Ants can pose a considerable problem for homeowners. They live in very large colonies and, for this reason, can be difficult to eradicate. Luckily, there are many home remedies that work! Many of these remedies use naturally occurring deterrents. Others involve the use of baits, which are taken by the foraging ant back to the colony itself. This will then kill the entire colony. In order to completely eradicate all ants, the queen must be killed. Try some of these tried and true ant colony prevention and elimination methods.
- Homeowners should place slices of cucumber or cucumber peels in areas highly trafficked by ants.
- Homeowners can also leave mint leaves, mint cloves, or mint tea bags in areas where ants are active during the day. Mint is a very large ant deterrent
- Find the trail the ants are taking from their colony to their food source. Create a small line with a known deterrent across the entry point to the colony. Some deterrents include cayenne pepper, citrus oil, cinnamon, coffee grounds, or lemon juice.
- Cut cloves of garlic up and place them in areas highly frequented by ants.
- Ants dislike changes in light, and leaving a low wattage night light on in areas with a large amount of night ant activity can disrupt ant foraging patterns.
- Create an ant deterring concoction of one liter of water, one teaspoon of Borax, and one cup of sugar. Then, soak several cotton balls in the mixture. Place these soaked cotton balls in recycled yogurt containers. Make small holes in the lids, and place these on top of the containers. The holes will allow the small ants to access the interior. Put these containers in areas heavily trafficked by ants. When the ants come out to forage, they will eat this bait, and take it back to the colony. In this way, the colony will be killed. However, homeowners should be sure to keep this solution away from both kids and pets.
Some of these home remedies may work better than others. Homeowners should be sure to try several, as some many have varying degrees of effectiveness, depending on the climate, the individual house, or the species of ant that has invaded. Home remedies are quick, inexpensive ways to combat an ant colony infestation.
One Visible Ant, Thousands of Hidden Ants
Ants live in colonies. Therefore, when ants move into your home, they move en masse. With several hundred individual ants making up some of the larger colonies, homeowners can ill afford to ignore an ant problem. Ants are attracted to moisture, sweets, and greasy food. Homeowners with an ant problem need to go straight to the source to eliminate the infestation.
An Ant Problem needs to be Eliminated- Fast!
- Ants can carry up to 20 times their body weight
- The average lifespan for ant queens ranges from 15 to 20 years
- Ants use pheromones to leave scent trails to tell other ants where to find food
- Ants live in colonies with hundreds, even thousands of other ants