Seeking Advice on Getting Rid of Household Ants

Try Equal in little piles and leave them there for a couple days. It kills them and some take it to their homes. Walla! Anyway. It works fior me! Hope it helps

the best thing that works for us is home defense and we spray it around the foundation and windows on the outside of the house. If they get bad enough we will spray the inside too but usually if we spray when they first start coming in the house and catch it early in the spring spraying outside works well. I have tried cinnamon, chalk, and other stuff and none of that worked, just made a bigger mess for me to clean up later in the window tracks.

I use Listerine mouthwash! A friend recommended it to me a couple of years ago, and have been using it ever since. I put some in a spray bottle (the regular gold, full-strength) and spray it around all of my doors and windows, and on the back and underneath the countertops. It not only works for me for ants, but spiders, gnats, any pesky little bug. My house sits amidst a bunch of trees, so we were always having "critters" creeping in through the windows or doors...I only have to spray every fews weeks, but do spray more frequently during the warmer seasons when they tend to go inside more. I haven't tried the "non-name" brand of Listerine, so not sure if that would work, but one bottle goes a long way. Good luck to you!

Sounds weird but does work, Splenda and/or Equal. *I personally do not allow artificial sweeteners in anything we eat, but will have a few packets in the house for guests. I had ants in a window in my kitchen, poured the Splenda in the crack and they were gone in less than 24 hours and I haven't seen them since!

Lori K

Two things you can do:
1) spray ants with pure vinegar (white). Ants are basic, vinegar is acidic and kills them on contact, and safe around kids.
2) get boric acid (safe, non toxic) and sprinkle around your home (outside) it creates a
barrier. So this every week.
I worked for DOE doing interships in college...these are the safe, effective tricks we figured out.

we fought ants in our kitchen for months...we tried all the natural methods with no success (although i hadn't heard of the listerine) We also used the terro traps with no success. We finally pulled the dishwasher out and sprayed something from ace hardware behind there (can't remember what it was) and that stopped them. It really is about finding the source..which was behind the dishwasher for us. good luck! they're awful...especially in the kitchen!

I've never used Terro traps, but the Terro liquid is really awesome. That took care of all of our problems within a few days.

chili powder or paprika sprinkled where you see the ants kills them - they take it back home and the queen eats it, too

I HATE those pesky things. I have heard if you put a line of pepper where they are coming in at they will not cross it! Just an idea. Good Luck!

Terro traps! Takes a few days but they do WORK!

I had an extermination company come out twice. The government has put so many regualtions on chemicals that the junk they use now doesn't work. So after months of them driving me completely up a wall. I went crazy with the RAID. And it worked.

Good Luck

We use United Spraying, a company that doesn't make you sign contracts. Whatever chemical that they spray has no smell, won't hurt animals or kids. It's in the phone book.

We fight them every year in our kitchen - yuckie! Put EVERYTHING sweet...cookies, cereal in zip lock baggies or plastic containers making sure there are no crumbs on the shelves. If you recycle, make sure they are not drawn to soda cans (I cleaned mine out but, the little burgers still smelled them and were having a hay day). I know it isn't a home remedy but, the terro liquid is a great answer! Find where they are coming in, put a tiny bit of liquid on a piece of cardboard and they will be drawn to it. It's really gross at first how many it attracts! Yikes! But, after a couple of days they take the liquid back to the nest and it kills them all. Good Luck!

We had them too the best thing we found was the Home Defense Max it is an in door and outdoor spray we do the perimeter outside and then I usually one spray inside like in the window sills and where I know they come in at. I have not had a problem sense. We do this every year because it lasts for a year.

Someone mentioned Terro. Terro's active ingredient is boric acid which is fairly low toxicity. Its toxicity is going to be much lower than some of the other spray pesticides. I have found terro pretty effective with your normal small ants. If you have the larger carpenter ants good luck. I have not found natural things like vinegar very effective for either. Let's hope they move on.

we had a terrible time with ants this year, and nothing helped but raid spray. We tried everything we could first, since we have a small dog and a 2 year old and didnt want any toxins in the house, but finally, when we found out where they were coming in, we sprayed the heck out of the area outside and a little inside and havent seen any since then.