Cinnamon
Ants are sensitive to smells, and in fact, their odor receptors are five times more sensitive than the average insect. So use that knowledge to your advantage!
Although most humans love the smell of cinnamon, ants don’t seem fond of the spice. You can use cinnamon oil or powdered cinnamon to keep ants away.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon / cinnamon oil to 1 cup of water. Dip a cotton ball into the solution and use it to dab areas where ants seem to live and travel. Repeat once a day until the ants disappear.
- Another tip is to leave cinnamon sticks around doors, windows, and other entrances into your house.
- You can also mix cinnamon with water in a spray bottle. Use it to spray anywhere where ants are present.
Cayenne pepper
A huge dose of cayenne pepper could cause ants to hit the road.
- Boil a large pot of water—the bigger the better. Then, add a lot of cayenne pepper to the pot.
- Finally, pour the mixture wherever you see holes, cracks, or ants themselves.
Vinegar
The sour smell of vinegar is hardly something that ants appreciate. And that’s good news, because it means you can clean your patio with a super-cheap ingredient.
Fill a spray bottle with equal parts water and vinegar. Then, add a few drops of lemon juice, another fragrance that ants are repelled by.
Shake the bottle properly before each use and then spray floor tiles or other areas that ants like to travel on. Do this once a day until the ants are gone.
Water
If you’ve found the ant colony, flooding it with water is actually an excellent way to get rid of them.
Pull out the water hose and let it run for about 10 minutes so that the soil is soaked. Repeat daily until the ants disappear.
This trick is much more humane than you’d think: the ants won’t die but will leave your yard!
Sweeping
Ants tend to reappear even though you work hard to keep them away.
How is that? One explanation is that ants leave traces of smell that lead new ants to the site.
- To get rid of these odor traces, take a spray bottle and mix it with half vinegar / half water.
- Throw in a few drops of detergent and spray any holes, cracks, and door frames until you think the traces are gone.
Strong chemicals can effectively get rid of ants, but these tricks can get rid of unpleasant insects without spreading poison around your home.
Please share these tips with your friends on Facebook so they can free their house of ants!