Note: This post is a blast from the pretty far past — originally published in 2013, but relevant & updated in 2016 — because these darn ants, they are back every year.
When I ran a Borax giveaway a while back, several of you asked if the Borax really did get rid of the ants. Yes! I haven’t seen one in my kitchen since putting out this Borax recipe a couple of times. It works at least as well as, if not better than, the little ant bait things — plus, it’s easy to do and a better long term investment since you can also use your Borax for other purposes.
How does this work?
Do you get these every spring too? I get a bunch of little ants coming into my kitchen under one of the cabinets that backs up against an outside wall. I read online about people sprinkling a line of Borax and sugar along where the ants are coming in, but didn’t want to leave that out because of our cats. So instead I used this recipe from The Happy Housewife:
- Mix 1/2 C sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp Borax, and 1.5 C warm water.
- Soak cotton balls in the mixture, and put them out near the mess of ants.
- The sugar attracts the ants, and they’ll take the Borax with it back to their home.
If you have small children or pets, be sure that you keep them away from the Borax, and always wash your hands after using. Note: Thanks to several commenters who add that: If your ants don’t seem to be attracted to sugar, try mixing in some peanut butter instead. They may have a savory tooth rather than a sweet tooth! Just like people, insects are all different… 🙂
These particular ants love sugar…
BOY do these ants like this. In the initial Boraxian experiment, I locked the cats in the bedroom for a few hours and set several soaked cotton balls in a line along the edge of the cabinet where the ants were coming in. I let the ants go to town, picked up the cotton balls, wiped up the floor, and let the cats out. Then, I repeated the experiment for a second round of about an hour later in the evening (with MUCH fewer ants). By morning? No new ants in sight.
Update — The Borax Effect lasts for some time. When the ants inevitably return, though, it’s super easy to whip up another little batch.
Have you tried Borax to get rid of ants in your home? Comment here and let us know how it worked for you!
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Julie says
January 24, 2013 at 9:47 amI have used cornmeal and have been successful in getting rid of ants that way too!! Just put a line out, sometimes even dumping a bit right near where the ants seemed to be coming from. And within a day–no ants!!
bamminer says
August 29, 2016 at 11:03 amCornmeal is conditional. 1. You can’t get it wet before they ingest it. This may include not putting it in a refrigerator, dew(if using outside), or near an area whether you’ve had a moist room. Plus, you’ll have to add a waterless second food item that is more attractive to them than the cornmeal(and that easily merges with it) or they might not eat it too quickly. Some eat raw CM quickly and some don’t. 2. It only seems to work on certain ants. I found that it didn’t work on the tiny black ants at all, but had mixed results with fire ants: it killed off one huge colony of fire ants. It took a long time; it seemed like it took at least 3 months(was a big colony). Bait was changed out only once. However, the next time we tried it, they didn’t take the honey+CM bait that had worked so well on the other FA colony. Neither did subbing in peanut butter for honey and/or baking soda for cornmeal help, as they loved it and it did not seem to rid our home of them. Raid got rid of them that time.
Deterrent: I found that cayenne pepper works for the tiny black ants. It doesn’t seem to work on fire ants, though. Put it where they come in and throughout their trafficked areas. It takes about 2-3 days if you already have an infestation. They’ll walk right through as if it doesn’t bother them, but it will! Eventually, you won’t see them again there. My guess is that it has the same effect as it does on people that are not used to eating hot stuff–maybe to the extreme! It does not kill them, but they’ll definitely have to try and find another way in. Since this is the case, go around your home and seal up openings; add cayenne pepper powder to openings; and/or add wind and rain proof poison to your openings on the outside. Or you could find out where they are on the outside–if it can be seen. I suspect sometimes they come from underneath or have a nest inside your home.
I have heard that Borax and Boric acid really works well on ants, roaches, etc. Some say use it as a food bait and some say use it as a powder that they’ll cross for their own demise. My guess is that you can do both. Plus, it is said it is only slightly toxic and also said that the gov’t labels it as if it were as toxic as table salt.
chrisP says
August 2, 2017 at 9:26 amI’ve been using borax and sugar on the little black ants for a couple years and it works really well for me. They are attracted to our humming bird feeders so I already knew they liked sugar water.
Fire ants on the other hand are little murder machines so they prefer protein to carbs (sugar). I used a 5 to 1 ratio of peanut butter to borax to wipe out a couple fire ant colonies in my yard.
It took couple of weeks though. Typically i can kill off the black ones in a matter of days.
Kendra says
June 30, 2019 at 7:04 pmThis is great news. I have tiny brown ants in the bathroom coming in though concrete plus at least 10 colonies outside along foundation and fire ants in a couple of spots in the garden. I have all 3 ingredients and will be using this for sure. I have cats so it occurred to me to use a containing from recycling with tiny holes cut for the ants to crawl under for the cotton ball soaked in borax and sugar and or peanut butter etc. This way the cats do not get to the cotton ball. I have one cat that I would actually have to wonder if she’d go for it lol. She’s old and odd but from what I hear some cats really enjoy human food.
susan says
January 29, 2020 at 10:46 amKilling them in the house is good but they are a benefit in the garden. If they are away from the house let them be.
Sally says
July 15, 2019 at 11:04 amHave you tried boric acid and sweetened condensed milk. Make a paste and spread it where needed. This was what I was taught when I moved to Texas
Sharon Lewis says
February 28, 2017 at 2:24 pmI have tree ants bad in my house does this work on all ants
Linda says
July 11, 2017 at 8:09 pmThey may be carpenter ants. Have your home inspected.
Joyce says
July 30, 2017 at 1:16 pmHow do I get rid of ant hills in my yard. My yard is covered in ant hills. Help me.
