When I walked by Holly’s food/water dish one day recently, I instantly knew we had a problem. There were small black ants crawling around in her cat food. There were dead ants floating around in her water dish too. Ick! I knew it was time to employ homemade remedies to keep ants out of my house.
So, I dumped the cat food and the water outside. I then washed Holly’s dish and refilled it with fresh food and water. I placed a low, but wide empty box on the floor where her dish combination set. I then placed them on the box. The ants won’t climb up the box, so Holly’s food and water would now be safe.
I could also have stuck my finger in the Vaseline™, and put a ring of that around my cat’s dishes. Ants won’t cross a line of Vaseline, no way, no how.
Ants come into your house in search of food, water, and cover. Since they are such tiny insects, they can enter through the smallest of cracks or holes. Therefore, caulking is an effective remedy to keep ants out. Use a weatherproof caulking; it lasts longer than other types. Search around the foundation of your home. Look for holes, cracks, and other openings where pesty ants can enter, and caulk the entrances shut. Follow the instructions on the caulking container in order to achieve the best results.
Sealing your house up won’t guarantee ants still won’t get in, but at least it will slow them down and make them find alternative entrances.
If you see a trail of ants coming into your house from a wall or underneath a door, simply sprinkle Cinnamon at that place in the wall. Or, sprinkle a thin line of Cinnamon across the threshold of the door. Ants don’t like the spice at all, so they’ll retreat from invading your home.
You can also sprinkle baby powder or salt underneath an outside door to deter ants as well.
Another homemade remedy to keep ants out is to use Vicks™ VapoRub Ointment. Ants absolutely hate Vicks too! I had an army of black ants coming down the side of my bathtub, of all places. I couldn’t find where they were coming in the house at, so I just placed a small glob of Vicks Ointment at the end of their trail. They scattered and I haven’t seen another ant in my bathroom since. The Vicks worked better than Cinnamon in this case since the area I needed to put it on was vertical.
I don’t want to sprinkle Cinnamon, baby powder or put globs of Vicks on my kitchen counter, so I use another homemade remedy to keep ants out of that area of my house. I mix together either white or apple cider vinegar in tap water and pour it in a spray bottle. Then, I lightly mist my kitchen counters when I see a few ants on them. The ants never step foot on my counter again!
Just like ants hate the menthol in Vicks VapoRub Ointment, they also hate peppermint. You can mix up peppermint extract or tea in a spray bottle with tap water too to get the same effect as the vinegar.
If you find ant holes outside in your yard, keep them out of your house by using
one of these homemade remedies: pour boiling water down the holes. Or, you can add a cup of household ammonia to boiling water to make a stronger mixture.
