How to Make Homemade Ant Killer

Ants are a regular plague and they can be difficult to get rid of with a home made ant killer. One of the major problems is trying to find out where they are coming from. It is fairly easy to kill the ants when you spot them but tracking them is hard.

Saccharine and Aspartame

Artificial sweeteners are great systemic ant killers. Saccharine was discovered while research was being done to get rid of ants. Aspartame is also very effective. Because these sweeteners are soon destroyed by damp it is best to leave them powered up at various points around the house. The ants will take the sweeteners back to the nest and the nest will literally starve to death because there is no nutrition in the sweeteners but they can’t resist eating them.

Flour Oatmeal and Gelatin

Flour, oatmeal and gelatin are also very effective at killing the ants in their nests. The ants take these foods back to the nest and the colloidal effect absorbs the moisture from the ant body and literally dries it out.

Sugar

To make a strong systemic ant poison boil a cup of sugar in two cups of water so that the sugar is all dissolved. When the mixture is cool add a couple of ounces of boric acid and mix it well. This ends up as a syrupy mixture that can be left along ant runs and near ant hills. The ants take it into the nest where the sugar content encourages the ingestion of the boric acid that kills the ants. Do not leave it where pets and other animals can get at it. The quantities of boric acid are small but can induce vomiting.
Only systemic killers provide a long term solution to the ant problem but there are short term solutions too.

Mint

Planting mint in as many places around the house as possible will reduce any infestations. Using the essential oil from mint mixed with water and spraying it around where ants are seen can also help reduce infestations.

Bleach

A weak bleach solution can also give good short term results but the ants will soon return. Again it is not very highly recommended because it is hazardous
to pets and children.

Ammonia

This is a natural ant killer that is very effective. Unfortunately you have to keep repeating the treatment because it only works on the ants you spray.

Soap

Any liquid soap mixed with water will kill ants. It needs to be applied constantly.

Peel

Orange. Lemon and Lime peel are quite effective and harmless to pets and children. The peel needs to be soaked in water for 36 hours and then sprayed onto the ants. There has been some contention that the effectiveness of this treatment is more to do with the amount of insecticide that is on the peels rather than the peel itself.

Home made ant killers all seem to be short term solutions, indeed, even commercially produced ant killers are not much better. The ant problem can only be solved by destroying the nests – if you can find them.