How to Get Rid of Ants (Outdoor Version)

This is a modified version of this link. I do not claim this as my original version, but this is how I made mine so I could put them outdoors where my ant problem is/was.

Safety Note! This is very important, so I ask that you please pay attention to this before performing this Instructable. Borax, while used in many things as a helpful additive is a very nasty poison. This instructable assumes that because you now know this you will conduct yourself accordingly. I did some research and have found that one spoonful of this stuff *will* kill you. Half a spoonful is enough to kill a child or small fuzzy animal. So I ask that you please be responsible while making this instructable and keep track of what else is eating it. If you make some Borax Jelly and eat all of it, I am not responsible. After all, the box tells you not to, and I've advised against it so you're on your own if you keep reading!

On a better note....

Update: Rained all day and jelly stayed where it should have! But I do not know if the solution was diluted or not. Will keep this updated as things go by.

Step 1: What You Will Need

The materials for this project are easy to come by, and can be bought or obtained for free.

You will need:
1x Box of Borax
1x Jar of cheap Jam/Jelly/Preserves
1x Empty water bottle. (Mine was a 1litre water bottle)
1x Plastic Spoon
1x Hammer
1x Sharp knife or Scissors
4x Roofing Nails
4x Bottle caps

Safety stuff:
Goggles, chemical gloves, working gloves.

Step 2: Dispensers of Ant Death!

For this step, you are going to be creating the ground anchor of the ant baits.

This part is simple, but can be frustrating if you don't get it quite right. What you are going to do is put the nails through the center of the bottle caps. Your finished product will vaguely resemble a wine glass.

First, place the bottle cap open side down on a hard surface. Using your hammer, gently hammer one nail into the center of the cap. When you have created a hole, rotate the nail in a circular fashion to slightly enlarge the hole. Remove the nail, and turn the cap over to insert the nail into the open side. Your ant bait device should resemble one of the pictures below.

Note: Some bottle caps are fragile and will crack rather than bend. Dont use these as they are frustrating.

Step 3: Create Borax Jelly Mixing Station.

I took the pictures after I made my disposable bowl. Basically, I used the bottom portion of a water bottle (rather than use a house bowl, or buy disposable ones! Yay Green!)

I'm sure you can figure out how to do this part, so I won't bore you with pictures and instructions. Just be careful if you're using a knife, and cut away from you!!

Step 4: Prepare the Ant Bait!

For this, I followed the instructions off of this instructables *parent*, which said to create a 5% solution of jelly to borax.

"Safety! This is when you should put on your goggles and chem gloves!"

For me, 10 spoonfuls of jelly was too much, but I did it anyway to aid in simplicity. I then did about half a spoonful of borax and stirred it in very well.

Step 5: Fill and Deploy Ant Baits!

This is the easy part. Next, you need to take hold of one of your baits, and add a spoonful of 'Borax Jelly' to it slowly (you don't want this stuff on your hands/shirt). I found that gently rotating the bait holder while the jelly slid into it helped it even out.

For one of these pictures, there is a small hole in the workspace that I put the nail through to keep it in place while I took the picture. I didn't remove the nail! :)

When you have made your baits, venture into your yard and find the dwellings of your enemy and deploy your chemical warfare! (Hold the side of the bait, and push the nail into the ground. If your earth is tough, I used a small stick to hold the nail in the center and pushed.)

Update: These do survive huge winds! However, it rained for about 5 hours and I dont think the jelly solution survived. The jelly is still there though.

Update #2: These ants dont like strawberry jelly at all. So my next trick is some maple syrup mixed with Borax. I'll let you know how that does. If it's a major improvement I'll change this instructable up quite a bit!

Step 6: Waiting Time.

And now you get to wait. The first 24 hours you might not see much. If you did too much borax, you'll notice a bunch of dead ants at the jelly site, and none elsewhere. If that happens, make another batch with less borax.

If the wind or rain destroy my baits, I will let you know for sure. I have already thought of a way to keep the rain off of it should it become an issue.

Also, this is my first instructable. Please let me know what you thought of it. To the parent of the indoor version, I thank you for creating a simple way to get rid of these buggers!