Joyce says
July 30, 2017 at 1:17 pmHelp me fast pleas. My yard looks awful. Joyce
chrisP says
August 2, 2017 at 11:19 amIf you have ant “hills” they could be fire ants and they have a painful sting. 5 to 1 ratio of borax to peanut butter make a good bait but you have to mix it up really well. Putting the borax in with some water and making a paste then warming in the microwave before mixing helps. It can take a couple of weeks to completely destroy the colony and you will have to resupply the bait every other day or so because fire ants like to bury their food.
OK, that said I hate fire ants and if you have several mounds I suggest you resort to chemical warfare. Pour a liquid killer with Acephate directly onto each mound to wipe them out instantly then use a granular poison that will settle into the soil to keep them out of your yard longer term.
For more info Google “How to do the fire ant two-step” and watch the YouTube video. It’s only a minute and seven seconds long.
Or you could call an exterminator. Good luck.
.
Spencer says
October 30, 2017 at 2:07 pmI have animals so I am not able to use the chemical stuff. I boil big huge pots of water and we dump it on our ant piles near the porch edges and sidewalks … you will find little ant bodies everywhere the next morning but it really works. I then leave out borax bait or diatomaceous earth sprinkled on old mound and they don’t come back.
Kim C says
April 28, 2019 at 2:06 pmMy parents live outside of town in the desert, and they pour a tiny bit of gas down fire ant hills and light them on fire. They make sure there is no dry grass or anything nearby before doing this. My mom says it works! Though boiling water seems safer 😉 I will try this sugar/borax solution as I’m currently fightin with tiny black ants in our kitchen! GROSS!
Tink says
October 26, 2018 at 6:45 amHi there Joyce ? try using Borax
1 tablespoon to 6 tablespoons of sugar dissolved in a very small amount of warm water, making sure that the mix looks like sugar crystals….
Place in the area where the ants are and make sure no children or pets/animals can come into contact with this as it is POISON ☠️ WASH YIUR HANDS AFTER USE
PLEAE USE NASK AS TO NOT BREATH IN VAPOURS
Good luck Tink
Janet says
April 16, 2019 at 7:29 pmI save Parmesan cheese containers, mix up the borax recipe & cotton balls , put it in the containers & open the sprinkle side so the ants can go in. Then I put them around the house where ants are coming in
Wade says
May 30, 2019 at 5:31 pmBorax powder (sodium tetraborate) is not particularly toxic… the LD50 (median lethal dose) is 3 g/kg in rats, not far off from table salt and grain alcohol. It’s a mild irritant but only because it’s rather alkaline, similar to baking soda. It’s nice not to get a bunch on your skin, in your eyes, or in your lungs. But no great care’s required. You can rest easy; borax is a pretty safe way to eliminate ants if you need to.
Laura says
July 3, 2019 at 6:33 pmDon’t be silly. Borax is less toxic than salt. Do your research. Think more: it’ s free.
Melissa Monroe says
April 7, 2019 at 1:27 pmDry grits gets rid of fire ants just sprinkle some on each mound
Janice L Wyn says
July 22, 2018 at 5:11 amI’m having some major issues with the tiny ants in my kitchen as well as in bedrooms at times. I have tried peppermint extract and realized it should have been oil instead. I previously used the ant baits from the store and they didn’t work too well. I’ve had to throw away cereal because of ants being in it. Any recommendations for any and all homemade ant baits would greatly be appreciated.
Heather says
May 25, 2019 at 5:30 pmThe liquid Terro is relatively cheap (a couple dollars) and highly effective with those small sugar ants. Sometimes you’ll hear sugars ants also referred to as ‘odorous ants’ because if you go and squish a bunch of them like we’re all tempted to when we see tons on our counters, there’s this weird odor that will waft thru the air out of their crushed corpses. But don’t squish them because Terro is much more efficient and effective.
They’ll gobble up the Terro and bring it back to the nest to share with their brethren. Terro is a sugar syrup and borax combo that is made at the perfect consistency to make sure they’ll find it appetizing but have enough borax hidden within to wipe out their colony. Sugar ants only take a couple a days to eliminated with this method.
3/4″ circle are usually big enough for the little ants to get their fill. I’ve fought 2 small ant infestations with just a quarter of a small bottle of Terro. Now I have carpenter ants (cry T.T) in my kitchen and they are finishing off the bottle and seem eager to eat the Terro too. They are getting larger circles because they consume much more with their big-ass bodies being probably 10xs the size of sugar ants. They are currently eating away at it in my cabinet; I’ll need to wait and see how many days it takes for us to claim complete victory.
One other point… we seem to get ant problems right after a few good rains in spring. They’ll come up into houses in search of higher ground. Once the hotter summer comes, they’ll usually retreat back into the wilderness where it is cooler to build nests. So we usually just need to deal with them once per year around April or May in NE USA.
Jennifer Nunley says
June 9, 2019 at 9:05 amI just tried this borax sugar water mix. Oh my gosh, so far so good! So many came out to the cotton ball I decided to leave it overnight. Not one ant left or coming to cotton ball! Hoping the colony was wiped out!!
Laurie says
January 24, 2013 at 9:50 amI need to try that! We have a crack in our slab & a few make their way thru the ceramic & laminate in the hallway. I’ve been using baby powder & while it works, it is very messy!
Renee says
January 24, 2013 at 9:52 amGreat tip! Going to have to remember it in the spring. Since you already have the Borax, a half cup in the wash is great at getting that mildewy smell out of towels.
letsshop says
January 24, 2013 at 10:29 amOnly time I ever get ants is when the Peony season comes around . And they climb into anything in my cabinet that they can get into .Try to keep most package foods in plastic containers .maybe I should try Borax (O:
JenniF says
January 24, 2013 at 11:46 amOMG! Thanks! I can’t wait to try this next summer. Every year we have a ton and I spray and spray and nothing helps. I have to be careful what I use because of my cat too. I’m going to put the cotton balls out side too!
