Get Rid of Ants

Edited by Charmed, Nate Pepperell, Eng, Ephraim and 8 others

8 Parts: Helpful Instructions Household Items You Can Use to Solve Your Ant Problems Methods to Control Ants To Kill Ants Directly Prevention of Ants Tips Questions and Answers Comments
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Ants may be beneficial as they usually help in the killing of pests such as bedbugs and fleas. However, they can be a nuisance if they invade your home in their large numbers. Understanding where the ants come from holds the key in eradicating them. Whenever ants invade our homes, they are usually driven by the desire to find food. We therefore need to store our food properly if we want to get rid of the ants. By creating barriers and storing our food properly, we will be able to get rid of these ants. The following are some of the tips that will help you get rid of the ants.There are many kinds of ants out there. They have the queen, scout ants, etc. They get near foods. So make sure your foods are kept in the right place. And prevent your food from getting pathogenic microorganism inducing sicknesses. A food placed at the table without cover will attract ants. That's how strong the sense of smell the ants have. From their hiding place to the food at the table. Even foods at the cabinet will also attract ants. So do not store foods which are not totally sealed in the cabinet. Or else it would be the food source of ants. In the cabinet you may store unopened packages, can goods, noodles, etc. Sugars in a container placed in the cabinet is sometimes attacked by ants. However, ants are good when they remove pests.

Helpful Instructions

  1. 1
    Barricading Your Home
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    Antsblocked.jpg
    Since ants are small creatures, they will always find a way to our homes through the tiny holes in our homes. Some of these holes are easy to identify, while others are not. We can however identify such holes by carefully following the marching ants. Whenever we identify such holes, we should always cover them.
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  2. 2
    Use Caulk
    .
    Use caulk to seal doors, windows and other cracks that ants use to gain access to your house. By using caulk you will be able to control the temperature in your home. Moreover, the use of caulk does not pose a health threat to your pets or kids.
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  3. 3
    Apply the Ant-Repellents
    .
    You can also get rid of ants by applying ant repellents. Ant repellents refer to the substances that the ants do not like. They include whole cloves, bay leaves, black pepper, cinnamon, vinegar, cayenne pepper and peppermint oil. Ants hate the smell of these repellents and will therefore keep away. One of the disadvantages of the ant-repellents is that may irritate our curious children and may harm our pets.
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  4. 4
    Use Baby Powder or Chalk
    .
    Once you identify the spot at which the ants are entering your home, use chalk or baby powder to throw a line. This will repel the ants because of the presence of talcum powder in both baby powder or chalk.
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  5. 5
    Last but not least, store your food properly especially those that are sugary
    .
    Do not leave food crumbs on the floor as these are what will drive the ants in your home.
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Household Items You Can Use to Solve Your Ant Problems

One might be amazed to see ants lining up while getting their food. These tiny insects may represent the epitome of being industrious and cooperative, but they can still be a sore sight to see. Fortunately, there is no need to hire or contract the services of an exterminator to put an end to your ant problems. Most of the items you will need are actually just in your own house. These common household items are not only very cheap, but they are also very effective as anti-ant solutions.

  1. 1
    Vinegar
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    Mix one part of vinegar with one part of water. Use this mixture to wipe your counter tops, tables and other surfaces that ants are frequently spotted in. The smell of the vinegar is enough to drive these insects away. In addition, by wiping the surface with vinegar and water, you are also removing the scent trail that serves as their guide on where to go..
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  2. 2
    Boiling water
    .
    Boiling water is definitely the sure-fire secret to killing the ant colony. Weeds popping between cracks may also be conducive as a breeding ground of these tiny yet pestering insects. Spraying or pouring boiling water on these cracks regularly may do the trick.
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  3. 3
    Baby powder
    .
    Yes, baby powder is not only for the comfort of your little ones. It can also be an answer to your ant problems. Baby powder contains talcum, a strong and natural ant repellent. Sprinkling baby powder on ants' entry points or in their usual trails will scare them away from foraging your house.
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  4. 4
    Borax
    .
    Mix equal parts of Borax with syrup or jelly to make a deadly bait for these pestering ants. Store the Borax bait in areas that are very visible and accessible to these ants. The sweetness of the syrup or jelly will lure them in and the harmful chemicals in Borax will spell a death sentence for these insects. The chemicals in Borax are known to be dangerous and damaging to the digestive systems of ants.
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  5. 5
    Herbs and spices
    .
    All those extra herbs and spices you have not consumed in your cooking will come in handy as you try to find a remedy to your ant problems. Cinnamon, mint, chili pepper, garlic and other strong-smelling herbs can be effective ant repellents. Their strong scent will make those insects turn their backs and leave your house. You can also leave some of these herbs in your cabinets to ensure that they will no longer be appealing to these ants.
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  6. 6
    Chalk
    .
    If your kids like to use chalk and draw lines everywhere in your house, you can put their playfulness to good use. Drawing lines using chalk in ants' usual hiding areas and trails could be an effective remedy. Calcium carbonate, an ingredient in the chalk powder, is another ant repellent. Literally, this will help draw the line. If ants also frequent your garden plants, you can try scattering or sprinkling chalk powder.
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  7. 7
    Lemon juice
    .
    Though it is a healthy drink loved by humans, it is also a smell detested by ants. The lemon treatment could be your insecticide to fight off these insects. It is as simple as squirting lemon juice into cracks, holes and surfaces where you usually see these ants.
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Methods to Control Ants

