How to get rid of ants the natural way

Of the 12,000 species of ants on earth, only a few like to invade homes in search of delicious food to eat. ^{[1] X Research Resources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.} As for the ants you need to deal with, there are some very easy, natural and effective ways to get rid of or keep them out of your home. You can neutralize scout ants by cleaning the kitchen and storing food in sealed containers or jars, blocking access to ants’ homes by sealing openings, creating barriers like cinnamon bark, and using baits. like syrup mixed with boric acid. If all of the above methods fail, you can also have a pest control service take care of the problem.

Table of Contents

Prevent scout ants

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Watch out for scout ants. The first ants to appear in the kitchen are a warning sign. Scout ants are ants that roam singly or in groups in small numbers. They survey your kitchen for food and supplies. If these ants return to the nest and inform their companions, more ants will soon come to your house. ^{[2] X Research Sources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.} Do not hesitate:

Clean the kitchen
Cover food well and remove any sources of sticky, sweet, greasy and meaty foods so they cannot be reached.

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Wash dishes immediately after use. Rinse all dishes when finished or put them in the dishwasher and close the lid. Use vinegar to clean dish racks, countertops and kitchen counters.

Vinegar is not only a cleaning and disinfecting agent, but also a repellant for ants.
Remove all garbage and cover the kitchen trash can.
Wash all containers before storing. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Sweep and vacuum the kitchen area daily. Food spilled on the floor or in crevices and crevices will be an invitation to the ants. Food crumbs stuck to the carpet in the kitchen will also attract visiting ants.

If you often forget to sweep and vacuum your kitchen area, you may need to make it a habit to do this at a certain time of day, like after breakfast or dinner.

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Wash all containers. In particular, check the jam jars, sauce bottles, pickled fruit jars, fruit wine bottles, honey and syrup jars. Place the jar of honey and whatever sweet treats the ants like in a bowl of water. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

For more on water-bath ants, see “How to Prevent Ants from Getting in Honey” and “Preventing Ants from Getting Close to Cat Food.”

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Keep food in sealed containers or jars. Use a tightly sealed container such as an ant-proof jar to store food. Do this for 3-7 days. The ants will leave when there is nothing to eat. This works because the ants will follow the chemical trail left by the previous ants that have found food. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

You may also need to tightly cover scented products such as scouring powders, deodorants, and the like so as not to attract ants in the first place. Be wary of ants gathering around inedibles. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Block the access of ants

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Identify the entrance of the ants. When cleaning the kitchen and discovering scout ants “on patrol”, you also need to conduct “reconnaissance”. Do you know how those ants get into the house? Follow the first ant to know their way in and out of the house.

Common entry routes for ants include gaps in furniture, cracks in cement, exit holes, door screens, cracks in the floor and the like. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

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Seal the holes that lead ants into the house with silicone sealant. You can also use mortar, glue or putty. Temporary measures to prevent ant entry include petrpeum jelly or sticky clay.

If you’re using a temporary adhesive (such as sticky clay), you should only use it until a more durable material is available, as the temporary adhesive will degrade over time and the gap will reappear. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Equip insect spray or soapy water. Soap water both kills ants and destroys the chemical traces they leave behind. Thus, you will prevent the ants from coming along the path that their companions leave. ^{[9] X Research Resources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.} This easy and cheap method simply has:

Put a teaspoon of dish soap in a spray bottle, then fill it with water. Add menthol, citrus zest or orange peel essential oil to enhance the effect. ^{[10] X Research Sources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.}
Spray the ants with the solution in the spray bottle.

Prevent and repel ants

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Build a line of defense. Even in your kitchen, there are products that can act as a natural barrier to keep out ants, as long as you use them correctly. The ant barrier needs to be less than 1 cm wide but will be a solid boundary. ^{[11] X Research Sources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.} Use ant barriers in places such as doorways, floors, and around ant entrances. Some materials for you to make a barrier against ants are: ^{[12] X Research Source}

Coal powder
Chalk line
Turmeric
Cinnamon
Lemon essential oil
Black pepper, cayenne or red pepper
Vaseline (effective for doors and windows)
Baby chalk
scouring powder
White vinegar and water
Dry soil (such as diatomite soil or silica airgel) ^{[13] X Research Source}

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Sprinkle with ant-repelling fragrances. Ants hate many odors, including peppermint, camphor, and garlic. ^{[14] X Source of Research} These aromas can be used fresh or essential oil to repel ants in the house. Use camphor with caution as it is toxic to humans and animals.

The great thing about this therapy is that you can choose a scent to scent your home.
Sprinkle crushed mint leaves in rooms with ants and plant mint in the entrances of the house. The dried leaves of the mint plant are also effective. ^{[15] X Research Source L&K Designs, <i>Househpd hints and tips</i>, p. 87, (2008), ISBN 978-1-84397-969-2}
Rub a clove of raw garlic over ant paths and entrances.
Sprinkle lavender essential oil on areas suffering from ants and plant lavender near ant entrances.
Sprinkle clove essential oil on ant-infested areas or crush cloves and sprinkle with sugar to deter ants. ^{[16] X Research Source}

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Use bay leaves to prevent ants from entering foods that are attractive to them. Ants especially like sugar, paprika and powder. Put the bay leaves in a sugar can, powder jar, or chili jar. ^{[17] X Research Source}^{[18] X Research Source}

Over time, the ant repellant effectiveness of these leaves will decrease. Change the leaves once a month for best results.

