How to Keep Ants Out of the House?

I tried this last year and it worked like a charm. I sprinkled ground cinnamon everywhere I could see them coming in. The house smelled nice too!
Here in northern CA, the ants start coming in when the rains start in November. I did not find a single ant with the cinnamon. they make a big trail around the cinnamon.

hth

Peppermint oil works really well. Put a few drops into a bottle of water and spray all the edges where you see them. They won't cross it.

I had an ant problem a few years ago and someone said try Basil. So I sprinkled some around and the ants disapeared.
C. B

I have always had good luck with this one....
1/4 cup sugar, mix with 1/2 cup water, add 2 tablespoons borax. Mix well. Soak a small (quarter size) peice of bread with the solution and put as close the where the trial come into your house as you can. the ants will get WAY worse then all go away (doing it close to bedtime is good, then you dont have to work around them). They take it back to the colony and the borax kills them. Good luck.

Pretty much any kind of spice from cinnamon to paprika to cayenne pepper. The ants hate it and they go back immediately. I've never seen them come back. If you use paprika, just be sure to vacuum afterward because it stains.

I tried all the other remedies and the one that really worked was a 50-50 mix of borax and sogar sprinkled where they enter, they just slowly stop over a couple of days and then don't return.
cheers C.

We use Liquid Ant Bait by "Terro", may not be "non-toxic" per se, but you just place it anywhere that the ants have a trail and they LOVE it, they go in and eat the yummy liquid bait and then exit - taking the poison back to their home and it kills all the ants, and all their extended families. The key thing is to let them be, they swarm around the bait and then walk away, never to be seen again. Very effective, we only need to put one or two out twice per year, whenever the weather changes and they start to migrate inside. We live next to a field so they choose our home to find comfort during the change in weather... but it works!

Put Black Pepper! Believe Me It Works!

I must tell you - I purchased for the first time over six months ago, three of those Riddex boxes that you see advertised on TV all the time. I plugged them in three different rooms where I have always had a bug problem. I gotta tell you - it worked! I haven't seen any bugs at all since I bought these things. If these results continue, I plan to purchase three more and put them in every single room - just for insurance! Just wanted to tell you this in case you were thinking about buying this to help solve your bug problem.

Wherever they are coming in, put down cornstarch, they will blow up so to speak and not go through it as they figure things out soon! It is non toxic obviously and will help. That or baking soda.

Sprinkle baby powder right at the thresholds of your doors. They do not like the powder and will avoid walking through it, but it is also a safe product to use around children and animals.

Hi J.,
I hear corn meal will help as well. Evidently, they think it is tasty but are unable to digest it. End of ant.
Lyn

I agree with Stacy W. Cornmeal works!
and you don't have to worry about chemicals.
Just put the doggy out if you have one. Mine likes to lick it up...
:)
Lisa

I have used Dawn dish soap. Put some in a spray bottle with water and spray in corners and all around baseboards inside and outside of the house.

I heard cayenne pepper or even cinnomon. Lay some down where you think they may be coming in and they should stay away. Good luck . I have never tried it but is worth a try.

`The easiest way is to use Melaleuca Oil based products. They are environmentally friendly, safe for your family and home. They are very affordable and the oil has a legal medical claim of penetrating. The minute I spray the countertop cleaner onto ants, flys, whatever it penetrates through their shell lining and they die instantly. No mess, fuss, or whatever. Legal medical claim. It's also an antiseptic, kills staph, streph, ecoli, anthrax and samonilla on contact. Can turn around and be used to clean your fruits and vegetables and can be put in with your cut flowers and they will last twice as long. If you are interested in environmentally safe, affordable and highly efficient products email me and I'll share with you how it works. I love them and have been using them for 7 years. Don't distribute, just help people to understand the system. As a great bonus, gets rid of ants instantly and now you're just using your environmentally safe counter cleaner. EASY!

N. B.
____@____.com

I've had good success with oregano. They won't cross it. If you don't have any, Italian seasoning also works, although not as well.

Also Bay Leaves are great for ants...just put down on floor and on counter tops......It looks wierd....bay leaves all around your kitchen..it does work....

dunno if this has been mentioned - but cinnamon around the perimeter will stop them and drive them off without fail!! I use it every time to retrain the ants to leave the kitchen and go about their outside business. i haven't tried cinnamon oil, but it might be a great idea - that'd totally mess with their communication and force them away probably.

