Ants-Keeping Them Out the Green Way

[adam]

Ants are pests which are amongst the most resilient of all species and damage wood work or make permanent nests. Most of the times, out of frustration and at other times due to negligence or lack of knowledge we tend to use harsh chemicals and pesticides which do more harm to the environment & to us than it does to the ants. Here are simple ways that will help in keeping these pests at bay:

1) Prevent them from entering your home. Seal food and sugar in airtight containers, wipe crumbs and sticky residues off counters, wash dishes immediately, keep your garbage and recycling bins tightly sealed and fix any leaking taps.

2) Preparing Ant Bait: Most ingredients and substances commonly available in our kitchen are great ant deterrents such as citrus oil, lemon juice, mint tea bags, cloves, cinnamon or cayenne pepper.

3) Mix a half teaspoon each of honey, borax and aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc.), in small bottles. Place bottles on their sides, with lids off. Ants will carry the bait back to their colonies. Important: use indoors only; must be kept away from pets and children.

[Saffron]

Thanks for this, we are frequently visited by ants, and have used salt in the past, not too effective I might add. I will try your recipe and hopefully we will be free of the little blighters.

[green algae]

I've been fighting a losing battle with ants for a long time. I will also try your recipe and see if it wikk work better.

[Vegan]

Ants become pests when we become careless. I respect the ants because they are very industrious, I don't even know if they rest in their lifetime. As the saying goes "prevention is better than cure" so I guess we can apply it here by covering or sealing our food properly to avoid the ants from getting into our food or home.

[MsImpact]

Vegan has a good point. There is indeed a valuable lesson we can take from the ants. I remember the children's story "The Ant and The Grasshopper" which I used to always tell my students.

But it doesn't deny the fact that they are still pests. It's true we can seal the jars properly but sometimes they just stay around the house anyway unless you get rid of them. Thankfully, though, we don't get them here around the house. I guess it's too cold for them.

[livinglight]

What we do works wonders so you guys might want to give this is a try, if you have to deal with ants on a regular basis. This only happens if the colonies are near you house. Go around your house and inspect the exterior, especially where you see them inside the house.

If you see a trail of ants, follow them backwards and you'll find their anthill. Pour a pot of boiling water directly over the anthill. Do this with any you find on the property near your house and soon your ant problem will be gone.

We do this first thing in the spring when you start seeing the anthills now and haven't had any in the house for several years.

[Vegan]

I forgot to mention that ants can also live in your house even without the food coming from your house. We experienced a flood before and the ants appeared everywhere in the house even before the flood came. I think they are looking for a higher ground and our house is a good place for them. Many of the ants are carrying their babies so I guess they were migrating because of the flood.

[solarpowered]

I'd like to note that they were not there "babies" seeing how only the queen ant lays eggs, as far as exterminating them goes I found that a little smoke will do the trick.

[Michy Luv]

Thank you Adam! I have some bad ant problems during the summertime. Hopefully this summer will be different, if not, I'll be sure to use this and give you all an update.

[Greenzo]

If you have an outside ant problem here is another solution courtesy of Jerry's tonics for critter control.

[U]ANT CONTROL TONIC[/U]

4 to 5 tbsp. cornmeal
3 tbsp. bacon grease
3 tbsp. baking powder
3 packages of yeast (I would opt for the rapid rise)

Mix cornmeal & bacon grease into a paste, then add baking powder &
yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the insides of jar lids, and
set them near the ant hills.

When ants eat this mixture, they swell up and go to the big ant hill in
the sky.