Natural Ways to Get Rid of Ants in Your Home

Each and every summer, we do battle with the ants that make their way into our house. They are drawn here by the myriad dropped Cheerios my toddler leaves them, as well as the flour and sugar canisters in the kitchen.

The most common way to deal with an ant problem is to buy one of those small ant traps that contain both a lure and a pesticide that the ants will carry back to the nest, killing the rest of the colony. The problem is that those little traps seem to attract small children (hey, what is this thing?) and they’re not something I want any of my kids touching. So I started looking for some more natural solutions to the problem. I hope these help:

Natural Ant Control

Baby powder, dusted on both the ants when you see them, and at their entry point into your house.
Spray white vinegar mixed with water to get rid of the ants’ scent trails – if they can’t smell their scent trails, they’ll stop coming around.
Even more ant-fighting power: vinegar and water, with about ten drops of tea tree oil mixed in. This is an excellent cleaner, disinfectant, and deodorizer.
Place bay leaves or cloves at their point of entry. Ants hate the scent of these, and will avoid them.
You can also try sprinkling cayenne pepper at their point of entry.
You can make your own Borax ant traps to help get rid of your ant problem for good.

Ants can be a real annoyance (besides just being kind of gross — who wants to see ants crawling around on the kitchen counter?) but these tips should help you get control of the problem without resorting to harmful chemicals.

Read more: Home, Natural Pest Control, Nature, ants

By Colleen Vanderlinden, Planet Green

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Sherri M.

8:27PM PDT on Sep 29, 2011

Good article. Thanks!!

send a green star

Kathy D.

12:40AM PDT on Sep 19, 2011

Ants are not gross -they are one of the most organized creatures on this planet. I moved a plastic sided mat off a bench outside which had not been there for very long and they had nested with eggs and babies. In less then five minutes they moved everyone to their ground level nest. It was amazing!

Christine B.

8:28AM PDT on Jul 26, 2011

Please try to use the natural methods. Remember to consider the tree frogs, toads, lizards, birds, etc. that might come in contact with poisons placed around your foundations and window sills!

Wilfried K.

1:05PM PST on Mar 2, 2011

Good tips, thank you.

IN RETREAT D.

2:42AM PDT on Nov 1, 2010

You cannot currently send a star to Andrea because you have done so within the last week.

Lost A.

8:14AM PDT on Oct 31, 2010

Never, heard of the baby powder thing...will try it!

Ingrid Offline A.

3:14AM PDT on Oct 24, 2010

Thanks for posting, very good information!

Past Member .

7:01PM PDT on Sep 15, 2010

thanks!!!

5:25AM PDT on Sep 4, 2010

thanks a bunch.

Christine F.

4:59PM PDT on Aug 13, 2010

We've had several invasions and now use ultra-sonic things - plug into an electric socket and within a few days they're all away. the biggest problem we've found is that the sound waves need a clear passage.