Kill household ants - Super cheaply

On a budget? Got an ant problem? Do not fear, 'cause Domesticated Man and his sidekick Handy Hand have the answer for getting rid of those pesky ants!

Now, the D Man is not impressed with the performance of the commercial anttrap he purchased. It looks neat, but the ants do not seem to appreciate appearances.

The homemade bait on the right...now that is going down well.

Note: This instructable applies only to those tiny little black ants, ths ones that love sweet stuff and swimming in your coffee cup! Domesticated Man must first overcome his fear of bigger ants.

Step 1 Get a base for your Anttrap

First, you need a thin base for the anttrap. A lot of commercial anttraps make it hard for the little guys to make the jump from being alive to being dead, so pick something that will lie flat and flush with your floor or whatever surface you place it on.
Handy Hand is using a cut-out piece of plastic from a blister pack (inspired, of course, by Domesticated Man)!

Comments

[sgplace]

Great thread! Let me add some info- Borax and boric acid... Borax is Na2B4O7-10H2O, (20 Mule Team Borax is 99.5% Borax) Hydrated sodium borate - Boric acid is H3BO3 both are a source of Boron the active ingredient.
Diatomaceous Earth comes in many grades but you want to use Food Grade. The % of silica is extremely low so is GRAS (generally recognized as safe) by the FDA. As a matter of fact I use take a teaspoon every day to help control my cholesterol levels. The DE works great to control ants and other pests. Check out:
http://gettingridofsugarants.org/kill sugar ants with diatomaceous earth

[mcates2]

I left a shot glass with a few drops of Southern Comfort on my counter where I had witnessed ants. Not on purpose. I got up in the morning and went to work. When I got home the next day the bottom of the shot glass contained 20- 30 dead ants floating in SoCo. The little buggers probably died happy.

[msscienceprincess]

You know you don't have to use disposable mixers, boric acid can be used to wash the dishes with, clean out the sink, and wash many other items, as long as you wash your spoons/ forks after they are used to mix boric acid they're safe to eat with. I use borax in my dishwasher once a month instead of soap for sparkling dishes and flatware, just do an extra rinse cycle!

source: personal experience/ I am a science teacher and deal with boric acid all the time, makes great slime too.

[beehard44]

nice graphics though

[beehard44]

i normally kill 'em with a spray bottle with alcohol in it

[iamshocked]

Just so you all know: I am the President of the S.P.C.A. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ants) Residents of this so-called "totalitarian" society have "rights" just like us "homos" (sapiens, that is) and I think you should just go with the syrup and forgo the borax. Just because these creatures will dissolve your house is no reason to kill them!

[Dude567]

Well, I know that the S.P.C.A doesn't exist here in Delta we have the community animal shelter run by the municipal government. Eat that S.P.C.A the municipal government told you to get lost. EPIC WIN.

[bob.smitty]

you should check here and look at item number 6.

[jabster2k]

LOL!!!

[thermoelectric]

I seem to be slowing down the ant trail into my room, Last time I done this golden syrup was fine, But not the ants prefer honey...

[Arbitror]

I love Instructables where there is humor infused into it!

[the_burrito_master]

Wow this works great I killed a whole colony of big black ants in less than 48 hours! Well there may e a few sick survivors :) lol ,but they'll be dead soon.

[vrrusa]

Fantastic instructable! Great comments and great solutions BUT -- eco-freaks aside -- what you pour on the ground travels into the massive underground lakes (aquafers) that contain your drinking water........... so probably not the best idea to use ammonia or bleach (and NEVER together) or petro chemicals in large quantities on the ground. Also, most brown and black ants co-habitate with termites (who also do not like borax either...) so they are a good indicator that you have termites. Lastly, setting fire to the nests is great but really doesn't work well with the ones that live under the house (with the termites) - try using a mask & goggles and poofing the ground under the house with borax powder. If the borax doesn't come in a poofabel bottle get a plastic mustard/ketsup bottle (the ones with the pointed tops. Shake then poof then shake then poof.....) just do not breathe it or let kids or animal near it. I have also heard the diatomacious earth is great under houses (except be careful crawling under there later.) Anyone want to know how to burn supher and kill anything that is in the house (including every roach, flea, egg, mouse, etc....?) Maybe I will look up my old instructions and put them here for y'all! It is how farmers cleaned out barns each year.

