How To Get Rid Of Ants Without Chemicals
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Finding ants in your house can be frustrating and annoying. While it’s tempting to grab an ant spray or ant traps to eliminate the pests quickly, you should know these products contain harsh chemicals that can be harmful to humans. Pets and small children are especially vulnerable to ingesting pesticide residue because they are usually near the floor where you spray. Fortunately, there are plenty of non-toxic remedies you can use to get rid of ants before resorting to pesticides. Here’s a step-by-step procedure to get rid of ants without using chemicals.
Step 1: Identify What They're Attracted To
Ants are entering your home because they detect a food source. It’s usually sugar. Once you figure out what the ants are after, you’ll need to store that food source in an airtight container or get rid of it completely. Whatever you do, make sure they can’t detect the odor.
If you succeed in getting rid of the ants that are currently in your home, but fail to seal off the food source, then more ants will appear very soon. So don't skip this step.
Step 2: Find Their Path
Ants DO follow a regular path. So, you need to track them from the food source back to their nest location, if possible. This way, you know where to use your natural remedies to repel them. The more accurately you place your repellant, the better chance you have at truly eliminating the problem.
Step 3: Use Repellent Along Their Path
Now that you’ve contained the food source and found the path the ants are taking into your home, you can try these three natural repellents to get rid of the ants.
3 Natural Ant Repellents
LEMONS
Lemons are more powerful than you think. There are many household uses for lemons and repelling ants is one of them. Get rid of ants by squirting lemon juice along the ant’s path, especially on door thresholds and windowsills. You can also squeeze lemon juice into cracks and crevices where ants are getting in. They hate the smell and will flea. You can also wash your floors and pantry cupboards with a simple mix of the juice of 4 lemons (along with the rinds) and 1/2 gallon of water.
CAYENNE PEPPER
Usually ants are looking for sugar. Give them cayenne pepper instead. They hate it. Sprinkle cayenne pepper where the ants are searching, e.g. the back of your cupboards, pantry shelves, and baseboards. If you can locate their nest, you can also pour the pepper down the ant hole.
VINEGAR
Ants hate the smell of vinegar. Mix equal parts water and white vinegar into a spray bottle. Then spray it along the entire path you located in step 2. Before long the ants will disappear.
While there are many other natural remedies for eliminating ants, we think these three are the most straightforward, practical and effective. Please remember, though, that unless you contain any detectable food sources (see step 1), the ants will keep coming back for more. This is true whether you use a pesticide spray or non-toxic repellent!
After you've eliminated your ant problem on your own, perhaps you want to give your entire house a Deep Clean? Rubio's is here to help.
Call us at 530.415.2505
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