Steve F. says
January 24, 2013 at 2:48 pmThank you Rachel!!!I will be trying this down here,,,,as soon as I get some Borax.
I was wondering how it went. Feel better…..better yet, come to Florida to shake that flu!!! LOL
rachel says
January 24, 2013 at 2:51 pmLOL Steve — I’d be that annoying coughing person on the plane that everyone hates! 🙂
Jill says
January 24, 2013 at 3:18 pmI actually just used straight Borax last year – I put a line of it on the top of my backsplash and it did the trick. In college I pul a line of borax up next to all the exterior walls of my apt. and got rid of cockroaches that way. Borax is the best!
Kay says
January 24, 2013 at 11:14 pmdo they take it back to the ‘ant house’ and it kills them? I get some coming in every year near a door but I also think some drop off a tree and come thru a skylight (really annoying having ants drop on your bed – especially when you’re in it!) I am not going on the roof to put cotton balls up there, but if they take it ‘home’ I can try it on the floor.
rachel says
January 25, 2013 at 9:30 pmYes, I think that’s what it is supposed to do. Worth a try! 🙂
Nikki says
March 27, 2013 at 8:04 pmok, just made your mixture and put it under the sink, pantry, and bathtub. They seem to be coming up from under our house, Husband wants to “bomb” under the house but I told him to give this a try first!
ok, an hour later, ants are all over it, I’ll post over the weekend to see if it has gotten rid of our little friends!
Kate K says
October 8, 2013 at 5:56 pmSo did it work? Inquiring minds want to know… plus I just found teeny ants all over my art desk. 😛
MAC says
July 28, 2013 at 11:51 pmCame home from dinner out to find that small ants had invaded our kitchen. Initially, I blamed my husband for not cleaning up remnants of snacks that were left where they fell. Then I sprinkled Borax on the ants and around the floor, especially near the walls, corners and in front of the sliding glass that leads to outside deck. Am I supposed to just leave the Borax there on the floor? If so, for how long? I just poured the Borax dry onto the floor. Is that correct? The ants seem to be walking on top of it with no effect. I did this 2 hours ago. Should I leave it there overnight? I did not add sugar, as I was afraid to make the problem worse. I did not wet the Borax. Is that still effective? Shopuld I clean up and reapply tomorrow?
Joyce Coo says
December 3, 2013 at 12:06 pmI had a problem along the baseboards of my kitchen and an occasional spider, sprayed Ortho Home Defense I purchased from Home Depot, haven’t spotted them in over a year.. The ants I mean, when I look up and see spider webs you know their infiltrating my space, it’s time to spray again. Today as I was placing silverware in the drawer I noticed crumbs and decided to pull out my silverware tray and lifted lining and saw a couple. I would never think of spraying the Ortho inside my kitchen drawers, so I googled the topic. I’m reading this site now and glad I already have the Borax at home. I’m going to wipe them out with Lysol or Pine sol but adding the sugar worries me. I’m going too try it with the cotton balls and see what happens,
L. JACOBSEN says
November 19, 2017 at 5:32 pmWhat does 1.5 c water in the borax recipe stand for along with 1-1/2 tbsp sugar and warm water and cotton ball?
rachel says
November 19, 2017 at 6:22 pmOne and a half cups of water.
Warren Dunn says
February 5, 2018 at 5:53 pmMac, My best approach. Do the sugar, water, borax combo, Soak a few little makeup remover rounds because they can be shaped to fit just about anywhere. Stand back and watch the stampede. The sugar and water are the bait and the borax is taken back to the hive and shared. I read that the borax mangles their insides. My ant problem is usually gone in hours or over night.. .
Gail I Conner says
March 21, 2018 at 6:00 pmI used old medicine bottle tops. The ones I’ve had lately have a little hole on the sides so they are perfect. Last year I used the ones without holes and they worked great as well. I just put some out in the traffic areas today!!
Joanne griffin says
March 25, 2018 at 9:01 amDid this last night, sat and watched the ants going back anc forth. Hundreds of them. This morning about 30 will clean up with soap and water and her pads were, then in a couple of days put out again in case I had some lazy ones. I hate bugs. Problem was in bathroom
Donna Daiber says
April 24, 2019 at 10:25 pmI did this today. I also watched hundreds of them move back and forth. But, they were carrying their eggs. They piled them up then thru all worked to take them away.
I have gotten rid of ants 5 other times using the Borax sugar solution. I have never seen them do this though. I let them carry on so they would carry it to the new nest.
MAC says
July 28, 2013 at 11:53 pmCame home from dinner out to find that small ants had invaded our kitchen. Initially, I blamed my husband for not cleaning up remnants of snacks that were left where they fell. Then I sprinkled Borax on the ants and around the floor, especially near the walls, corners and in front of the sliding glass that leads to outside deck. Am I supposed to just leave the Borax there on the floor? If so, for how long? I just poured the Borax dry onto the floor. Is that correct? The ants seem to be walking on top of it with no effect. I did this 2 hours ago. Should I leave it there overnight? I did not add sugar, as I was afraid to make the problem worse. I did not wet the Borax. Is that still effective? Should I clean up and reapply tomorrow? I’d like to not use ant spray
Anne says
July 29, 2013 at 8:19 amFrom what I read here and other places, the trick is to put the Borax in a sugar paste. I mix about a Tbsp of Borax, Tbsp of sugar, and a few drops of water into a thick paste. Spread it on some pieces of cardboard (or something else the ants can easily climb on and put it in the trail. The ants will completely swarm the trap for a couple hours and then disappear. I think sugar & water are crucial. In my experience, it works really well & sometimes use the outdoor stakes in conjunction with it (some of those are made with Borax sol’n, too).
rosie says
September 7, 2013 at 8:03 pmOK I tried the cotton ball mixture. I will post if it works! I have tried so many other remedy & no luck! I can’t even water my plants cause the crawl all over my legs. Even my hands. Lucky the are not inside my house,just outside every where. Wish me luck!
