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How To Get Rid Of Ants With Borax

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How to get rid of ants with borax quickly and naturally. If you are having a problem with ants in your home using homemade borax traps have been a tried and true solution for me for years now.

When we first moved into our home it wasn’t long before I discovered that we had an ant problem.

I kept finding little black ants in our kitchen, and then later the living room and bathrooms too.

They were driving me crazy and I tried commercial ant bait but it didn’t work for me.

How To Get Rid Of Ants DIY Ant Bait text overlaid on a photo collage of black ants in a home.

But thankfully I found a really easy way to get rid of ants in our home.

The secret comes from using borax to get rid of them naturally. So if ants are driving you crazy too one of these bait recipes could be the solution you’ve been looking fore.

How To Get Rid Of Ants With Borax

There are many ways you can use borax to kill ants but my favorite way is to mix it half and half with sugar.

I’ve seen recipes for ant killer that use smaller amounts of borax but they have never worked well for me.

Borax and Sugar

Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of borax for a quick ant bait.

While you can take this mixture and sprinkle it along the backs of your cupboards and where you see the ants coming into your home, if you have young children or pets I don’t recommend doing that.

Instead, place the mixture inside a container like an old pop can and place it laying on its side near where the ants are getting in. The small opening allows ants to go inside but make it harder for other animals to get at it.

An alternative way would be to add some warm water to the mixture to dissolve it, then soak cotton balls in the liquid and place them near the ant trail. They will quickly be attracted to it.

Borax and Fruit Juice

Another borax mixture that we’ve had really good luck with is mixing 1 tablespoon of borax with a little fruit juice concentrate.

Frozen fruit juice is very high in sugar and the borax easily dissolves in it too.

What I did was remove most of the juice from the container leaving 2-3 tablespoons inside. Then added 1 tablespoon of borax and stirred it together in the same container.

In this case, we had found an ant colony that was coming up under our porch and then into our home. We screwed the juice container on its side under the porch near where they were coming in.

The ants were attracted to it very quickly and were gone in a few days.

Borax and Peanut Butter

Some ants prefer proline to sweets if you find your ants aren’t attracted to the sugar mixture try using peanut butter instead.

Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. You can put this into a jar near where the ants are coming in or stuff it into a straw.

Within a few days, the ants were all gone.

How Does Borax Kill Ants?

Little Black Ants In House

Borax helps to get rid of ants in two ways.

First, borax is abrasive to ants bodies. Just being in contact with it can damage their exoskeleton which causes them to dry out.

Secondly, when the ants eat the borax it interferes with their digestive system and causes them to die.

How Long Does It Take?

Borax takes a little time to work, don’t expect your ant problem to be gone the same day you put the traps down.

You should start to see results in 2-3 days after setting out the bait.

If you are dealing with a very large ant colony, it can take longer to get rid of. You should try setting up borax ant traps in multiple places and check them each week to refill as needed.

Personally, I’ve found that when using this in my home the ants were gone in 3-7 days. The little black ants were the quickest to get rid of, while carpenter ants took a little longer.

Does Borax Work For Ants Outside?

Yes, I’ve used a mixture of sugar and borax to get rid of some pretty big ant hills in our yard too. I simply mixed up the homemade ant bait and sprinkled it over top of the next.

Although placing it in a container near the next or cotton balls on it too should work.

Just remember to only use this method if you know you can keep pets away from the area safely.

Is Borax Safe To Use If You Have Pets?

Borax can cause harm to cats and dogs that have contact with the powder. Because of this, you may prefer to use a more pet-safe solution such as food grade diatomaceous earth.

Diatomaceous earth won’t kill ants in the same way as borax, it’s not toxic to them when they eat it. However, it does damage their exoskeleton which causes them to die.

The ants have to crawl through it for this to happen though unlike borax sugar mixture that is carried back to the nest and eaten.

If you choose to use borax as a pet wonder then make sure that it’s kept well out of their reach.

One option that could work would be to confine your pets to one room for a few hours while you leave the ant bait down.

Then remove the bait, mop the floor well before allowing your pets out. Then repeat this each day until your ant problem is gone.

Another option would be to use a refillable rodent bait trap that is made to keep other animals out and place the ant bait inside of that.

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How To Get Rid Of Ants With Borax

How to get rid of ants with borax. These easy homemade ant traps have always worked great for me when ants tried to invade my home. They take just a few minutes to make and are super cheap!
Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time5 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Author: Kim

Equipment

  • Container to hold bait

Materials

  • Borax
  • Sugar
  • Honey optional
  • Peanut Butter optional

Instructions

  • Borax and Sugar Bait
  • Mix 1/4 cup of borax with 1/4 cup of sugar (or other equal amounts).
  • Place into a bait holder and put in near where you see the ants coming into your home. Refill as needed.
  • Borax and Fruit Juice
  • Mix 1 tablespoon of borax with 2-3 tablespoons of fruit juice concentrate.
  • Pour the mixture into a bait holder and place near where you see ants coming in.
  • Borax and Peanut Butter
  • Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter.
  • Place into a bait holder or straw near where the ants are getting into your home.

Notes

Check the ant traps weekly and top up as needed. Remember to always practice good safety when dealing with any pest traps. Take care not to have bait in areas where children or pets can get near it.

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