How to Kill Carpenter Ants With Instant Grits

Instant grits are used to make a type of hot cereal.

Carpenter ants, like many other insects, are actually very helpful to the environment. They eat rotting produce in the garden, clean up crumbs and food dropped outdoors and consume decaying wood. But when food sources run low, carpenter ants will look elsewhere for something to eat, such as your home or patio. Ant infestations should be eliminated as soon as possible before the colony grows. Many home remedies---including the use of instant grits---may be used to kill carpenter ants.

Things You'll Need

• Instant grits
• Bowl
• 1/3 cup borax powder
• 1/3 cup instant grits
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• Spoon
• Soda bottle caps

Instructions

1. Sprinkle dry instant grits along entryways where you've seen ants coming into your home. Create a line of instant grits along doorways, windowsills and baseboards to attract ants to the grits as they enter your home. Carpenter ants will eat the instant grits, which will expand in their stomachs and absorb body moisture, causing the ants to become dehydrated and die.

2. 

   Instant grits poured into anthills increases the likelihood of eliminating the colony.

   Pour instant grits into carpenter ants' hills and around the base of them to maximize the chances that they will be carried to the queen, which remains in the anthill.

3. Mix an ant bait for carpenter ants hiding in your pantry, cabinets or walls. Combine 1/3 cup of borax powder, 1/3 cup of instant grits and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl. Stir the three dry ingredients together until mixed well.

4. Spoon the bait into clean soda bottle caps. Place the caps under appliances, in cabinets, on countertops and anywhere else that carpenter ants have been spotted. Put the bait stations in places where children or pets cannot reach them.

5. Add fresh bait to the caps every two or three days. Bait stations are effective because the ants bring some of the sweet-tasting bait back to the colony to share, killing the entire colony over time.

Tips & Warnings

• Elimination of the entire colony may require repetition of these steps over a period of four to six weeks.

• Instant grits may be replaced with cornmeal when necessary.

• If ants remain a problem after six weeks the services of a professional exterminator may be required.

References

• Environment, Health and Safety Online: Ants and Pesticides in Your Home: Insecticides
• Anapsid: Natural Pest Control: Ants: The Least Toxic System...