it into a bucket of water. Leave the mound there for several days. Ants take this long to drown. Be sure to get the entire colony.

5. Pour a mixture of boric acid and water into the ant hill. This is a very effective way of killing off the ant population and sending the survivors packing.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are trying to rid yourself of fire ants and the hills are far from your home--leave them be! Fire ants will protect your home from termites!
• Avoid methods that involve the direct introduction of poison to the ant hill. The queen ant keeps "taste tester" ants to warn her of poisoned food. Also, in some ant species the larvae digest all foods for the entire colony. If the larvae die, the ants simply will not eat the food.

Resources

• How to Get Rid of Ants Inside the Walls
• Non-Toxic Ways to Get Rid of Ants