Peppermint is a natural insect repellent that may effectively deter ants and other bugs, such as mosquitoes. To use peppermint essential oil as an ant deterrent, complete the following steps: Mix 10 to 20 drops peppermint essential oil with 2 cups water in a clean plastic spray bottle.
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.
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.
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.
Better Than Hopscotch: Ants will not cross a chalk line. Draw a chalk line in front of exterior doors, to prevent ants from coming into the house. You can also draw a chalk line around tables on the porch or patio, to keep pesky ants away while dining outdoors.
Flour. Wondering how to get rid of ants without dangerous pesticides? Sprinkle a line of flour along the backs of pantry shelves and wherever you see ants entering the house. Repelled by the flour, ants won't cross over the line. This is the best way to get rid of ants at home.
Use Table Salt + water OR no water. This solution does “kill”. It dehydrates them.
Aside from garnishing your tea, lemons can also be extremely helpful when it comes to combating ants in your home. The smell of the lemons masks the scent trails that they use to get to and from food, and also generally deters them from taking up residence.
A line of chalk will stop ants in their tracks
Draw a line in chalk along the exterior of any external doors that lead into your home. Chalk is made from calcium carbonate, which ants hate, so they will be deterred to cross.
Use this white vinegar solution to spray all entry points of your home, try to spry all windows, doors, baseboards and the common paths that ants would travel within your home. Give about an hour for this solution to take effect, then after a few hours the ants should be dead.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Vinegar does not kill ants in the traditional sense: you spray it, and the ant dies. The only way this remedy is effective is if the ant drowns in vinegar (though water accomplishes the same thing).
Vinegar and Water
Vinegar mixed with water can repel and kill ants. It's also not dangerous to humans unless you have an allergy. The only drawback is the smell it leaves behind. Mix equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle.
If you have those ripe bananas on your counter for too long, they will be all over that. – Air Fresheners: Air fresheners contain a range of ingredients including sweet and fruity that can be alluring to all kinds of pests including ants.
"The scent of eucalyptus is the driving factor that keeps insects out of your home," says Evie. "Add sprigs of eucalyptus around your bathroom, kitchen and living room. You can also mix a few leaves with witch hazel and water and spray any areas that ants can gather."
Use citrus, like lemons, oranges, or grapefruit and harnesses the power of d-limonene — the acidic oil found in the peels. This oil is toxic to ants (so it will kill them on contact) and it messes up their trail, so live ones won't be able to find the food source.
Carnivorous ants show no such preference. Ants prefer salty snacks to sugary ones, at least in inland areas that tend to be salt-poor, according to a new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ants know to avoid pure baking soda, so you can sprinkle it around doorways, window sills, and other entry points to keep them out of your home. You can also sprinkle some in cabinets, under sinks, and in other dark, moist places where ants may find shelter in your home.
Mix a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray it directly on the ants to kill them, then wipe up the ants using a damp paper towel and discard them. You can also use vinegar and water as a deterrent; spray it around your windowsills, doorways and other places where you see ants coming inside.
As a general rule, ants are strongly attracted to smells from candy, sweet-scented foods, carbohydrates, sugary drinks, fruit-scented candles, meat, perfume, nuts, seeds, grease, oil fats, and dirty laundry.
Epsom salt can be a very effective pesticide, and it can be used against ants specifically. However, it does pose a risk to your garden if you use too much. Consider saving the Epsom salts for a relaxing bath and pick another organic pesticide if you have a small infestation.
invicta workers do have color vision and have a preference for green, orange and red and least prefer blue. “Many people would not consider studying if ants have color vision because ants generally rely on chemicals instead of vision when exploring their environments,” Carbaugh said.
Home Ant Control Tips
Windex – While this will not affect the queen, it is a very quick way to eliminate thousands of ants at a time. 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.