[Broom]

"Also, most brown and black ants co-habitate with termites..." Um, yeah. They cohabitate. And hope to get the right to legally marry termites, too. Sure they do. They also unionize. And share daycare facilities. Fortunately, pink fuzzy unicorns are their natural enemies, and stomp on the much-feared ant-termite cohabitation mounds wherever they find them.

[bob.smitty]

"petrochemicals in large quantities on the ground" ahh... the memories... gramps pouring kerosene on the ant's nests and setting them on fire, then leaning back and lighting up a stoogie! come to think of it, it couldn't be that effective, since he used to do it year after year.

[kgb2]

I studied and killed ants in my home for a number of years and finally did succeed in getting rid of them This bait idea, unfortunately, is not the answer, although I also tried these types of things but without much luck I am sorry to say. What worked was diatomaceous earth, which is a white powder stuff composed of diatoms that actually dry out the exoskeletons of ants' bodies. Other weapons that worked are: a carpenter ant spray with a thin long red nozzle attached to the aerosol can to get into tiny holes the ants might come out of (somewhat hard to find but go to "real" hardware stores and ask), and liquid dishsoap or liquid laundry soap. Dishsoap is cheap and very handy for when you run into a batch of ants hanging out on some syrup or jelly. Just squirt dish soap around them to form a circle they cannot escape from. They are forced to "surrender". Other useful things I learned: never squish ants. A scent is released that warns the other worker ants. Rather, make small rolls of masking tape, stick your first finger into the roll, and just tap it on the live ant and then leave it upside down somewhere convenient to reuse for the next time you spot one. You will need rolls of tape in handy places like the bathroom and kitchen and laundry.... Another reason this tape idea works well for picking up the worker ants is there is also no vibration, which also alerts them. Of course, your true goal is to kill the Queen and until you find her, and her thousands of eggs, you will be killing endless worker ants. But she can be hard to locate, but watch them the best you can manage and you might get lucky. And start to see your house and property as an ant might see it. Sometimes the Queen is outdoors and the workers come in for food, for instance. So look for rotting wood outdoors and douse it with diatomaceous earth daily, digging around the wood area and killing any ants big or small--and watching everywhere for "winged ants"--oh yucko--just step on it for heavens sake. Sometimes they are between the floors of a house, around the windows or in your houseplants, or in the walls. Sometimes you might hear them if they are carpenter ants and you can plot against them...yes, it gets to be a bit of warfare so don't blow it if you find them--prepare for the kill and be serious about it. Ants also "get up" fairly early--by 5 or 6 am and "go to bed" at maybe 7:30 or 8 pm--at least sugar ants do. They have regular paths they use too, and are "convenience" oriented for food and water. They are usually not too far from what they want to eat or drink--but think in "xray"--the parts of the house you cannot see but know are there: behind the dishwasher, near a toilet like under the floorboards, between your first and second floor, behind your wallpaper (!)etc. Spraying with the carpenter ant spray can do a quick kill-down if you find the nesting area, and then follow up with the d.earth powder (available from FEDCO seed catalog in bulk--google it), which is non-toxic to humans and pets. When I happened on the nest I found holes in my floorboards the ants had made under the rug. I sprayed, and then shot the d. earth in with the vacuum by hooking the vacuum hose up to push air into the hole so as to spread out the d. earth the best I could. I got lucky. You can skip the carpenter ant spray if you can stand the ants any longer or just get it over with because it takes up years of your life otherwise. Oh those ants kept me pretty busy...now when I see one I go after it with a lot of gusto. They are sooooo capable...way more capable than we are!!

[cllinker !!]

diatomaceous earth has nothing to do with ant bodies. It is the exoskeletons of diatoms, tiny, ocean dewling animals. Hih in silica, it can wear holes in exoskeletons. It would be hard to wipe out a colony of ants with it. It does not work the way poison taken back to the colony does.

