Let’s face it, ants in your house can be a big nuisance. Here are some really effective home remedies to get rid of ants. They are simple and cost effective.
1. Salt
Spreading salt near nooks and corners from where ants enter the house will help keeping ants away. Table salt is one of the best and the cheapest ways to get rid of ants naturally. Use ordinary table salt not health boosting rock salt. All you need to do is to boil water and add a large amount of salt to it, stirring it until dissolves. Pour into a spray bottle and spray where you think ants tend to enter from.
2. Cinnamon
Put cinnamon and cloves on the entrance of the house and the areas from where you think the ants can enter. This a good method to also keep your house smelling fresh and earthy. Cinnamon is often regarded as an effective DIY ant control option. It is believed that cinnamon acts as a natural repellent as ants can’t stand strong smell. For more effective results, you can add some essential oil to the cinnamon powder, so that is busts with stronger smell, keeping the ants away.
3. Make a Trap Out of Baking Soda
Another non-toxic way to kill sugar ants is by making ant traps with baking soda. Baking soda consists of small salt crystals that are composed of bicarbonate and sodium ions.
When the sugar ants ingest the baking soda, it reacts with the acid in their digestive system. This reaction generates carbon-dioxide gas, which makes them explode.
You’ll need to mix the baking soda with powdered sugar to act as the bait. This method is handy for getting rid of sugar ants because they take the small sugar crystals with the baking soda back to their nests, which destroys the ant problem at the source. It is also the safest method for killing ants if you have pets and kids at your home.
4. Control Sugar Ant Invasions with Bay Leaves
Similar to whole cloves, bay leaves can be used to keep sugar ants from entering your home. Placing bay leaves under windows, in cracks, and under counters can help control a sugar ant infestation.
5. Chalk
One of the home remedies to get rid of ants is to use chalk. Chalk contains calcium carbonate, which helps in keeping ants away. Spray some powdered chalk in the areas that are the entry points of ants or draw a line of chalk at the entrance. In order to keep ants of your house, draw chalk lines so that these bugs don’t enter. While it not clear as to why this line stops the ants from coming inside, but it is surely effective. Make sure you make the line in a way that is out of reach of any child in the house.
6. Pepper
Ants are pretty fond of sugar but they hate pepper. Sprinkle pepper at the areas from where ants enter your house. This is will help getting rid of ants. Cayenne pepper or black pepper are hated by ants. You can also make a solution of pepper and water and spray it near the entrant areas. The pepper wouldn’t kill the ants but definitely deter them from returning to your house. Make sure you clean the area where you want to spray the pepper solution.
7. Deter Sugar Ants with Cornmeal
Unfortunately, many ants are attracted to cornmeal, which means that it won’t kill them, but instead, they gather up the crumbs and take it back to their friends. However, you can disrupt the pheromone trail by sprinkling cornmeal on the ground to keep other ants from following the same path through your house.
If you want to kill the ants with cornmeal, mix it with boric acid and make a paste. This type of slow acting insecticide is the best way to control ants.
8. Use a Vinegar Solution
Vinegar is one of the best non-toxic home remedies to use on sugar ants. The acetic acid in vinegar gives it the strong, pungent, and rancid smell that is associated with the product.
Sugar ants hate the smell of vinegar which repels the ants and adequately covers the pheromone trail created by the ants. You can also use vinegar to kill spider mites and many other household and garden pests.
You need: 1 cup vinegar – 1 cup of water – Plastic spray bottle
Pour the vinegar and the water into the spray bottle. Replace the cap and shake the bottle to mix the solution. Spray the vinegar solution on the ant trails, in any cracks in the walls of your house, window sills, drainage holes, near garbage cans, at the entrances to your home, and under your cabinets. Since vinegar is acidic, you can store it for a long time in a cool, dark place and not have to worry about the spray going bad.
