Yes -- Borax got rid of the ants!
Here's how to use Borax to get rid of ants when those little tiny ones get into your home! It's so easy, and so much more affordable in the long run than buying commercial ant baits.
Note: This post is a blast from the pretty far past. Originally published in 2013, using Borax to kill ants is still relevant today -- because these darn ants, they are back every year.
When I ran a Borax giveaway a while back, several of you asked if using Borax really did get rid of the ants. Survey says: Yes! I haven't seen one in my kitchen since putting out this homemade ant-killing Borax recipe a couple of times. It works at least as well as, if not better than, the little ant bait things -- and is so much more affordable in the long run than investing in baits over and over again.
It's easy to use Borax to get rid of ants, and picking up Borax is a better long term investment, since you can also use it for other purposes.
Use Borax to get rid of ants
Is it just me, or do you see a new annoying batch of tiny ants in your house every spring, too? I always get a bunch of little ants coming into my kitchen under one of the cabinets that backs up against an outside wall. I originally saw a suggestion online to sprinkle 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 effective ant-killing Borax recipe from The Happy Housewife:
- Mix ½ C sugar, 1 ½ tablespoon Borax, and 1.5 C warm water.
- Soak some 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.
- Eating the Borax kills the ants!
If you have small children or pets, be sure to keep them away from 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... 🙂
Some ants do love sugar...
BOY do these particular ants like this mixture. 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, then let the cats out. Then, I repeated the experiment for a second round of about an hour later in the evening (seeing many fewer ants on this second go-round). By morning? No new ants in sight.
Tip: Try mixing in peanut butter for a more savory ant-attracting formula, if your batch of ants doesn't seem to care for the sugar.
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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It 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.
At 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.
I use Diatomaceous Earth which is crushed fossilized skeletons of diatoms/algae. It may take awhile, but is safe for pets and kids.
okay 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!!
To 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.
In stead of water can you use beer
Trying 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.
Lisa, what is the sugar/borax ratio you used?
I 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.
Did it really work? I have used everyrhingi can think of and nothing gets rid of them.
It worked for me. Almost a month later and i haven't seen a single ant in over 2 weeks.
In 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...
I 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!
This 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!