How To Get Rid Of Ants – The Top 5 Best Effective Methods

There are many annoying household pests, but none are more persistent or numerous than ants. The small insects can fit into even the tiniest of holes, and when they do, they can take over a kitchen or cabinet in no time.

Luckily, there are more than a few ways, both natural and store-bought, to get rid of the small black invaders.

The Top 5 Ways You Can Keep Ants At Bay – And How To Get Rid Of Ants Once They’ve Invaded

There are several different routes you can take when learning how to get rid of ants. You can choose more traditional methods, or you can go the home remedy route.

Both are great options, and whichever you pick comes down to both personal preference and the type of ants around your home.

The following guide will cover some of the easiest remedies out there to help you figure out which one works best for your situation:

1. Over The Counter Spray And Traps – Bait And Switch

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We begin our list with the most popular way to get ants out of your home: store bought items. There are currently a range of different traps and sprays on the market, and all of them are fairly effective.

Here you have the choice to pick between commercial spray and commercial bait.

Spray is effective and works extremely well to kill off any ant trails scattered around your home. In addition, certain ones will also block the ants’ scent and prevent others from coming into your house.

In this way, they act as both a repellant and a removal method.

As great as spray is at stopping insects inside your home, bait traps are one of the best commercial ways to make sure the pests die at the source.

That is because bait does not just kill one or two ants. Rather, the insects take it back to their hill and share it with the rest of the colony.

From there, all of the ants eat it and the poison kills them. All you have to do it strategically place the bait at entryways around your house, let the ants collect it, and wait.

If you want, you also have the option of mixing sprays with bait. However, if you do this it is important to never spray around where the bait traps are. If you do that, the ants will avoid the area and never take the bait back to the colony.

2. Borax – Getting The Right Mix

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Another great way to get rid of ants is borax. This substance, which is a white mineral used in glass and ceramics, is toxic to the insects.

It also works a lot like commercial bait in that ants are naturally attracted to it. If you lay Borax out for the insects, they will ingest it and it will kill them.

This is one of the most effective way to get rid of ants in your home, and it works with lethal efficiency (especially when you have invasions coming from different places).

The important thing to note about borax is that you don’t lay it out on its own.

To use it correctly you want to mix it with other foods that ants love to eat. For example, you can combine equal parts borax and jelly or honey – and put it on a flat plate near the ant trails.

In addition, you also have the option to mix 1 part borax with 3 parts granulated sugar and then combine that substance with water until it reaches a syrup-like consistency.

You can even create a paste by mixing borax, water, and cornmeal.

All three of those methods work well and will keep ants at bay. Just be sure to keep borax, which is toxic, away from both pets and small children so they do not accidentally ingest it.

3. Peppermint – An Extremely Strong Smell

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The two above methods work well for anyone learning how to get rid of ants, but they both involve toxins. This next method, peppermint, is a natural option that uses a commonplace substance you likely already have on hand.

Peppermint may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to dealing with insects, but the delicious herb serves as a natural insect repellent against many common household pests.

The first two methods in this guide work on killing invading ants, but peppermint (which is much safer for families with small children or animals) simply dissuades ants from entering your home.

Ants hunt for food by sending scouts out into the world. Once a scout finds a meal, it lays down a marker that other members of its colony can use to locate the tasty snack.

Those trails are essential for ants. Without them the insects would become lost and not know where to go. Peppermint, with its powerful odor, disrupts those lines and stops ants from being able to go back to the food once it’s been found.

In addition, the smell of peppermint will keep the colony at bay and stop outsiders from coming in. It is not just the lack of a trail that makes this effective, it is that ants do not like the odor.

To apply peppermint, mix 10 drops of peppermint oil with 1 cup or water and spray it on areas where you find the insects. Do this twice a day until the ants are completely gone.

In addition, you can also grow peppermint in your kitchen (great for those with an indoor garden) or sprinkle dried peppermint around your doors, garbage cans, and entryways.

4. Cinnamon, A Not-So-Sweet Spice

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To use number four on this list you simply have to reach into your spice cabinet. Cinnamon has long been used as a natural insect repellent, and for good reason.

Similar to peppermint, cinnamon comes with a strong smell that ants find displeasing. They will avoid it at all costs, which means putting it in choice locations will keep them at bay.

Ground cinnamon or cinnamon cloves both work, as do cinnamon essential oils. You’re looking for anything that comes with the overpowering smell because that is what ants actively avoid.

Cinnamon is a wonderful natural insecticide, which is what makes it such a good choice for getting rid of ants in your home.

To use the cinnamon in your cabinet (ground or cloves) you simply take a small amount and put it around any entry points where you find the black insects.

If you want to go the essential oil route, you simply mix 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon with a cup of water.

However, rather than spraying it on areas like you do with peppermint, you dip cotton balls into the solution and wipe down any openings where ants could enter from (or where they have already come in).

Repeat that process once each day until you see no more invaders.

This process is great for invasions, but it works as a wonderful preventative measure during the warmer months as well.

5. Lemon – A Very Versatile Remedy

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The final method on how to get rid of ants, lemon, is perhaps the simplest. The yellow fruit is very similar to both peppermint and cinnamon in that it is a wonderful natural way to keep invaders away from your home.

However, it has a distinct advantage in that it is much easier to get.

Just about everyone has lemon at their house, and if you don’t – all it takes is a simple trip to the store.

Ants do not like the smell of lemon juice because of its bitter and has acidic qualities. As such, using any part of the fruit will enable you to stop an invasion in its tracks or prevent one before it ever begins.

Lemons are extremely effective at keeping ants in your yard and out of your house. When using the yellow fruit, you can take advantage of them in numerous ways.

First, you can place the peel near any place where ants enter from. Second, you can squeeze a bit of lemon juice around those regions as a way to effectively stop the pests from climbing in through any cracks or small entrances.

Finally, if you want to take full advantage of the lemon treatment, you also have the option to mix a bit of water with lemon juice and then use the mixture to wash your floors.

That is a great way to mop up any tasty bits lying around and ensure that ants won’t come back once they leave.

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Ant And Bug Prevention, Your Way

Many people may wonder how to get rid of ants, but it is a simple process once you know what to do. The above options all work wonders, and you can choose whichever one sounds best for you.

If you try something and it doesn’t give you the results you want, you always have the option to switch over to something else. Though you should not assume one thing will work all of the time, as long as you pick from this article – you should see promising results.