natural ant control in the home

I’ve always had a fascination with ants. Did you know that they farm fungi underground and that they can lift 20 times their own weight? Did you know that they love cat food? And cheese? No, neither did I until they invaded our kitchen.

Oh, they come for other crumbs inadvertently left behind, but they swarm for the food kitty flicks all over the floor and the cheese grater waiting to be washed.

As far as pests go, I don’t mind ants too much. However, in the days leading up to the wet season and throughout summer, the kitchen invasion becomes too much to ignore.

A few ideas that I found on dealing with ants naturally:

• Keep your kitchen spotlessly clean and dry. Don’t leave food scraps lying around or bowls soaking in water and fix tap drips. Take out the garbage or remove the bin from the kitchen altogether. I have found that once ants know there is an easy food source in your kitchen, they will come for even the most microscopic morsel.
• Keep food in tightly sealed containers. Keep pet food bowls in larger bowls filled with water, the ants can’t swim across the water.
• Kill the scouts. Ant colonies tend to send out a couple of ants to scout out food before sending in the troops. Kill the scouts before they can report back to the nest.
• Block their path. Find the ant trail and cover it with one of the following natural things that ants don’t like: dried mint, cloves, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, vinegar, ground coffee, cinnamon, peppermint oil, bay leaves, black pepper or cucumber. Be prepared to do this several times. Ants are ingenious at finding new ways into your house. After blocking their path repeatedly, the ants in the nest outside practically went via the neighbours house to get into our kitchen.
• Fill holes and gaps through which the ants can get in.
• You can make your own spray repellent by either spraying ants with soapy water made with dishwashing detergent or a spray of citrus peel and water (mixed in the blender)
• Alternatively, mix borax and honey together and either leave in a jar lid or if you have kids and pets, in a sealed marg container with small holes so that the ants can get in and take the poison back to the nest.
• You could pour boiling water down their nests. This isn’t a great option because ants are good to have in the garden and because of this:

I have to admit that our solution was to provide a distraction. We keep the empty cat food container in the garage. They can visit the garage in their hundreds and I don’t really care, as long as they stay out of the house.

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