[Broom]

clinker !!, the previous commenter (kgb2) didn't say that diatomaceous earth was made from ant bodies; he actually said it was formed from diatoms. In fact, everything in your comment is mentioned early in his comment.

[bob.smitty]

Comment is too long... i fell asleep in the middle, and woke up when i read "way more capable that we are!!"... Until i see an ant driving a car, i will disagree with that statement. You don't see ants having "people farms" and kids everywhere (to many a mom's consternation) have ant farms just for the fun of it.

[bir006]

No, no, I'm actually writing this from an ant-controlled people farm right now. The ant overlords are just kind enough to let us have wifi. Now if you'll excuse me, it's feeding time!

[Wafflicious]

WAIT.... are you #1948? If you are hey. It's #2983 from the pen to your left remember?

[Evilthingamabober]

That's the longest comment I've ever seen.

[itsmanofpopsicle]

tell me about it

[avergari]

I read online everywhere that black pepper worked to deter them. so i poured black pepper everywhere in my kitchen, and then the next morning, to my surprise, They Busted Right Through The Black Pepper and continued to wander around my kitchen!!!! my son eats rice cereal, so i put some of that down because i read it will make them explode when they bring it home. we'll see. all i know is that its VERY un-nerving watching ants lerk around my kitchen just so that i can feed them rice cereal. this sucks!

[triumphman]

I did the same thing, sortof, here is my bait plan: I took any cardboard square, placed a small blob of honey in the center (size of a dime) encircled the honey with borax, the little fellows went right for the honey, got all sticky, and as they left, to go feed the queen and young ants, they passed over the borax MOAT, and took it back to the nest, even tiny dustlike particles are deadly to ants! So they literally wiped out the nest themselves. It works great, just have patients! Oh, yes, make as many traps as you need and place them where they are seen, like behind the microwave, fridge, or stove, and sink too! But ants are like mice, they reproduce like crazy. So new ants and nests are out there and looking for your crums. Be diligent and keep a clean home. Less food means less ants. Be well! Triumphman....

[itsmanofpopsicle]

Your a doctor?

[webbhost]

dont quite get it... In the last pic you see the borax syrup with god knows how many ants on it. Are the ants dead at this point? Reason I ask is cause they look like they're either dead or stuck.. but if thats the case how do they take the "food" back to their colony to feed to the big mamma?

[itsmanofpopsicle]

63 ants(i counted;))

[domesticatedman]

Hi webbhost, the ants there at the end are busy feeding and still alive. A few may get stuck, but for the most part they manage to go back and forth without becoming trapped.

[soundinnovation]

Do you think this would work on roaches? Not the huge shiny brown ones, but the smaller tan and black kinds. We just moved into an apartment that has a roach problem, and the exterminators already been sent out here twice =(

[bob.smitty]

according to this linklink, it should. item #6 purportedly takes you to a brilliant, devastating roach killing formula... only it doesn't work.

[soundinnovation]

I've actually since heard from someone that borax will kill roaches. The suggested putting it inside the walls by removing electrical outlet cover, and powdering it and using a broom to push it through the carpet fibers into the carpet padding. I'm going to try the inside the walls thing, but I won't try the carpet method since I now have 2 cats and I'd like to keep them alive.

[domesticatedman]

Actually I'm having a look at that, if Something good comes up, Domesticated man and Handy Hand will try it!

[myrrhmaid]

You can also use powdered sugar and borax. If you have protein seeking ants, use 1/2 borax, 1/2 peanut butter. Put it in an old jar with a lid and poke some holes in the lid, lay it on it's side and Bon Appetit. It really does work.

[Zalina]

Mice just love peanut butter (more than cheese); so make sure there's no mouse access to your house or You'll have even bigger problems than ants!

[bob.smitty]

a dead mouse problem? oO

[bir006]

Not if you're adding Borax to the peanut butter! Then you'll just have a dead mouse problem (stinky!).

[Zalina]

Really???? Will Borax actually kill mice as well as ants?

[bob.smitty]

Borax will kill anything and everything. It will also make your whites really bright if you add it to the washing machine while doing laundry!

[bir006]

I'd imagine Borax will kill about anything crawling around your home if enough of it is digested, yeah. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002485.htm