Every year when the rains arrive, the ants like to move indoors and have a party in our kitchen. At first, only a couple, then they must announce the coast is clear and more begin to arrive from their nest or ant hills.
There are different types of methods you can turn to: boiling water, lemon juice, essential oils, baking soda, white vinegar, salt, food-grade diatomaceous earth, coffee grounds, cayenne pepper, dish soaps, and more. While these make great options for pest control as most of them rid of ants naturally, none of them can match the range and effectiveness of borax.
Borax or boric acid provides an easy solution for an ant problem. Below are two recipes for your own Borax Ant Bait so you can completely get rid of ants in your house.
Borax Ant Bait Recipe #1
Mix:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons Borax
Use cotton balls to soak up the Borax solution and place cotton balls near ant trails or scent trails.
Borax Ant Bait Recipe #2
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of Borax
- 1/2 cup of water
Place ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for three minutes. Allow mixture to cool completely, it thicken as it cools.
To make the liquid ant bait “portable” place cooled mixture onto a plastic lid like one from a butter dish. Before placing mixture down (indoors) where ants are clean area with vinegar as ants leave a trail, telling other house ants there is a food source.
The worker ants will eat the mixture and take it back to the queen and the rest of the colony. Usually after a day or so the ants will be only a memory. This will kill ants that approach the food and the entire ant colony. I’ve had these crazy ants disappear overnight!
Keep the solution in a spray bottle for future use. It works on some insects and all ant species. You can also use this ant killer mixture in your garden!
NOTE: Borax is NOT child or pet friendly. Please read the label… The FDA says Borax is safe, unless ingested in LARGE amounts. Wash pans and hands with hot water and soap.