With the appearance of the sun, we can notice that the apartment has been occupied by red ants. They prefer damp places, bathrooms, toilets, kitchens, where it is constantly warm and there is water. They do not disdain anything: they crawl around, spreading infections through trash cans, cabinets where there is food, as well as with bed linen, between books and sheets. They really like the smell of sweat and blood, they crawl into wounds.
If you decide to find the nest, don’t try, you’ll have to tear off all the tiles and baseboards and the result will be zero. Just because they have trails everywhere doesn't mean the nest is somewhere nearby. In large quantities, acid causes poisoning, and 4 grams for an ant is the amount that can destroy it.
Ants appear in every apartment or house. It is difficult to remove the nest even with expensive drugs. They hide nests in places where it is difficult to get to. It is not difficult to track where the nest is; they move in a chain. To kill insects, you need to kill the queen. Each family has worker ants, whose responsibility is to feed the larvae and the queen, who only lays eggs for new offspring.
What is the effectiveness of boric acid against ants
Boric acid has antiseptic properties, but an overdose leads to accumulation in the kidneys. This drug was used in the 50s to disinfect wounds. Today it is produced, but analogues have appeared. This acid paralyzes the nervous system of the ants, resulting in death. Small grains stick to the paws and when removed and consumed, death occurs. With its help, you can destroy a nest without even knowing its location.
But boric acid has one more feature. It works even in the dead bodies of ants. Ants feed on everything, even their own relatives. By eating their relatives, they also become infected, and extinction occurs, as a result of which the population disappears.
Methods of using boric acid in the fight against cockroaches
But to get rid of this infection, there are many ancient recipes using boric acid, and here are some of the few.
Is this remedy effective?
First, it’s worth understanding how this remedy works. Once in the body of an insect, it is absorbed in a short time in its intestines and from there enters the peripheral nerves of the ant. There, this drug causes disruptions in the functioning of the nervous system, which subsequently provoke paralysis and death.
Important: the effect of the poison extends not only to the insect that ate it, but also to those of its relatives who eat the remains of the poisoned ant. That is why it is believed that boric acid is effective against ants even when a person does not know where exactly the colony of these pests is hidden in his home.
A tiny amount of this product is enough to kill ants. One pack of acid is enough to cleanse the entire house of pests.
Effective ways to kill ants
- To kill ants, a mixture of 1 part fresh brewer's yeast and 4 parts honey (it can be replaced with thick sugar syrup), 1 part boric acid. Place the resulting mass on plates wherever the ants appear. The latter feast on the sweet mixture and quickly die from the action of boric acid and brewer's yeast.
- The presence of ants in residential areas is highly undesirable. The surest way to get rid of them is to use boric acid and naphthalene. Lumps of cotton wool are impregnated with substances and laid out in different corners of the room. The ants will quickly disappear.
- In the above rooms, place a cup with kerosene and boric acid and add fresh oil from time to time.
- I recommend making a mixture of honey, boric acid and tartar emetic. The mixture is poured into plates (you can also place rags and sponges soaked in it) and placed wherever ants appear. The sweet liquid attracts ants, and they die from the action of boric acid.
- Many means have been invented to exterminate ants in homes, but not all of them achieve their goal. Experience has proven that if insects have grown in large numbers and it is necessary to resort to drastic measures, mix sulfur, wild marjoram, boric acid (all in powder) and fill the cracks where the ants live. In the cabinets where food is stored, acid, sugar and potash are mixed.
These methods are very old, they were used in 1900, but they are still effective. Today, people have come up with methods of fighting ants, also based on boric acid.
Causes, prevention and methods of dealing with red ants at home
Consider the following methods of destruction.
- Mix 3 egg yolks and 1 tablespoon honey. Mix all this with 3 g of boric acid. Roll small balls and place them in habitats or paths.
- 30 grams of sugar, 8-10 grams of honey and 4 grams of acid. Pour 4 grams of acid into a glass and fill it with warm water, add all the ingredients there. Pour into bowls and place in cupboards and next to trash cans.
- Boil 3 yolks and 3 potatoes, mix with 40 grams of sugar and 12 grams of honey, 4 grams of boric acid. Make balls and place them in areas of travel paths. Change as it dries or during the moon.
- Well, if the ants have multiplied, a meat recipe will do. Mix 3 tablespoons of minced meat with 3 grams of boric acid and add 2 tablespoons of minced fish. Fashion any shapes and place them in areas with large populations. This is a very effective method of removal.
