How do you get rid of ants without poison?

Question

I live in the country and ants come from cracks in the trim. I don't have much stuff, but the ants are in my pantry and are getting my food...I need to know how to kill them because we ran out of poison, and I don't think that I have hairspray...Please help me...I don't want the ants to get into my food!

Answer 1

Use a mix of cinnamon and sugar. The ants will pick up the sugar, along with the cinnamon, and take it back to their queen. Ants can’t digest cinnamon and once the queen dies from not being able to digest the cinnamon the colony will die without her.

Answer 2

Try from any of these homemade remedies...

Answer 3

Sprinkle baking soda or cinnamon all the way across the place where the ants enter. Make sure it is a solid line and that they cannot go around it. When they walk through the powder, they seem to get lost, presumably, due to losing the scent.  Although it won't get rid of the ants already in your pantry, it will deter more from entering. Safer and smells better than chemicals.

Answer 4

use boric acid, or borax- the ants will carry it home and it will kill the whole colony- harmless to humans.

Answer 5

"Diatomaceous Earth".  You can find it in the hardware store.

At the microscopic level, the powder is sharp and stabs the ants.  They hate to cross it.  It's the same thing chalk is made out of, but powdered.

It's also really helpful to find where they're coming in and seal it off, even if this takes several tries.  You know how it is, if you use poison, they eventually will make their way back in, and the poison is not good for people and the environment.

Answer 6

Simple Green kills the ants right now...and is not harmful to us or the environment...or so the package says....I am using that now...and I am in the country as well...I just spray them and wipe them up...

Answer 7

This is one case where I go ahead and use poison selectively.  You can kill ants until doomsday but if you don't get the nest you'll just be frustrating yourself.  There are perimeter house sprays on the market that are very good.  They should be used on a day with no wind, when all your windows are closed, and rain isn't expected for a few hours at least.  Spray just where the house foundation meets the soil all around.  Wear protective clothing, gloves, mask, etc.  Use one spray bottle specifically for this spray, and label it as such.  We do this about once a month and we have no ants.