- Apply caulk around door cracks, windows, pipes and wiring. Ants usually use well established trails that other ants will follow. Watch closely for ant trails to locate cracks or crevices where they may be entering the house. Wash the area thoroughly with soap and water to remove the ant's odor so other worker ants cannot follow the trail.
- Avoid planting shrubs, trees and plants close to the house's foundation. Ants are drawn to the honeydew produced by aphids, mealybugs or scales that will hang around those plants. When the insect pests are eliminated from the garden, the ants will seek other food sources, including something in the nearby house. Keeping all ornamental plants away from the house's foundation will help deter the ants from foraging indoors.
- Ants are attracted to sugar, crumbs and protein spills. Just keeping a clean house will help since a foraging ant will have nothing to come back for. Promptly clean up all spills and wash the dishes after cooking. Seal food in food safe containers and remove and dispose of the garbage daily. Place bowls of mint tea bags, mint leaves and diced cucumbers near ant entry points as a natural ant repellent.
- Spray ants you see with soapy water. For a natural ant killer, mix 1 liter of water with 1 cup of sugar water and 1 tsp of boric acid. Place cotton balls into the mixture to absorb the liquid, then put the moist cotton balls into plastic containers. Punch holes into the base of the container and set them along suspected ant trails. The ants will enter and feed on the solution. Sprinkling food grade diatomaceous earth along ant trails, near doors, in crevices and along window sills will effectively cut the exoskeleton of any ant that walks through it, causing the ant to dehydrate.
Barring Access
Planting Considerations
Maintenance Prevention
Natural Ant Killers
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