So many great advice out there that works.
I try to use the chemicals as little as possible (an absolutely emergency clean up). I get ants like mad in the summer time- through the front door the window and places i don't even know.
What works for me: CHALK - I have discovered that the ants wont cross the chalk or they will quickly cross it to go back where they came from. So, for a routine treatment, i draw a line with a piece of chalk at the threshold of the door or sprinkle little chalk dust where they are and they will quickly leave.
Even though the peppermint doesn't seem as effective for me, do use it sometimes to sprinkle where the ants are. It also helps freshen the house.
Good luck reading and trying out all these ideas, and i hope you find one that works for you.

Try putting corn meal where ever you see them. They take it back to the nest and eat it and die, They can't digest it.

Solumel by Melaleuca!!!!! It works. It's worked for me and several other people. Entirely non-toxic. Email Marla Zemanek ____@____.com.

wow, you've received some excellent suggestions! here is one more. GRITS! yep it works. if you go to the mound and sprinkle on the grits, give them a few minutes to begin munching then sprinkle water on the mound, Boom! no more ants. Apparently, they eat the grits and then drink the water and explode their tiny tummies. Sounds sad I know. BUT i get the same tiny ants here in my home during our rainy season which is now. Unfortunately I no longer live in the states where I had access to GRITS breakfast cereal. So I'm goin to try some of these other methods such as the cinnamon and corn meal. I brought some corn meal with me, so I have an ample supply. And no small children who might attempt to eat it off of the floor. so that's a plus for me also. Good Luck!

I have used a combination of yeast and sugar. Just sprinkle it where the ants are coming in.

first use some cayenne--chilepowder--mix to the perimiter of your kitchen and outside the whole house. i had the same problem and every year they found a new way in because i only treated the kitchen.. i also used some ajax behind the refridgerator and the stove so far so good.

good luck

Hi J. - For 3 years I tried to keep ants out of our house using various non-toxic methods and nothing worked. They just got worse! The ants were everywhere - in the bathtub, in the washing machine, inside the kitchen cabinets, coming up through the floorboards, etc. It was horrible. I finally called Corky's Pest Control - they use "low-impact" sprays around the perimeter of the house - and now we have no ants at all. Of course it is better to try the non-toxic methods first, but if that fails, I'd recommend Corky's.

http://www.corkyspest.com/

-R.

Hi J.,

The townhouse that I rented had ants bad and the kitchen floor had gaps between the laminate flooring that I couldn't get into to clean. Talk about a nightmare, but I did get a handle on the ants. I clean the floor the very best that I could. Then I mixed water and ammonia 1:1 and poured it into the gaps of the floor and clean the whole floor and the perimeter of the kitchen as well with the solution.

I also attacked the yard and the perimeter of the house as suggested. The ammonia cleans up the scent trail that the ants leave, so they haven't got the path to follow back to the kitchen.

Best of Luck.
TRUDI

Powdered Tide detergent or any brand of laundry detergent may help.

I think that it'll hold them back but will not exterminate them. If you get a response I'd love to hear what gets rid of them too! S. P

I'm totally with the mom who says call the pest control company...we had ants that were terrible and the tech came out and was wandering through the yard. When I asked what he was doing, he said he was following the ant 'trail'. He followed them across the swing set, through the grass and to a boulder in our landscape. He manage to roll over that darn boulder and there was the entire nest/colony. I will admit--it was cool to see. Once he treated that area, our any problems went back to normal (none). You really need to get to the heart or it, or have a something they take back to the nest/colony that will eradicate the queen, or you will fight them forever. Because you really need a pro (and time we don't have), we hired it out. Good Luck!!

I've heard that leaving an open cup of vinegar out at night will keep them away. Haven't tried it...but it's another idea. Good luck:)

get ant traps. They are little boxes that are sticky inside and the ants get stuck. You never see the dead ants because they are inside a little home. You can just leave a few in corners and they really work.

I would suggest contacting a local pest control company. I work for one, and our technicians commonly spray the exterior of homes to prevent bugs from coming inside, once its dry it doesnt pose a threat to pets or anything. They can also spray inside but if you are worried about the chemicals around your children then I would just do the outside. People commonly try to use alternative methods of pest control but its such a hassle to try and try things, this is pretty much fool proof and if you have continuous problems then the company should return to address your problems free of charge.