  1. 1
    Sweet foods are what ants usually like
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    Clean messy tables of foods, and clean up leftovers. The kind of ants that search for their foods are the scout ants. Even if their camp is far from the dining table, they can sense the food sources because of the scout ants looking for foods and returning back to their home to inform the other ants about the found foods.
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  • 2
    Inspect where the ants enter and pass
    .
    Then seal these holes with putty, plaster, or caulk. You should make use of permanent solution products because temporary sealants crack after a while. If you have no other options besides the temporary, you may use it, but change with a permanent sealant when you can. One temporary solution may be petroleum jelly.
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  • 3
    If you have items which you intend to recycle, rinse and then store them
    .
    Make sure your garbage bin is close, so ants cannot enter. Clean the kitchen. You may use vinegar to clean. Daily, you should sweep, vacuum and mop the kitchen area to make sure that it is clean and there are not foods left sticking to the floor. This routine will become a comfortable habit and by practicing good sanitation in the kitchen, you can feel better. Food containers should be properly positioned and placed according to their shelf life and according to how ants can access the foods. If the ants can no longer find a food in a place, they leave. Aside from their using their senses to detect food location the ants can trace the food location with the left chemical path on where they pass. Then the next ants will follow this trail. You can disturb the chemical scent trail of the ants by spraying bleach solution, then wiping with a wet towel.
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  • 4
    You can use herbs to drive away the ants
    .
    Examples are camphor, mint, and peppermint. You place these herbs near your doorway and even on food containers that contain something like sugar. Put the herbs on the sugar canister and other food jars. You can also use bay leaves, and on the doorway you may put lavender oil and mint leaves, or apply peppermint toothpaste. The herbs will disturb the chemical trail scent.
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  • 5
    If you want to spray the ants to kill them, it is as simple as mixing dish soap with water, and that solution should be enough to kill the ants, and then you can wipe the chemical paths they made
    .
    For a more effective solution, add citrus rind oil, citrus peel, or mint oil to the water.
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  • 6
    Make a barrier against the ants
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    The line of barrier must not be broken. This is not effective for the ants already located inside the kitchen, but will prevent the entrance of more ants to come inside. The line of barrier may be made out of baby powder, pulverized charcoal, Vaseline, chalk lines, water with white vinegar, etc.
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  • 7
    If the place is clean, the ants will find other location where they can find food
    .
    You should vacuum and wipe the tables daily.
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  • 8
    The sink must be clean
    .
    There must be no water or food in the drain, and this includes dirty dishes.
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  • 9
    Make an ant bait
    .
    You put boric acid around a maple syrup in a plate. Boric acid is a poison to the stomach. So the ants aiming to get to the maple syrup will pass through the boric acid. As the ants scrub their feet, the boric acid is sipped into their body. But this method of bait will take effect on a week. Keep the bait out of reach of children.
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  • 10
    To handle carpenter ants, you use boric acid method to bait these ants
    .
    These ants are longer than the usual size of ants. They have broken wings and their feces is sawdust like. Drill the holes for ant exterminator purpose. Blow in these holes the silica aerogel or diatomaceous earth. You may seek a professional having expertise in this case.
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  • 11
    Another effective method is to use corn meal as bait
    .
    This is safe even exposed to children. The ants will love to eat the corn meal and take it home, but they will get troubles in digesting it. Another food is the coffee grounds. When ants eat this they get poisoned but this will take weeks for it to effect. And cream of wheat is also effective. Use it raw. When the ants eat this, the ant's stomach will bloat and kill them.
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  • 12
    Sprinkle splenda on the bunch of ants.
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  • 13
    If food is what ants love you also use food to get rid of them
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    You put empty coffee grounds on the ant hills. This may consume all the summer time to take effect. This routine is done yearly. The work of coffee grounds is to confuse the ants on their chemical trail by disguising the scents.
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  • 14
    To kill the fire ants, you use abamectin, this will destroy them
    .
    Use this during cold weather because this is the time when the queen is above to get warmth. Prepare several liters of boiling water and pour it to the nest. You may add vinegar, ammonia, insecticidal soaps to the water solution. When you spray abamectin, you wear a clothing covering your toe up to your top. And make your boots sticky to prevent the ants from entering your boots. Fire ants have stings that can be allergic and it is painful. When you pour boiling water, you may add lemon juice to it.
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    • To Kill Ants Directly