Pat says
June 15, 2017 at 10:14 pmLast night I had a parade of small ants in the camper……got out the borax, cotton balls and sugar…..this morning…nothing
Janelle says
September 23, 2013 at 4:24 pmThanks for this I tried it with the sugar and they just went around it, I must have savory ants! So I used peanut butter and borax (2 spoonful’s peanut butter to 1 of borax) smeared it in an old container with holes in the top for the safety of pets. Ants are now swarming it only 20 minutes later. Hopefully this will work!!
Kate K says
October 8, 2013 at 5:59 pmPlease let us know how it worked, Janelle. Thanks!
Arthur says
October 4, 2017 at 3:37 pmIt definitely works, and works great. I put cotton soaked borax (in little condiment cups with lids, and made holes for the ants to crawl in and out) one with sugar, one with peanut butter and one with honey, and my ants liked the honey mixture the best. Be careful not to use too strong a concentration of borax and sweetener. I found that if the borax is close to a 50/50 mix the ants start to leave it alone. So use less than 50% borax. The stronger the concentration, the faster it works but if they don’t eat it, it won’t work at all. I’m going to be trying a 25% borax mix to see how that works. I use a little hot water to blend the mix well and spread out the cotton ball in the condiment cup so the ants have more surface area to eat the mix.
Good Luck, God Bless!
Heather says
May 25, 2019 at 5:51 pmYeah, I think 20-25% borax is the perfect ratio so they love their lunch and are still physically able to feed the nest and spread the borax death.
It does make me a bit sad to think about ants succumbing to death via a gigantic inescapable fart stuck exploding within. Not a pleasant way to leave this life but… they are crawling all over my honey jar and invaded my baking cabinet! Please forgive me ants, RIP.
Manasseh33 says
April 27, 2016 at 7:59 amCorrect. For some reason some ants are drawn to protein like food (peanut butter) while others go for sweet foods like sugar. Go figure? ? Peanut butter with borex should work though.
Gabriel Reid says
April 18, 2017 at 10:04 pmThis is because ants forage for different things at different times depending upon the needs of the colony. Ever notice that sometimes ants will completely ignore water and other times they’ll get into damn near every liquid available thats left out? Its because of that need for variety. Proteins, oils, sugar, water, ect. the need naturally changes. Its usually not hard to figure out what that have in their cross hairs when they’re ransacking your home for goodies but the borax mixtures definitely work and are incredibly effective. Its not a cleanliness issue either although keeping the place hospital clean seriously helps but realistically, who the hell has time to clean 24-7? A cup of coffee with some sweetened creamer innocently left on a counter when you’re rushing out the door for work or whatever can quickly turn into a stomach churning eyeful when you catch them looting your coffee cup several hrs later. lol
May says
October 21, 2013 at 5:21 pmThank you! I am doing this right now!
Steve Z says
November 5, 2013 at 6:47 pmI made a mix of 2 tsp of 20 mule team borax to 1/4 cup og peanut butter. Heated up the peanut butter in the microwave til it liquified, mixed in the borax, 24 hours later there are a lot less ants. So far so good.
Alyse says
April 11, 2014 at 11:36 amI just put the borax on the bed itself and within the next day or so there dead
Joe haddad says
May 8, 2014 at 2:20 pmI had the same problem. I tired the same exact recipe and no more carpenter and small red ants in 24 hours!!! Amazing recipe and dirt cheap.
Terri says
June 14, 2014 at 12:36 pmOne month ago I had major plumbing work done….I normally see a few ants here and there every spring/summer…I would put out ant traps and after few days or so no ants till next spring…..Not this year!! Two weeks or so after plumbing work was done, my house was INVAIDED by hundreds of the tiny black ants and tiny black flying ants! I sprayed ortho home defense…..three days later floor was covered in ants again…I found the borax solution online, mixed it up, put it in water bottle lids about every foot or so against they walls around my kitchen inside…I also did this outside around the whole house….within an hour of doing this the ants were swarming the bottle cap lids!!! DO NOT KILL THE ANTS!! The only way this will work to kill them and the colony, is to let them take it back to the nest for the rest of the colony (including the queen) to eat….For three days I would put out fresh bait (borax, sugar, water) each day I would see less and less ants. Its been about a week or so since I began my battle and have not seen even one ant!! Fingers crossed this has worked to keep my home ant free and has hopefully killed any colonies inside and outside my home. Thanks all for the tips! THANK YOU BORAX!!
Melissa says
June 23, 2014 at 4:41 pmI came home after being out of town for a week and my roommates and I have little black worker ants all over our kitchen cabinets. I took everything out and bleached it and it looks like they’re coming from the crevice above the cabinets. I’m going to try putting the mixture in one of the cabinets and on the counter/floor. Fingers crossed! I’ll post if it works or not!