How to use the powder
The easiest way to use a powdered product against household pests. It is used like this: a significant amount of boric acid powder is scattered near places where ants accumulate, as well as in the corners of the apartment, near baseboards, washbasins, near ventilation ducts (since it is through them that insects most often enter the apartment).
In order to increase the chances of the entire colony being affected by acid, it is recommended to mix this product with sugar, which pests will readily eat. How to dilute such poison? You will need to grind the sugar in a mortar into a fine powder, then mix it with the acid.
When using this product, the fight against ants goes like this: the insects eat part of the scattered powder, and also carry some of it on their paws into their colony. After one pest dies, its relatives eat the remaining poison and also die. Thanks to this, even a fairly large colony of pests can be destroyed in just a few days.
Important: this method is best used if you do not know where exactly the ant colony is located in the room. It allows you to treat the entire apartment, as well as prevent pests from neighboring homes from entering the house. Complete destruction of pests takes two weeks.
Prevention at home
- Clean the house, take care of the trash can.
- Keep the table clean and do not leave crumbs or food behind.
- Keeping the bags tightly closed is what interests the ants most.
- Always take out the trash.
- If you have an animal at home, do not leave food in the cup all the time.
An important factor in exterminating ants is that the entire entrance or house must be eliminated. If there are a lot of ant families, then they will eventually come to you. Of course, you can use expensive insecticides, but they evaporate, which can lead to poisoning, and if you have pets, this is not permissible. And although the product will be advertised, the effectiveness of destruction is zero.
10 ways to get rid of ants in the garden
Insect damage at home
Ants are by no means harmless. Firstly, they multiply quickly, and if they are not eradicated, the entire living space will quickly turn into an anthill infested with insects. You can forget about observing the standards of home hygiene and cleanliness.
Secondly, as the ants multiply, they begin to seriously disturb their owners. They even penetrate the beds of children and adult household members; they do not bite people, but they can cause very unpleasant sensations.
Thirdly, when ants come into contact with food, they can cause an infectious disease. Traveling throughout the house, including places where garbage accumulates, they carry pathogenic microorganisms on their paws and abdomens. Ants also drag food closer to the anthill; mold and mildew often grow in places where it is stored.
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Acid safety
Boric acid is safe for both children and animals. To be poisoned by acid, you need to eat as much as is not used to prepare the ant mixture. And an animal that eats 1-2 balls will not be poisoned.
To improve the effectiveness of baits, it is necessary to install new baits after 2–3 days. Before laying out the baits, put all food in places inaccessible to ants, clear all cutlery of food, do general cleaning and remove food debris under baseboards, remove animal cups and do not give food to animals anywhere. To avoid cleaning up after each bait, use paper. From the first days of using the bait, it will seem to you that there are many times more of them, but when the bait starts to work, the ants will begin to slowly disappear. It is important to take into account that as soon as you notice the appearance of ants, you must immediately begin to take action, otherwise over time they will multiply and it will be more difficult to remove them.
If you don’t want ants to appear in your house or apartment, maintain hygiene, do general cleaning, if you have pets, feed only in designated areas, do not leave food on the table overnight, crumbs, well, and if they do appear, use boric acid.
https://youtu.be/y1iGtvxyArY
Why do ants appear in living quarters?
There are several reasons why insects, including ants, appear in residential areas:
- it is always warm in a human home;
- it is not difficult to find food, since even the cleanest owners can get hold of crumbs, spilled drops or food from pets’ bowls;
- Anthill nests can be located not in the apartment itself (where they are easy to find and destroy), but nearby - in a ventilation shaft, between floor beams, in a shaft where water supply pipes are located.
Ants are especially common in old residential buildings, but recently completed new buildings are not immune to their invasion.
Ant traps made from boron powder for a summer cottage
Harmless-looking small ants in your garden should not cause trouble. But, in addition to benefits, they also cause a lot of trouble. Ants, for example, attract huge swarms of aphids. And these pests destroy both plants and crops in the beds and garden.
Before starting to destroy insects in the garden, determine the location of the anthill.
There is no need to worry that boric acid will negatively affect plants: on the contrary, it enhances the development of green spaces and serves as a fertilizing agent.
Corn bait
Cornmeal is harmful to ants in itself. When eating a corn treat, the insects' digestive tract swells and they die.
