On the hunt for all natural ant killers that you feel safe using around your loved ones? You’re in good company.
Everyone has a different level of tolerance for pests. Some people don’t mind too much when they find they have six-legged freeloaders taking up space in their home.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who are ready to burn the house down and never look back at the first sight of an insect.
And you know what? As insane as that reaction might be, you can’t argue with its effectiveness.
In between those two extremes is where most of us live. No one wants to have pests of any kind in the home, but you have to strike a balance between solving pest problems and keeping your family healthy and well.
Top 3 All Natural Ant Killers
These days, we’re all very worried about what chemicals are going into the food we eat and the soy latte frappuccinos that we drink, so it only makes sense to pay attention to what kind of chemicals you use in your home.
There’s no point getting rid of ants if you’ve made yourself sick in the process.
The trouble with pesticides is that they’re designed to kill.
Of course, you could argue that pesticides don’t kill ants, people do. But they use pesticides to do it.
Unfortunately, pesticides can often have unintended consequences. The same chemical that will kill a thriving ant nest could make you or your family sick.
So if you’re concerned about the adverse effects of the pesticides used to treat an ant problem, don’t worry. There are all natural ant killers out there that are perfectly safe for humans and pets.
And best of all, they actually work.
Borax is an all natural ant killer…
As a naturally occurring salt of boric acid, Borax is both natural and organic. It’s been used forever as a household cleaner, and there was once a time when no grandmother’s pantry would be without this useful product.
But Borax is also an effective stomach poison for ants. So effective, in fact, that it is still used in professional grade ant baits to this day.
To use borax, you may want to mix it with something that will attract ants such as sugar water. Of course, this will make it more attractive to pets too.
One way to get around this is to create a mixture of sugar and borax and soak it up with cotton balls, then place those cotton balls where the ants can find them. Ants are small enough that they can suck the moisture right out of the cotton in a way that a dog is not going to do.
Note: Borax is all natural, sure, but that doesn’t make it harmless. After all, earthquakes occur naturally too, but you don’t want one in your house.
When using borax as your choice of organic ant killer, be careful to keep it out of reach of both pets and children, just as you would with any household cleaner.
So is diatomaceous earth
Don’t worry; diatomaceous earth is easier to use than it is to spell. While this product is generally considered a pesticide, it works differently to any chemical on the market.
Diatomaceous earth is essentially a physical barrier to insects. This fine white powder comes from the crushed-up shells of fossilized sea creatures.
While to the human hand, the powder feels as fine and soft as flour, from an insect’s perspective it’s nothing but razor-sharp edges.
As a result, any insect that crawls over an area where diatomaceous earth has been applied will have its exoskeleton scratched and perforated to the point that it can no longer retain water.
The insect will then dehydrate and die, making this a highly effective, non toxic ant killer.
Just make sure you get food grade diatomaceous earth. This product is made to be used in places that handle food, such as kitchens and food manufacturers.
If someone – i.e., your dog – decides to lick up some of this powder, the diatoms are too small to do it any harm. But they will kill any insects stupid enough to cross it.
Diatomaceous earth can be applied as a powder, or can be mixed with water and sprayed from a spray bottle. Once the water dries, the diatomaceous earth will return to its powder form.
It’s easy to apply and works well to create a barrier inside or outside your home that insects won’t want to cross. It’s not going to kill an active ant colony by itself.
But it will give you some protection against foraging ants coming inside your living space.
Baking soda works in a pinch
While we’re on the topic of powders that ants can’t handle – let’s look at baking soda. Ever wondered why there are no ant bakeries? This is why. This is the only reason why.
Baking soda is a potent natural ant killer – it basically tears the dancehall up when ants ingest it. It damages them from the inside out until the point of death, so kind of like our average weekend diets I suppose.
Obviously, this tip is more geared towards indoor ant infestations or trails rather than exterior problems – out in the open world, they might never stumble across the delicious baking soda-mixed ant baits you set, whereas in the home (or in the gaps and holes where you’ve located them) there’s much greater chance they’ll stumble across the tasty and lethal treat.
That being said, baking powder isn’t particularly appealing or alluring in and of itself, even to ants with their weird diets.
If you mix it in with something nice and tasty, though, such as sugar powder, peanut butter, honey, or syrup then you’ve got yourself a handy DIY, natural ant bait trap. How clever are you?
As you can see, it’s possible to get ants out of your house without poisoning yourself, your family or your pets. A strongly worded letter probably isn’t going to deter them.
But these natural ant killing solutions should do the job.