SoCalJayhawk says
September 9, 2014 at 12:36 pm9/9/2014: Just did this exact method last night. Scenario: 2nd story condo, ants appear to be coming from within the walls (not front door or windows), attracted to sugar and food, random “searching” ants found in closets, bathrooms, a few in the bed. Ants in the bed was the final straw – what was their purpose there? We have a well maintained property and made sure all foods in the cupboard were sealed. Raid Ant Traps did NOT work. They didn’t care to go in them nor were they attracted to the bait inside. Finally, we tried Borax/Sugar method. I placed 6 little water bottle caps with Borax/Sugar-drenched-cottonballs in different areas of the house. THIS IS IMPORTANT: You have to be patient. The 4-5 “searching” ants immediately were drawn to the Borax/Sugar caps and within 10 minutes, each Borax/Sugar caps had 40-50 ants surrounding it with random trails forming around the house. DO NOT DISTURB THE TRAILS. I felt my skin crawl watching these ants feast on the soluble (hint: they will climb in and they are NOT drowning in the borax/sugar cottonball and liquid). Went to bed at 1030 pm, woke up at 630 am and OMG the trails of ants were gone… disappeared. In fact 3 of the 6 Borax/sugar caps had maybe 3-4 ants around them. This is what we’ve learned so far: 1) There is more than 1 colony based on the different trails and where we placed the Borax/Sugar caps. We learned that each colony will not share and you need to provide a Borax/sugar cap JUST for them. 2) BE patient. I’m saying this again. I saw trails forming that started from one end of the house to the other, but each trail was responsible for its own colony. Lastly, we set out new fresh Borax/Sugar caps this morning to make sure any remaining “searching” ants gets its fill — remember, the little eggs/babies have yet to hatch. They too need to eat the solution AFTER they’ve hatched or you’ll get a brand new colony ready to “search”. After experiencing this, I have to educate everyone. I saw hundreds of ants and I never thought they’d leave. Trust that the ants are genetically programmed to do their duty which is to find food, eat it, and BRING IT BACK to the colony to share. GOOD LUCK Y’ALL! Hallelujah to Borax.
Cécile says
April 30, 2016 at 7:28 amWow that was a really analytical and helpful post. Thanks 🙂
Rani Johnson says
September 23, 2016 at 8:16 pmI did this and yes, I see a swarm of ants.
I have a room in the basement and dunno where the ants are coming from but they swarm my carpet and bathroom; especially the sink and shower. And they swarm my toothpaste and soap…. Its GROSS.
My bro in law is an exterminator and he put ant bait traps and some sort of gel- this was last November of 2015. Its SEPTEMBER 2016 and they’re STILL a problem.
The bait traps stained the carpet and I saw an army of ants swarming it tonight and freaked out!! My carpet is moving!! Should I wash the carpet?
I’m so annoyed!!
Ann says
August 25, 2018 at 12:49 pmThanks for that post! Very thorough. I was wonder if I did it right and your post helped.
Don says
October 1, 2014 at 11:27 pmWorked like a charm!
Over 2 weeks now no ants in sight, this after months of constant nighttime raids by our shared enemy.
To those that come here for help, it works and works well….take time to read the whole article and comments, you will be happy with the results.
We placed our cotton balls by the stove and the surrounding counter space, overnight we had well over 100 ants going to town on them in the morning. Left them out till just afternoon, cleaned up the mess and let the stragglers go. We followed up by placing them on the outside wall behind the stove and by our trashcan in our driveway……this is where we hit pay dirt. I went to check them before nightfall and found 4 lines of ants 10′ long pouring from a crack in our driveway, I moved the balls close to the source and laid out a few more….mid day next day……no more ants.
Rachel, Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge and taking the time to get this out. 🙂
Don S
PS….helping our next door neighbor as I type, she is well on way to being ant free!
Stop using poisons says
October 18, 2014 at 3:43 pmI’ve used poisons. I will not buy them anymore. There is no reason to. For ants More borax is Not better. Put a dab of sugar near the ants, put a dab of peanut butter near the ants, whatever they go for, use. It works & works Xlnt! If they avoid it, use less borax. Search for ants around your property. Put out baits. In a few days put out more. They will take it to nest & kill colony. Note this old house was treated for termites, before sale, a few mths later, I found termites. I treated the house with yes, borax. Why would anyone in their right mind pump 100 gals or more Of a Toxic poison in & around their home, when borax Does the job & Does it well. New Zealand has treated their lumber since 1953, and they don’t have issues with termites. Save your $ for something that works & look up natural ways to kill termites. P.s. remove outlet & switch covers, dust inside the outlet with ” Food Grade” Diatemaceous earth, replace covers & you’ll never have to deal with it again.after that have a spoonful yourself & or feed it to your canine. These ways are as old as man, yet the so called modern world has the con built into the game. You can also use salt in the crawl space under a home for termites. The poisons not only hurt you and your wallet, they don’t work as good. So do what you will, eat drugs to lower your cholesterol or simply enjoy some garlic in your meals. I prefer salt and garlic to poison. Bon a Petit”
chris s says
June 12, 2015 at 7:42 amI tracked the ants to where they were coming into the house and baited the area with peanut butter and maple syrup both mixed with Borax. The results are amazing!! I woke up today with no ants inside at all, even though i set a bait inside. When i checked to traps outside there was only 5…..literally 5 ants on the outside baits. Yesterday there had to be millions on the peanut butter baits but only 5 are there today!!! For 4.39$ this was the best money I’ve spent on pest removal ever.
Dee says
June 26, 2015 at 4:28 pmWe must have crazy ants – they are avoiding the cotton balls!
heather says
June 28, 2015 at 4:04 pmwe have ants that look just like the ones pictured. we have had them year after year. i actually used an ant killer liquid meant for outdoor use one year because they were actually squeezing themselves through the gaskets and into the dishwasher even though it was closed tight and had no gaps. they were so numerous i had to run the rinse cycle to keep the numbers down when we didn’t dirty enough dishes for a full load regularly. our ants are not attracted to sugar though and the bait in the ant traps also do not appeal. these seem to like animal fats & proteins, any tiny bit of juice or grease from cooked meats attracts them. i’m going to try mixing borax with a little chicken fat or tallow drained from ground beef and see if that does the trick.
bamminer says
August 29, 2016 at 11:35 amI’m trying some 50-50 borax and peanut butter mix bait on those hard-to-kill-with-anything-practical tiny ants. They are really, really hardy(bleach did not stop them for long), as many of the things that work on fire ants do not against them.
