I hate bugs. I'm a screamer when a bug lands on me. Butterflies and caterpillars are about my limit of bugs I will allow near me.
So it will come to no surprise when I freaked out when I went to wash the dishes and a couple carpenter ants tried to climb up me. Sooooo gross. I didn't know where they were coming from exactly, only that they frequented around my sink and counter. I didn't want to use some nasty chemicals since I have a cat, and child in the home. Not to mention near my sink and stove. Those chemicals can get expensive as well. With a little research I decided to try an easy home made solution that was safer than the traps and sprays. I didn't have much hope in it as sometimes home remedies don't work as well.
Here's what I tried.
I use a measuring cup, filling it with a cup and a half of warm water. Add in half a cup of sugar (powdered or granulated white sugar seems to work best) and 1 and a half Tablespoon of Borax. Mix this together well. Next, take some cotton balls (I had none, so I ripped a paper towel in half and balled it up) and soak up the liquid. Take a semi flat lid, dish, or tupperware lid as I used, and place the cotton ball on it. Set this either in the area that you see them most or near where you think their nest is. I set mine on the back of the sink. Let sit for 24 to 48 hours to eliminate ants as they take the borax back to the nest and kill all of the ants.
The results:
I set this up at night before bed. I watched it for a bit before going to bed, seeing nothing and having not much faith that it would actually work because my life is full of bad luck. The next morning, I wake up and go check it. Nothing. No ants anywhere on it. At this point I was giving up and ignored it the rest of the afternoon. That evening, hubby comes home and says " your trap seems to be working well. " I figured he was being sarcastic and saw ants in the sink and not on the trap, so I walked out to the kitchen saying " Yeah great, I don't know why they won't touch it . " Just as I finished saying that, I walked in on what looked like a scene from a horror movie. Huge swarm of ants all over the soggy paper towel. Lying there, soaking up the concoction into their creepy crawly ant bodies. As disgusting as this was to see, I was excited that they were taking to it. Now to wait for them to take it back home! The next morning, there were two random ants on it left. One, I'm fairly sure was dead. This was yesterday. Today, no ants!! I am so excited and surprised that this actually worked!!
I just wanted to pass this helpful solution on to anyone else suffering from the summer ant blues. Cheap and easy fix!
Now if anyone knows how to get rid of thousands of mosquitoes in my backyard... pls share. :P
♥ Meows