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Always seemingly having an ant problem in South Texas I came across this and thought it could come in handy for others. The author lists deterrents as well as methods for killing the entire mound....
I use a homemade spray made from feverfew daisy soaked in water with dish soap added, feverfew is a natural pyrethrum. I keep a bottle in my truck and use it to kill yellow jackets and ants. I put the mix in a spray bottle and spray the ants and it kills them after a few minutes. For killing the colony if I find it, I pour the mix directly on and in the nest. It even kills the large black and red ants we have in California. These ants devour everything in sight and make mounds up to 3 feet across. Since I make it myself, I can always make more.
Problem is that different areas have different ants, and different ants have different habitats, different hunting/scavenging methods, and different nutritional requirements. You can't treat a sugar ant infestation the same way you treat a carpenter ant infestation or a fire ant infestation.
Most of the herbal & aromatic remedies listed only work on common/sugar ants, and only if they aren't already setting up permanent housekeeping in your home.
Borax works, and works on every ant I've ever had to deal with... BUT you have to keep treating until the entire colony is dead, and then treat again the minute you notice any newcomers scouting your area. Adding borax to both sugar water and peanut butter makes sure that sugar eating and protein eating ants get a dose.
Boiling water works, BUT only if you kill the queen and there is only one nest in the colony (or you find & douse every nest). Boiling water with steeped tobacco leaves works even better... nicotine fries their little nervous systems and they get confused trying to escape. Or steep crysanthemums, or other natural pyrethrin containing plants. I've heard that aspartame in boiling water has the same effect, but I wouldn't have that evil in my house if you paid me.
DE works, BUT only if you treat around the mound so that every ant coming and going takes a bit back for everyone else to enjoy. If you just treat your doorstep, you'll only kill off the scouts & scavengers and then the queen will just make more! (esp. true of carpenter and fire ants). DE works much better to keep stored foods from getting infested in the first place since the scout dies usually before he can tell everyone else where the food is; it doesn't really help after you have an infestation.
Chalk (or clay/brick dust) didn't do diddly except turn the ants funny colors. Baking soda, Cream of Wheat and corn meal didn't work in my experience except with sugar ants, and then more of a deterrent than remedy.
The only surefire ways I know to solve an ant infestation is to 1) remove their food source, 2) remove their water source, 3) remove hospitable habitat, and 4) find and then burn all the nests with a weed torch and/or break out the borax.
I have a wonderful hummingbird feeder which I'm not willing to get rid of. One time when I brought it into the house to refill it, I "invited" a couple of little sugar ants in. Within 24 hours I had trails of those critters all over my kitchen. I kept wiping the counters down and trying to stem the tide. Then I realized they weren't just coming in for food. Humidity was about 4% and they wanted the water.
I tracked the trail to a spot in the wall above the kitchen outside on the patio. I have dogs and didn't want to use poison. So all I had was chili pepper powder. I poured the powder into a dish, took a wet paper towel and dipped it into the dish. Then I dabbed the entire trail with this goo. Then I took the pepper powder and sprinkled it all into the entry at the top of the trail going under my roof. HINT - don't do this when the wind is blowing!!!! LOL!!! It was like having mace sprayed into my face!! I was laughing and crying at the same time.
This did the trick. No more ants.
FIRE ANTS are a different matter. They are like super-ants. I show them no mercy and I break my "natural only" rule. Amdro® is the only thing I've found that works. It's little yellow pellets that they take into their nests and it takes them to that great ant colony in the sky. Then it's God's problem. I like Amdro because it works fast, the pellets are tiny, and they disappear into the ant hill really fast. Maybe it's made of ant crack.
Yeah, I totally lose my "live and let live ... no synthetic poison" rule when it comes to fire ants and carpenter ants. Those tenacious little beasts need major firepower and I learned to be more than happy to bring the rain
Try TERRO. A couple of years ago, I had Carpenter ants in my kitchen and cleanliness was not the problem. I tried half-dozen remedies, and none of them worked. I heard about TERRO and checked it out. It's borax-based, not harmful to pets or humans, (although I don't suggest making it easy for children or Fido to get to). When I tell you, it was like a kegger for the ants. They spent two days back and forth across the kitchen soffit and down the wall to the bait. It was a creepy sight but in the end, they were gone.
This year, I had little black ants and I had Raid baits, which didn't do anything. After several days, I bought TERRO and in 36 hours, they were gone.
I'm not one for poisons, but borax is a natural mineral that is pretty common. I have yet to find a homemade solution that actually works.
Last edited by theatergypsy; 05-10-2013 at 04:16 AM..
at the moment Im using talcum powderaround the outside of the house and doorways.. as well as washing floors and kitchen tops with vinegar and water.... , I started doing this a week ago and Im looking around the kitchen floor at the moment and dont see any although last week they were getting really bad.. of course I dont have the same types of ants you do in the US..
There are several borax-based ant baits/poison on the market and the best one to use depends on the location you need to bait and which type of ant you're dealing with. Terro, Gourmet & Advance have worked well for me in liquid, granule & disk forms both indoor and outdoor... but it's tons cheaper to make your own with sugar & borax or PB & borax and put it out in some style of feeder station.
The borax-based treatments are baits... they have to be ingested in concentration and then taken back & shared with the nest. They aren't long-lasting barrier poisons that get sprayed on your lawn. If you sprayed a borax solution on your yard, not only wouldn't it kill the ants after the first rain diluted it, it would eventually kill your lawn since borax kills plants and it is cumulative in soil. In concentrations effective for ant control and cleaning, boron isn't toxic to animals & children; but it can still burn a path in your lawn if you set up a line of granules around the perimeter of a structure or where you dump out borax cleaning water. And it can kill an animal or child if they ingest enough of it, small dogs (sugar & PB) and cats (PB) can get very sick after eating/drinking an entire long-term outdoor bait station (2-6 oz of bait) or drinking from a puddle/bucket of borax cleaning water.
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I like Amdro because it works fast, the pellets are tiny, and they disappear into the ant hill really fast. Maybe it's made of ant crack. 