This does work, though, as a strong deterrent: Cayenne pepper powder. Just put it wherever you see them and where they are coming in in that area. They’ll walk right through it for about 2-3 days, then they’ll gone from the area just as long as the opening has cayenne powder on it. It will not kill them, so they might find another way in.
Hopefully, the 50-50 PB to Borax bait works. If it does, then I’ll save the page so I know how to get back(sometimes, baits take a while and it might no longer be in history).
Steve says
June 28, 2015 at 6:30 pmTry mixing boraxo with peanut butter..works good for protien seeking ants.
Nancy says
July 1, 2015 at 5:43 pmOK folks I’ve gone through this a few times now in my kitchen, here is what worked for me…
Found out that there are many different kinds of ants that eat different things. I used a mason jar lid to put the mixture on.
Almost a year ago I had ants that liked cornmeal. Take a jar and mix it 50/50 Cornmeal and Borax with water. Put some on a mason jar lid. They can easily climb it, replace the mixture on the lid every morning and evening with the paste. When it dries smash it so it’s not stuck together and small enough so the ants can carry it away. Put the lid on the jar and keep using the same mixture.
Almost a year later ants again. I figured no problem I’ll give them cornmeal. They didn’t want cornmeal at all! I tried all kinds of combinations with sugar. First my borax, sugar and water was too strong and they wouldn’t eat it. Then it was too weak they loved it but weren’t dying. Here it the combo that killed the whole colony them in 2 1/2 days. Again I used a mason jar lid to put the mixture on.
2 teaspoons Sugar, ½ teaspoon Borax (mix well), ½ teaspoon Water and mix until it looks like syrup consistency. They love it. It’s actually a 4:1 mixture of sugar to borax with water.
I replaced it with new mixture every 6-8 hours and picked up the old lids with the ants on them eating, put them in a bag and threw it away. Yes you let them eat and take it back to the colony but there were so many there was plenty ants left to take it back. If they line up all the way around your mixture put out two lids. The second day you will only need one lid.
I though I’d share because this was a nightmare until I finally got it right. Bottom line you have to find out what they want to eat. If you make it too strong it does no good if they won’t eat it. I tried all of the Ant Gel on the market and they didn’t want any of it. They loved my mixture though and it killed them.
Chris says
December 10, 2016 at 9:54 pmVery thorough post Nancy, much appreciated. I’m in Western Australia, so this advice may not be relevant to the US. You are on the money – different ants like different tuck, and it takes patient experimentation before you find a combination that works. I use the sugar mix, but add a beef stock cube for the protein seekers. Seems to work well. Cheers from Margaret River
Karen says
December 29, 2016 at 9:38 amOk I tried the borax and sugar 50/50 weeks ago and they are not going for it. Now I think it’s because there isn’t water mixed up too? I don’t know and I just put it on a butter lid under the sink stove and fridge? They are swarming in the dishwasher still so I will try water too…but what am I doing wrong? I have a cat so I can’t have it in the open…
Sarah says
December 29, 2016 at 9:50 amYes, you need to mix water up with it too. I soaked this mixture with a cotton ball and put some Nutella on top for good measure and the ants loved it. This attracted the fire ants and some other species of tiny brown ant, although I’m not sure what kind of ants you have.
I tried this method at my parent’s house and my girlfriend’s parent’s house this holiday break, both of whom were having fire ant problems. It worked both times within 8 hours. I’ve only seen 1 or 2 forager ants since the ants swarmed the cotton balls and were killed off.
My parents have cats, so I tried to keep the door closed in the rooms where I placed them. I also put paper plates over some of the cotton balls to keep the cats from being interested in what was underneath. Some were left out in the open, but the cats did not seem interested whatsoever. Your cats may be more curious, however. Someone mentioned putting in it a plastic Tuppeware container and cutting holes in it for the ants to get in, but not so large that pets could get in contact with the borax. I hope this helps. Good luck to you!
pam says
June 19, 2018 at 9:05 amMy cat doesn’t mess with mine, i have friend with a dog i hope her dog leaves it alone. Im sure the PNB would a track the dog.
Betty Anne Crisanti says
June 18, 2018 at 8:02 amthanks Im going to try this
Debbie says
July 13, 2015 at 9:14 amSince the borax is toxic to pets I put the cotton balls in a small plastic container with a lid. Poke holes in the side of the container so the ants can get inside. It works and you don’t need to worry about your pets
Terry says
March 21, 2016 at 8:54 pmThank You was trying to figure out how to do this with pets. I have cats and my mom has a dog.
Angie says
August 6, 2016 at 10:10 pmMy dog would eat the cup…perhaps a small glass jar & put holes in the lid.
Maria says
August 1, 2015 at 8:52 pmWorked like a charm! Thanks for sharing
LauraC says
May 27, 2016 at 9:17 amThank you! I just found ants in the cat food this morning.
April says
May 27, 2016 at 2:06 pmIt looks like I am the only one for who BoroX doesn’t seems to work. 🙁 I am not sure what kind of ants I have. It maybe regular ants. They keep coming in my bathroom on the second floor and nowhere else. Don’t know why. They circle around the sink. I sprinkled Borox on the window seal but they walk right through it and nothing happens to them. They kept coming. Not too many at the same time, about 5-6.
Liz says
June 16, 2016 at 3:46 pmAt my old place I had a couple of different kinds of ants – or at least they looked different to me. The borax worked for what I would call “sugar ants” but didn’t work for anything else. I went heavy duty with this:
http://www.terro.com/terro-liquid-ant-killer
It did the job, but I was super careful where I put it.
Catherine says
May 28, 2016 at 9:16 amI use Diatomaceous Earth which is crushed fossilized skeletons of diatoms/algae. It may take awhile, but is safe for pets and kids.
maggie says
June 3, 2016 at 9:41 pmokay would any of this help to get rid of skunks?! We have someone living under our porch so this got me thinking…. perhaps not a good idea to have a dead skunk under my porch either though 🙁 Any other ideas from you guys?? Thanks!!
