How to Get Rid of Ants in the House With Natural Home Remedies

Having a trail of ants in the house, especially the kitchen area, is never a good sign. Ants don’t enter homes for random reasons. They likely found food or water in the house to take back to their colony. Here are our top suggestions for getting rid of the ants using home remedies.

1. Clear Away All Open Food Sources

Prevention is the most effective way of getting rid of ants if you are looking for a permanent solution. As mentioned earlier, the ants have made your home a prime target because it’s an easy source of food or water, which can attract the ants in masses. This means the first step to getting rid of ants permanently is to keep your house spotlessly clean. Vacuum every inch of the floor like your life depends on it and store away leftover food in tightly-sealed containers.

The trail of ants is also likely to lead to the area of the house where the ants are getting their food. It could be crumbs that have fallen into the sofa gaps or kitchen cabinets that haven’t been properly wiped. Whatever it is, a clean house will most likely get the ants to disappear on their own.

2. Create a Fatal Ant Bait Using Borax

Borax is a naturally-occurring mineral that’s commonly used in household cleaning products. Borax can also be used to create an effective ant killer bait. One suggestion is to mix together 1 cup of hot water, half a cup of sugar, and two tablespoons of borax. Once the solution is made, soak some cotton balls in it and place them on small pieces of tin foil.

Place the tin foil and soaked cotton balls near the trail of ants. The ants will be attracted by the scent of sugar and feed on the solution. The effects, however, aren’t always immediate (which is actually a good thing). The feeding ants will take the solution back to the colony and the effects of the borax will kick in by disrupting the ant’s digestive system.

You might, however, find that some experimentation is needed to find the right balance of sugar, borax, and water. If you want to avoid the hassle then we suggest buying the Terro ant bait, which also uses borax as the active ingredient. If you decide to make it yourself then please take the appropriate safety cautions as borax does have low acute toxicity.

One warning about using borax. If you have pets or young children at home then we suggest you either don’t use it or use it very carefully so that the powder will never be exposed to them. Borax can be harmful to pets if they accidentally ingest it in large amounts so we suggest you seek a pet-friendly ant killer alternative in such cases.

3. Block the Ant’s Path With Cinnamon

If you have located the part of the house where the ants are entering from then one suggestion is to block the ant’s path with cinnamon powder. The idea behind this is to deter the ants by using the strong scent of the cinnamon. It won’t kill the ants but may still provide some temporary relief as you figure out what inside the house is attracting the ants inside.

4. Keep Your Home Dry

Water is another resource that ants seek, especially during the dry season. Check your house and make sure there’s no leaking pipes. You should also check the kitchen and bathroom surface and wipe away any puddles of water, big or small, that the ants could have access to. One study by Stanford University researchers found that household ant invasions is determined by the weather so you need to respond accordingly when the weather starts to get very dry and pests from outside start to seek alternative places to get hydrated.

We hope the above suggestions will get you going with removing ants in the house. Please note, however, that the effectiveness of these home remedies may differ depending on the type of ants you are dealing with. For example, carpenter ants may need the use of remedies like food-grade diatomaceous earth while fire ants may be better dealt with using home remedies such as diluted orange oil spray. Flying ants are also common nuisance pests that need to be dealt with differently.