    1. 1
      Tap the sticky tape to them then squeeze and that will kill them
      .
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    2. 2
      Track the path of their chemical trail
      .
      Once you identified the primary source, pour water to the nest. A boiling water will work. If you use liquid solution you try to use nicotine water. Other method is to make a crater in the anthill and fill this crater with baking soda halfway. Then put vinegar. If it creates a hole what you can remedy to it is to plant grass to cover the dug ground.
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    3. 3
      Spray a mixture of vinegar and water
      .
      This will expose the ants with low pH and kills them.
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    4. 4
      Give them wheat flour to kill ants
      .
      The procedure is same with corn meal. When ants eat this their stomach becomes bloated and they eventually die.
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    5. 5
      Squash the ants using your fingers, then wash afterwards since ants are stinky.
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    6. 6
      So having a citrus fruit in our table would make the ants refrain from going to our table
      .
      Ants dislike Distribute orange peel around the ant's anthill. As I observed even there are citrus fruits in the table, there is still ants that roam around the table if there is leftovers of food. However, it is supposed that they refrain from getting to the table.
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    Prevention of Ants

    1. 1
      Draw barrier using a chalk
      .
      The calcium carbonate that the chalk have will let the ants go away.
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    2. 2
      Sprinkle salt around such as in the windows.
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    3. 3
      Sprinkle cayenne pepper around cracks but make sure it is away from animals so it won't be licked.
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    4. 4
      Killing the queen will be the best way to kill a group of ants
      .
      You kill their source. The queen is located at the inner part of the nest because it is shy.
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    5. 5
      Squish lemon juice around the outdoor surfaces to get rid of ants
      .
      This is a kind of citrus that ants dislike. The lemon juice's citrus smell prevent ants from appearing.
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    6. 6
      To protect the pet's bowl from ants apply petroleum jelly around the edges.
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    7. 7
      Put a jar of honey in a tree on summer so the ants will focus on that honey and not go to your kitchen.
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    8. 8
      Spray vinegar
      .
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    Tips

    • Observe the ants. One ant can gather into many. So do the prevention to not make them gather in the food.
    • Despite the bad effects of ants in the kitchen kill them only when at the kitchen or house but not outside because they are beneficial for the environmental food chain.
    • When you handle nicotine make sure you are wearing a rubber gloves.
    • The ants may return to thrive so observe and apply the methods to destroy ants again.

    Questions and Answers

    How to stop ants from roaming around the table?

    You can do this to stop ants from climbing up the table:

    1. 1
      get a double sided tape and put it on each leg of table
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    2. 2
      sprinkle cinnamon on tape
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    3. 3
      ants do not like cinnamon
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    4. 4
      enjoy an ant-free table
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    How to prevent ants from climbing our table?

    VisiHow QnA. This section is not written yet. Want to join in? Click EDIT to write this answer.

    Does camphor drive out ants?

    VisiHow QnA. This section is not written yet. Want to join in? Click EDIT to write this answer.

    Do mint leaves repel ants or any other insects?

    Lots of insects in my house such as ants

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    What is your observation about ants, if ants are going to your bed? How do you kill that without chemical?

    What is your observation about ants, if ants are going to your bed? How do you kill that without chemical

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    How does the ants go into closed jars, etc?

    How does the ants go into closed jars, etc.. I have tried: Nothing. I think it was caused by: Don't know

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    If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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    Categories : Home Repair

    Recent edits by: Angela, Lynn, Monika

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