Michelle says
June 5, 2016 at 12:20 pmTo get rid of skunks under the porch, soak a roll of toilet paper in ammonia and stuff the toilet paper as far back into the opening as possible using a broom. Skunks don’t like the smell of ammonia and will leave to move on to sweeter smelling accommodations.
Rick says
June 7, 2016 at 7:09 pmIn stead of water can you use beer
Lisa says
June 13, 2016 at 11:40 pmTrying this exact recipe with my ants today. I have hoards of them in every room of the house.
I set out the cottonballs about noon. One in a cupboard where I’ve seen lines of ants, one in the windowsill above my backsplash, and one in a corner of my kitchen counter. Another went next to the trash can, one went in the living room near where I have seen another ant line, and the last went into the bathroom.
I checked the cottonballs at 4pm and they were each covered with swarms of ants with the exception of the one in the living room and the one by the trashcan.
It is 10:30pm and I just checked each place again. There are no ants to be seen on the cotton balls. I saw 3 straggler ants in the kitchen, though, so I will leave the cotton out overnight. I’ll post another update tomorrow.
maggie says
June 14, 2016 at 10:40 pmLisa, what is the sugar/borax ratio you used?
Lisa says
June 16, 2016 at 3:49 pmI used the exact recipe as above…1/2c sugar to 1.5 tbsp. It’s been 3 days. No ants the last two days. Last night i saw 3 in the kitchen, so i set out some more of the liquid in a plastic milk cap. No ants today. I assume when the current batch of eggs hatch I’ll need to do another treatment.
Nanette says
July 5, 2016 at 5:39 pmDid it really work? I have used everyrhingi can think of and nothing gets rid of them.
Lisa says
July 5, 2016 at 6:28 pmIt worked for me. Almost a month later and i haven’t seen a single ant in over 2 weeks.
Kathy says
July 11, 2016 at 12:53 amIn the house I fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and sprayed the ants and where they were coming in, vinegar won’t hurt my pups and kills them..white vinegar is safe and doesn’t leave any order…but it’s only a temporary solution… I mix a cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of borax, using a fork to stir added about a 1/3 cup of water stir to gooey consistency then stir in maple syrup…I used the imitation kind not the real stuff..if it’s to runny add more borax and sugar to thicken it up. Used a box cutter on some plastic containers to make them about an inch or less and punched holes about 2 inches apart close to the bottom for easy ant access…put a glob of goo in the container and set them outside of the house where they were coming in…in about 3 or 4 hours they were covered with ants REALLY going to town…we haven’t seen ANY ants in the last 48 hours…
Dixie says
July 25, 2016 at 10:31 amI read that ants and roaches, termites, etc., “wear” their skeletons on the outside (called “exoskeletons”), and when they crawl through the borax (or make contact with it), their exoskeleton is destroyed, thus destroying the pest!
That said, I am highly annoyed to find ants in my car! I don’t know what they are after, because I don’t eat or drink in my car (except for ice water), and I don’t carry snacks (except from the grocery store to home). I don’t know how easy it would be to use the borax/sugar/water solution in or around the car, but if anyone has a suggestion, I would appreciate it!
Sarah says
September 25, 2016 at 4:09 pmThis works! I used the recipe above, but also added a little Nutella (mixed with Borax) on top of the cotton balls because I thought it couldn’t hurt. Fire ants were all over the carpet in my office and had spread to the bathroom, searching for food. I didn’t have a problem with ants at all until the apartment sprayed for bugs! Coincidence? Anyway, I was reluctant to use any toxic chemicals and had used borax/boric acid years ago to get rid of roaches, and it worked wonderfully, but never thought about how to use it for ants.
Luckily, I found this article. I set out the cotton balls near where the majority of the ants were appearing, but also dusted borax on the carpet and on the bathroom floor. Within minutes, ants swarmed the cotton balls and formed a line leading mysteriously under the carpet and back to wherever their nest is. I went to bed, woke up this morning. I saw only two ants. Now it’s the evening and I see NONE at all. I set out new cotton balls to attract any stragglers, but there do not seem to be any left! It’s like magic. It’s important to kill the queen to keep the colony from repopulating, which I am hoping is what happened…
Thank you for this article. This really worked! Better than any Raid or anything I’ve ever tried and not nearly as toxic. No more getting attacked by fire ants just walking to the bathroom!
Lily says
October 2, 2016 at 9:52 pmThank you, this worked great for me! Second floor condo unit. Ants came into the kitchen from under the sink, I think through an opening in the dry wall for the water pipe. I used the exact recipe posted and placed several cotton balls on the kitchen counter. The black ants immediately went for the cotton balls and surrounded them. The hard part is letting the ants feed and not squishing them -be patient with this! I left the cotton balls on the counter overnight for about 8 hours, and in the morning all the ants were gone except one lone straggler on the floor. No new ants since that night. I have leftover Borax liquid stored in a jar to use if the ants do come back.
Carly . says
October 5, 2016 at 8:33 amYes . ! It really works. Much better than the raid baits! When we moved into the house I noticed any baits in the bathroom. Well we had ants everywhere! Bedrooms,bathroom ,kitchen and living room. The baits were not even working. Maybe a day or so and then they would be back. It was disgusting. Well my husband found the borax tip on line. It worked! Not one ant has been seen since.
Becky says
October 8, 2016 at 5:52 pmI live in an apartment and have had my manager come and spray the apartment. They were gone for awhile and then they came back. I found this link online and decided to give it a try. Right now the ants are feasting on the cotton ball…there are MANYYYYYY in there and I’m not killing them. I hope they will take that stuff back to the QUEEN and BYE BYE!! Hopefully there will be NONE there in the morning.
