DIY ant killer

Thanks for the diatomite tip!
I use fresh leaves of Bay Laurel ((Laurus nobilis), with I lay on strategic points of the ant’s tracks and entrance points of the kitchen and closets etc… If they really don’t listen, I use a quarter part of a lemon to disrupt their tracks; they seem to hate the smell of lemons… I don’t need to kill them, since they do good work in the garden :wink: Haven’t met those Argentine ants yet…

See the upload button at the bottom of the comment composition pane? Click, select your file, and boom.

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It totally is, and those traps, which really are sugar/borax water, are incredibly effective. There are lots of bug-fighting tools that are iffy or situational, but I can say Borax and ants has gotta be one of the most consistently effective tools out there. It always amazes me that it’s not only quick, but total in its’ utter annihilation of the little guys. On top of that, it’s mostly harmless to larger creatures, so even if our cats happened upon it, the amount is so tiny as to nearly being irrelevant.

Even works from your phone!

Another thumbs-up to borax, at least for sugar-eating ants. My office had a sudden, massive invasion of sugar ants one day, and I put down a few Terro traps. It took a few days, but they were annihilated.

That’s right, some are health conscious and only eat natural, gluten free poison.

No… I didn’t. Say waaahhh? How long has that been there?

Wow - guess I had more than 30. Yeesh.

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This’ll work for sugar-seeking ants. If you have teeny-tiny ants that seem to love your cooktop, those are grease-seeking ants. (Thief ants.) Add some cooking grease as part of the bait.

My friend Dan the entomologist told me many years ago to mix up a little dish soap with water in a spray bottle and just spray the bug(gers). They immediately suffocate (?) and I often leave the bodies for the fellow ants to take away. In general, they don’t come back, but if there is already a well-established trail, it might require repeating the process for a couple of days.

What’s also important is to get rid of whatever attracted them in the first place. The other day it was a tasty morsel of ham that was in the stainless steel sink. But the squirty process worked, as always.

Thanks Dan!!!

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You can upload a pic?

IIRC the boron interferes with exoskeleton growth, which is why it’s so much more toxic to arthropods. The soapy water makes them suffocate because soap lowers the surface tension of water, allowing the solution to flood their spiracles.

If you want the ants to leave but you don’t feel like killing them, cinnamon is very effective.

BTW the only reason they’re coming in is because you left a food supply for them, you slob!

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