Does anyone know of a way to get rid of ants without useing chemicals?

Question

I have a 8 month old baby who is crawaling and getting into everything and now that it is summer I have my ant problem again. I need away to kill them but without harmfull chemicals. I don't know where they all come from. There is no ant hills out side the house. We don't keep anything out and the house is clean so I don't understand why they are coming in the house. They like the dog food. Please help! Any ideas?

Answer 1

ANT BAIT

You'll find it effective, but be patient -- it may take a week to 10 days to be fully effective.

In the meantime kill ants in the house with Windex or another ammonia-based cleaner. Clean and kill, all in one motion.

Recipe:

1 part 20 Mule Team Borax or Boric acid
9 parts of a sweet sticky liquid like maple syrup, honey or Karo syrup

Mix the ingredients. Heating in a double boiler may speed the process. Take an empty margarine tub and poke 4 holes around the bottom edge (entry holes for ants to walk in).

Place a dollop the size of a quarter in the middle of the tub, then put the top back on. This mixture is not non-toxic, however it is less toxic, and that's the key to its success.

The ants carry it back to the nest where they feed it to the entire colony and wipe out the nest.

Answer 2

This may sound cruel, but we sometimes implement 'the carnage trail' technique. You squash the ants in the area you don't want them...just leave the bodies there. The smell of the carnage will be enough to cause the surviving ants to panic and send the message back home. They'll stop coming, but within a few hours, a 'recovery team' will be dispatched to retrieve the bodies (this is actually very sad to watch which is why we don't like to implement this technique very much.) Your area will be cleared until the next scout comes by and does not detect the carnage scent.
There are also some supposedly harmless chemicals that you can use around the perimeter of your home...this should have no effect on your baby. The ants may not necessarily be trying to get into your home...the home might just be in the way. The perimeter chemicals help divert the traffic around your home. Ask your OSH salesperson.

Answer 3

If there are INSECTS inside a house I envision some sort of "lure" where you can lure them onto a PAPER or something and then let them outside.

I mean insects live in our world, from what I know about them they have SHORTER LIFE time periods and I hear a lot of them are POLYGAMOUS, but that may just be RUMORS or they may have been ACTING to trick man for all I know, I mean if you knew you were being watched what EXTENT would you go to to try to "throw off the watcher", and if you knew that LIFE was of a KARMIC way where you came back and such what would you say?... now I am not speaking up for any CREATURE over another... I believe in DEFENSE where JUSTIFIED but just realize that in some COSMIC way if we say we want to kill these INSECTS that are not even in our houses, well how would you be treated on that "scale"? I DO NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS and I HOPE MANY OTHERS will rise with INFORMATION as to how we can live more closely with creatures like insects.

I think that maybe if we provided FIELD LOTS and FOREST area "preserves" in more areas maybe we could better CROP RETURNs rather than people even thinking about "pesticides" and such as to say.

I would suggest a SANDBOX maybe, for the child to play in? I don't know if ants would go into there or what. When I was a KID I was NOT BROUGHT up in a VEGAN WAY and I would MURDER insects and I was WRONG to do such... I feel bad about it when i look back. I am not speaking about when we wouLD swat a mosquito or hornet who was "attacking us out of line" or inadvertantly/accidentally slicing an insect with a SPADE in the garden or hitting one with a CAR... although I do think about those things and I do in sense feel bad about that~ but it is an "accident" in those cases as compared to murder and I do feel that there is some FORCE of life that can UNDERSTAND that pretense in a way... to the degree that when accidents do happen well the hope is that there is LESS for man or for ant and that if we do get CAUGHT up in an ACCIDENT we "go without pain"(or the least amount possible)

INSECTS MAY or may not suffer LESS pain than an animal when they are SEVERED or what have you I do not know.

I hope you can REALIZE the NEED to get your "dog or baby"(in the same vein) on PLANT BASED DIETs...

As I said I do not have all the answers BUT the ONE THING I know for sure is what I know for sure.
BE VEGAN
www.link.20fr.com

Answer 4

well you could squish them one at a time, but it takes a lot of effort.
Removing their source of food is usually the first step and most difficult task, we would feed our dog, let her eat then remove the bowl until the next feed. this worked until they found the gumball machine full of peanut m&m's. and a loaf of bread the machine had to go.
I have read some on non-chem removal, and a lot of advise shows you how to "live with" them, they can be a nuisance, but hey all they are really doing is cleaning up crumbs..

I found they were coming in the behind electric socket.
( in the end , I did set ant traps in corners, and zap behind the drywall in the elec. socket area **power off first, remember)

Fire ants outside are a different story and a different threat. and all efforts i have tried usually just move them around to a different area or the neighbors yard, it's a constant battle they will always win as it seems.

Answer 5

This sounds dumb, but I don't like the pest control chemicals, either, so I spray window cleaner on any ants I see, as well as anywhere I think they may be coming in, then wipe the areas with some paper towels. It takes a little longer to completely get rid of them than with pesticide, but I feel much better doing that.

Answer 6

You should only put the dog food down when your dog is going to eat.. then pick it back up when your dog is done.. don't leave it on the floor...

There are ant poisons for sugar ants that you can put up out of your babies reach but they won't work for other ants...

There are ant baits that you can put up out of the way too...

You can also use diatinacious (sp?) earth (DE) which is not harmful to humans or pets (unless you have a hard shelled insect for a pet)... it is like very tiny sharp pieces of sand that will destroy the insect's shell but is not large enough to harm mammals, birds, lizards, etc.

Edit: OH! almost forgot my favorite ones!!! A hammer.. or a magnifying glass!!! *GriN*

Answer 7

Ants become a nuisance when they enter homes. Instead of spending money on costly pest control, you can get rid of ants by removing the food source and using soap water.

Answer 8

Take a piece of melon and put it far away from the house and they will be more attracted to that then anything you have and leave you alone.

Answer 9

I've used bay leaf in my kitchen when I had a problem with them coming in behind my stove. It works as the smell repels them.

Answer 10

ants are so disturbing i am suffering big time form those organized witty creatures... my advice look for the house ...the place they live in and destroy it ...
detol is good ..not poisonous and it kills them