Tracy Smith Jr says
October 28, 2016 at 8:39 amCan we be sure that this Borax strategy isn’t being promoted by the company that makes Borax?
Michael says
March 31, 2017 at 8:21 amWell, this ant bait product says it contains borax:
http://www.terro.com/terro-liquid-ant-baits-2-pack
Mister Boraxo says
July 6, 2017 at 8:44 pmyes…it is an old method and it does work…the results are often amazing!
Michael says
March 5, 2017 at 8:08 amWhat happens if the cotton ball dries before the ants really get to it?
Thanks.
Warren Dunn says
February 5, 2018 at 6:28 pmI have a small pet syringe ( no needle) and just fill it with the sugar borax solution and each day re-moisten them. Usually just needs one follow-up the next day and they are gone.
Judy says
September 21, 2018 at 2:05 pmTrying this ‘recipe’ today. Had no ants all summer and then woke yesterday to gazillions of the teeny black ones absolutely everywhere. EVERY. WHERE. THousands. The borax amount in the recipe is small….hoping it works though!
Glen Kilgore says
March 31, 2017 at 7:13 amIt does seem to be working. Is so gross watching them I want to kill them but know I cannot. Anyway, down to couple of ants left poking around. I will try one more feeding.
Tip ONE, the ants were attracted to some washed out Chinese Take-Out containers that I had stored in my cabinets. Always throw plastic Chinese containers away.
Tip TWO, this gave me an idea. In addition to the original recipe, add one packet of common Chinese Duck Sauce that one gets from the take-out. My ants are love Duck Sauce..
Mindy Bishop says
May 19, 2017 at 6:03 pmI mixed sugar and Borax and placed it where I seen ants. The ants have been all over the piles for about 4 days and they are still coming. I am going out of my mind with these ants! When will this stuff work?
Michael says
May 20, 2017 at 8:24 amMaybe try Optigard Ant Gel Bait Insecticide?
http://www.syngentapmp.com/product/optigard-ant-gel-bait-insecticide?tab=overview
Rosanne says
July 9, 2019 at 4:35 pmDid you mix sugar and borax in warm water?
Tamalee says
August 21, 2019 at 1:32 pmI know this is an old post, but maybe someone will still read this? Everywhere I read is that either Borax works great, or they aren’t attracted to it at all. I can’t find anywhere where they are attracted to it (mine are grease ants) and they come by the hundreds. However, we are into week 3 already, and they are STILL coming!! I don’t know if the ant colony is just really really really large or there’s more than one… or if the Borax simply isn’t killing them!? Has anyone else had this problem? The first week we used some random food mixed with honey and borax. It attracted them, but they still kept coming, so we followed a recipe we found online of 2 T. honey, 2 T. peanut butter & 1/2 tsp. Borax, but they still were coming, so the next week we doubled the borax…. and still they keep coming…and coming….and coming….!
deedee says
September 2, 2019 at 8:29 amI’m reading this old post because I’m now in the process of trying this method. Still in week #1, but have also noticed that they keep coming. I increased the boric acid content of the bait, but they still keep coming.
It took 2 days for the ants to finally find one of the cotton ball baits (they chose the furthest one, even though there were a few along their trail. Who knows why.)
Anyway, one night I saw a couple dozen of them on one cotton ball drinking away! Watched them all go back to their nest behind one of the kitchen cupboards. Next morning there was maybe one or two, and then a few throughout the day. Definitely fewer. Then, last night – another swarm! Maybe not as big as the first, but still a lot. This morning there are a few still milling around, drinking the poison.
So, why are they still coming?? Did the queen survive? Is there more than one queen? Do I need to continue treatment until all the eggs hatch and cycle through the sugar baits? Frustrating!
deedee says
September 4, 2019 at 2:16 pmUpdate for those who may be interested:
Day after I wrote the above post, small worker ants were fewer, but still foraging and drinking the bait. Suddenly, I noticed one ant at a bait station that looked different – bigger overall, and with a much larger abdomen. Looked like the queen might have left the nest looking to establish a new colony elsewhere.
Since the queen’s death, there have only been a few stragglers, and today – I’m happy to report – there hasn’t been even one ant in sight. Going to keep the baits for awhile because there may still be eggs hatching. Hoping that after that generation dies there will be no more ants!
Pretty sure they are Pharaoh ants, which can have multiple queens, apparently. Fingers crossed that the queen I saw was the only one in my particular colony.
Mandy says
May 21, 2017 at 7:42 amAny suggestions on getting rid of med. size black ants? I have tried Terro, Borax with sugar and Borax with peanut butter. They are not interested! They are running around my kitchen like maniacs. We sprinkled Ant and Roach powder around the foundation and also sprayed the foundation with mint. Our yard is full of a variety of different ants. We’ve been in this house 45 years, and nothing is different. Yikes!!!!!!
peaches says
May 21, 2017 at 8:26 amGo outside, and try to figure out where they are entering your house. When you are able to find the entrance, pour lots of vinegar down there. I used to use this trick when I lived in a first floor apartment, and it got rid of the ants. You have to make sure though that you have found their colony though.
Shea says
July 31, 2017 at 1:02 pmHave you tried tea tree oil and vinegar?
SuzAnne Maple says
June 15, 2017 at 11:59 amVery Helpful article. Couple of questions: Does the sugar Borax cotton ball baits work on the BIG Black Carpenter Ants? Also since this stuff is toxic to cats, would I be safe in placing the baits inside a jar with holes ?( outdoor use) SZ
Little Red Rideinghood says
June 22, 2017 at 11:30 pmVery helpful ideas. I have seen a couple of ants in my kitchen today so will buy some Borax and try this before I end up with many more. So glad I saw this site on Facebook.