For effectiveness, you can add boric acid to the flour.
For 100 grams of corn flour, take a bag of powder and mix.
The dry mixture is scattered along the ant paths, not forgetting to scatter it around the anthill. The procedure is performed as often as possible. At least 4 times a week.
Potato and yolk trap
And even though the ants always have something to snack on in the garden, they never refuse a treat.
They prepare such a fragrant bait. Boiled 2 medium potatoes are mixed with two yolks. Add 2 tbsp to this mixture. l. granulated sugar and two bags of boric acid. Mix everything well with a fork.
Make small balls from the mixture and place them where the ants crawl.
Lures need to be updated every week. After 2-3 weeks there will be much fewer insects.
Bait with ash
To make a poisonous mixture you will need wood ash. It can be purchased at grocery stores or hardware stores. And if you are preparing barbecue at the dacha, then it is enough to collect the remains after burning branches and firewood.
For the trap, take 1 kg of wood ash and three bags of boric acid (10 grams each). Mix the ingredients and sprinkle the mixture over the anthill. The effect is enhanced when it rains after the procedure, then the poison penetrates the nest.
Sweet treat for ants
And yet, sugar baits remain the most effective in killing ants, because they love sweets very much. To prepare dry poison you will need:
- powdered sugar;
- rice flour;
- soda;
- boric acid.
All components are taken in equal quantities. Combine, mix and scatter near and on the anthill. The composition is harmful to insects not only due to intoxication and paralysis from boric acid. Also, rice flour swells greatly in the ant’s digestive system and leads to death.
Powdered sugar acts as bait; its grains are so small that they are easily carried by insects into nests.
Despite the fact that the pharmaceutical drug is safe for people, safety rules are followed when using it. It is important not to handle baits without gloves. All containers for preparing mixtures must be either disposable, glass, or ceramic. After manipulation, the containers are thoroughly washed.
When using boron powder in the garden, the remains of the traps are buried deep in the ground.
In order for the destruction of uninvited “tenants” to be successful, it is advisable to update the bait once every three days. Otherwise, they will lose their “aroma” and attractiveness to ants.
It is worth noting that insects cannot be quickly destroyed using boric acid. At a minimum, the war with ants will take two to three weeks.
Poison recipes
Borax is a substance containing boron and can replace acid in the fight against ants. Since the name “borax” is used by several types of substances, including minerals and sedimentary salt in some lakes, it makes no sense to consider the composition of borax in detail. Usually this word refers to the sodium salt of boric acid.
Important!
Boric acid bait should contain no more than 2% of the substance itself.
If there is more poison, the insects will not eat the offered treat. Borax for ants works in a similar way, but you need a little more of it, since the content of the toxic substance in it is less. Most often, it is hardly possible to accurately calculate the percentage of poison in different preparations. It is important that the worker carries the poison to the colony, and it gets to the queen. It's better to have a little less than more.
Preventive measures
The main means of preventing the appearance of ants in an apartment or house is to maintain cleanliness. It is necessary to follow simple rules of room hygiene so that the apartment is simply unattractive to insects due to the lack of available food.
Recommendations:
- Throw out trash at least once a day, wash the trash can and its location more often. When storing food waste in a bucket, cover it with a tight lid.
- Do not store food in the open. This applies to fruits, cookies, sweets, and open sugar bowls. All food should be refrigerated and stored in tightly sealed food containers in kitchen cabinets.
- Carry out daily preventative cleaning of the kitchen and bathroom: timely wash floors, sinks, dishes, dining tables, stove, bathtub.
Experienced housewives also advise that places where insects can enter an apartment (for example, ventilation shafts) should be treated with a special preventative against ants and cockroaches.
More useful information on how to get rid of ants using boric acid can be found after watching the video:
Time frame for disposal
The time you spend exterminating ants depends on several factors. One of them is the time of the destructive effect of the boron preparation on the colony. One ant that gets acid into its body will die within two hours. But expecting that the entire colony will die just as quickly is too optimistic.
When you start fighting insects, be patient . Remember that the nest may be located several tens of meters from your apartment or property. Delivery of the poison you have prepared to the very center of the nest can take considerable time.
Obviously, it will take more effort and time to destroy garden ants, since the territory is open and it is almost impossible to limit crawling predators’ access to alternative food sources. Aphids are such protein food on the site. Killing ants means fighting aphids.