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Sprinkle Splenda sugar on the ant’s path. This substance is not harmful to young children, so it is suitable for use in places where there are many children, such as schools. Splenda is also safe for animals, making it a great choice if you have pets. You can sprinkle Splenda on every ant’s path when you see it.

Ants will die immediately after ingesting Splenda. Make sure to add more Splenda if needed. ^{[19] X Research Source}

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Use coffee grounds. Spread coffee grounds over the ant nest and along the foundation around the house. This safe material will confuse worker ants because the smell of coffee takes away the smell of their path. At that time, the newly hatched ants will have no food and starve to death.

You have to be persistent and patient when using coffee grounds. It can take a season to start seeing results.
It is important to re-spray the coffee grounds at least once a year. Fresh coffee grounds sprinkled regularly will provide a stronger and faster effect.

Use ant bait

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Make your own ant bait with boric acid and maple syrup. You can buy ant baits, but commercially available baits often contain chemicals that are not suitable for natural home ant control. Making your own ant bait is very easy. A particularly effective bait is made from boric acid. Boric acid and sodium borate are found naturally in minerals such as sasspite. ^{[21] X Trusted Source National Pesticide Information Center Go to source}

When ants crawl into boric acid, they swallow it and die. Boric acid is poisonous, do not swallow or get into eyes, nose, mouth. Use gloves when handling. ^{[22] X Research Source}
A boric acid bait is a mixture of maple syrup and boric acid. Pour a spoonful of syrup onto a plate, then sprinkle with boric acid. ^{[23] X Research Sources}
Use a stick, toothpick, or cotton swab to mix the boric acid with the syrup.
Place boric acid baits where ants frequent. Do not let children and pets touch. This method can take up to a week to be effective. ^{[24] X Research Sources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.}

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Use food to fight ants. There are many types of food that ants cannot eat. This usually works, although you will have to clean up the dead ants. You can spread these foods where ants are common:

Cornstarch. This method is especially suitable if there are children or pets at home, because cornstarch is not toxic.
Cream of Wheat Flour. Sprinkle raw powder on the place where the ants are. The dough will swell in the ants’ stomachs and they will die.
Coffee grounds. Ants are sensitive to coffee. You put the coffee grounds in the place where the ants usually go and bring it back to the nest to eat. This method takes several weeks to see the effect. ^{[25] X Research Sources}

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Deal with carpenter ants in the most natural way possible. The invasion of carpenter ants is quite serious. They can damage or destroy the structure of the house. Piles of broken ants and larger than average size ants are signs of carpenter ants. You may also see ant droppings (which look like sawdust). Sometimes you even hear them creaking in the wall. Some ways to deal with carpenter ants ^{are: [26] X Dpe Research Source , Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107 -9.}

Beat the ants. Ants love sugar, so you can use sugar against them. Use boric acid described above.
Use a vacuum cleaner to remove the nest from the wall, if possible.
Call a pest control service. Professionals can drill holes in the wall and blow in diatomite soil, silica airgel or boric acid to get rid of ants.

Use a professional pest control service

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Identify natural pest control services. Some services specialize in using natural pest control methods. You can search online for the keywords “organic pest and insect control” or “natural pest and insect control.”

These services are often not strictly regulated. Some places are called “organic” or “natural” but they are not.
Call your service provider and ask directly, such as, “Can you tell me how completely natural your methods are?”

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Call a professional service to deal with fire ants. Fire ants rarely enter your home, but if they do, you need to call for help quickly. They are very aggressive, their stings are very painful and sometimes provoke an allergic reaction.

If you have to spray ants, ask for a bait with an insect growth regulator like abamectin. ^{[27] X Research Sources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.}

Advice

Green household cleaning solution can kill ants on the spot.
Sprinkle undiluted vinegar over the ants and their path.
You can also mix boric acid with syrup or honey and spread it over 20-25 square centimeters of cardboard. Ants will eat the mixture and bring it back to the nest to share, and they will all die. This method usually has results in two or three days.
Types of ants commonly found in homes include Argentinian ants, pharaoh ants, thief ants – also known as fat ants, pavement ants, and stink ants. ^{[30] X Research Sources Dpe, Hilary Klein and Wenner, Adrian M. <i>Tiny Game Hunting</i>, (2001), ISBN 0-520-22107-9.}
Spray hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the ants and they will die instantly. Hydrogen peroxide is non-toxic to humans and has no unpleasant odor.

Warning

Boric acid is banned in some countries.
Carpenter ants are pests of wooden structures in your home. If you see carpenter ants, you need to call a professional service immediately.
Boric acid is potentially harmful to humans. Although many grams of boric acid are enough to cause toxicity, you still need to be cautious when handling and using this chemical. ^{[31] X Research Source} Wash hands after use to avoid harm to children and pets.
Pyrethrin is a dangerous substance that can be fatal to cats. Do not use this substance if you have a cat in the house.
Camphor is poisonous not only to ants but also to humans and other animals. Do not use this substance in areas where children and pets are frequent or likely to be swallowed.

Things you need

Boric Acid
Dishwashing liquid
Household products (vinegar, syrup, cinnamon, etc.)
Professional help from people knowledgeable about natural pest control methods.
Spray bottle (optional)

Steps