Some popular home remedies feed rather than kill ants.
Home remedies for killing ants are almost as plentiful as the ants themselves. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't work. Remedies can sometimes disturb the nest, causing the ants to move, which makes the remedy appear to work. In actuality, the ants are just a few feet away and still causing problems. Luckily, a few household products have been scientifically proven to effectively kill ants. Does this Spark an idea?
Home Remedies That Don't Work
Using grits, cornmeal or oatmeal does not kill ants. A lot of people believe that ants either explode or dehydrate after eating these materials, but it doesn't happen. Ants don't eat solid food so it can't ruin their digestive process, according to Texas A& M entomologist Bastiaan M. Drees, who tested grits and Malt-O-Meal on fire ants. Ants take food back to their colony and feed it to larvae who regurgitate it in a digestible form. Plus, ants like corn (which is what grits and cornmeal are) and oats. So, you are essentially feeding the ants. Dry yeast is another product that people claim can kill by producing a gas that ruptures an ant's stomach.
Ineffective Home Remedies
A number of other home remedies are partially effective, according to Kelly Loftin and John Hopkins, entomologists with the University of Kansas, including gasoline, bleach, ammonia and urine. They might kill a few ants, but they also pollute the environment and can get into the ground water. Pouring boiling water onto a nest may kill a small colony, but Colorado State University Extension entomologist W.S. Cranshaw says its effectiveness is not worth the dangers of handling boiling water.
Borax or Boric Acid
The best homemade ant killer is borax, also known as boric acid or sodium tetraborate. It is found in homes as a multi-purpose cleaner or laundry booster. It is so effective that many commercial ant baits use it to kill ants. The trick to using it is finding a food that will attract the ants and mixing it strong enough to kill but not too strong that it kills too quickly. If the ants die before taking it back to the nest, which may happen if you create liquid bait, then it will be ineffective.
A number of recipes exist for creating borax bait and you may need to experiment until you find one that works best for your ants. To create borax bait, mix about 1 to 2 teaspoons borax with 1 cup of food. Food can be honey, sugar, peanut butter, apple jelly, corn syrup, bacon grease or anything similar. Place the bait onto index card, pieces of foil or bottle caps. Keep it away from pets and children. Continue baiting for at least three to four weeks.
Soap and Water
Whether soap products work to kill ants is questionable. Spraying products such as window cleaner on ants will kill them directly, according to the University of California Integrated Pest Management Online. However, Barbara Ogg, an extension educator with the University of Nebraska, says that vinegar, lemon juice, bleach and ammonia are all ineffective at killing ants. Furthermore, entomologists Jeffrey Hahn and Phillip Pellitteri say that pharaoh ants are known to eat soap with no ill effects.
What soap can do is drown ants. Texas A&M entomologists Charles L. Barr and Bastiaan M. Drees found that a mixture of 4 tablespoons soap to 1 gallon of water was enough to break the surface tension of the water and drown fire ants, which are known for their ability to create floating "balls" to survive floods. While dishes of soapy water would be ineffective at killing colonies of ants, they can be used to protect food dishes and plants.
Tags: kill ants, ants they, Bastiaan Drees, bleach ammonia, boiling water, borax bait, fire ants