Ants hate the smell of strong citrus fruits. Save your orange, lemon and grapefruit peels and scatter them around entry points. It's a natural way to deter ants without harming them.
Essential oils such as peppermint, lavender, and thyme work well to repel ants. You can use a diffuser, set out dishes of essential oils, or leave out cotton balls soaked in essential oils to deter pesky ants.
Two of the best ways to eliminate ants are Borax and diatomaceous earth. Essential oils, including peppermint and clove, are a natural way to repel and kill ants. Food and moisture attract ants, so keep your home clean and dry to get rid of ants permanently.
Ants use their sense of smell to get around, and the smell of pepper irritates them. Sprinkle black pepper or cayenne pepper along your baseboards and behind appliances to keep them out. If you notice an anthill in or near your home, sprinkle it with black pepper or cayenne pepper.
Try pouring a line of cream of tartar, red chili powder, paprika, or dried peppermint at the place where you think ants might be entering the house; they won't cross it. You can also try washing countertops, cabinets, and floors with equal parts vinegar and water.
Home Ant Control Tips
Windex, the glass cleaner, is a known insect killer. When you have an ant swarm in your house, spray them all with Windex and they will die nearly instantly. Windex can also eliminate some of the scent trails that ants follow to find food.
Salt-boil salt and water into a mixture and once cooled, pour into a spray bottle and spray nooks and corners. Oranges-half fresh orange juice and half water sprayed around your home will keep the pests out and keep your home smelling nicely. Essential Oils-used like lemon or orange juices.
Vinegar only remains effective for as long as the scent lingers. When the solution dries up, homeowners need to reapply the solution in the problem areas to keep ants away. However, it's important to remember that vinegar shouldn't be treated as the main line of defense against ant infestations.
Natural deterrents.
Salt, baby powder, lemon juice, chalk, vinegar, bay leaves, cinnamon, or peppermint oil are a few items that you have around your home that will stop ants from coming inside. Lay these out in areas where you see ants, and they'll stop using that area as an entrance into your house.
Many other common household solutions can also repel ants, including cinnamon, mint, salt, cloves, garlic, onions and bay leaves. Many ants are attracted to sugar, so you may have seen ants stop and spend some time on the circle made up of the sugar water—they may have been enjoying a snack!
Peppermint, Spearmint, Pennyroyal, Garlic and Citronella are effective essential oils ants hate. You can also put the essential oil on a cotton-wool ball and place them by the doors. Spray the essential oil along shelves and floors where the ants are seen, and on their nests.
Both cayenne and black pepper repel ants. Ants hate cayenne pepper. Black pepper will work just as well too. Locate the source of the ant infestation problem, sprinkle some pepper around that area and if possible, create a wall that will stop the ants from accessing your household.
The most common food sources that draw ants inside your home are the sweetest: spilled drops of soft drinks or fruit juices, candy, jellies and jams, cookies and other sweet baked goods, honey and syrup, and over-ripe fruit are some of their favorites. A zealous group of ants will even carry off a wad of chewed gum.
According to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ants that have low access to salt in their daily diet are actually more attracted to salt than sugar.
Ants usually come indoors in search of food or nesting habitat. Even small amounts of food, like pet food crumbs, can attract hordes of industrious ants. Ants are one of Earth's most successful animals, and comprise more than 13,000 species.
If you see ants in your home, mix up a solution of 50-50 vinegar and water and wipe the ants up with it. This kills existing ants and repels future ants by leaving a lingering scent of vinegar that works as a natural ant repellant.
In addition to edible baits, a non-repellent chemical spray can be very effective against carpenter ants. You can almost always achieve 100% control by using low toxicity baits indoors and a non-repellent chemical spray outdoors. Spraying indoors for ants should be a last resort.
If you've got an ant problem, no matter what other steps you take, it'll never really go away until the ants can no longer find a source of food. That's why the first step is always to move all food items in your home into sealed containers that ants can't rip their way into.
Ants hate Vinegar. The smell of Vinegar will cause them to stay away from it or permanently leave the house. Ants crawl in a straight line, marching towards the food sources. The Vinegar solution will interfere with these pheromones, and the ants will get lost.
A common question that our Clegg's pest control customers ask is “can you use Clorox bleach to get rid of ants?” The answer is yes. All brands of bleach can kill ants. Clorox is the most popular brand of bleach out there but there are other brands that can also get the job done when it comes to killing ants.
So Lysol wipes are great at getting rid of the pheromone trails which can help reduce ant activity but it won't completely eliminate the ant infestation.