In one of what will likely become many posts about household items we are starting to produce ourselves I would like to share the latest experiment: Homemade Ant Bait. Since I started making my own laundry soap and cleaning solution (we've settled on a vinegar solution for general disinfecting spray) I really want to make as many of these household products as possible. One, if I make them myself I know exactly what's going in them, usually a mixture of vinegar, baking soda, borax, or castille soap. Two, if I make them myself it costs pennies compared to buying something in the store pre-packaged of said product. This is very true of ant bait.
Our house gets infested with ants on a regular basis. They are the little black ants, so they don't bite, but they are very annoying and are probably slowly eating away the walls of my house. I used to live in a rental about six blocks away from where we are now and I had the same ant problem there. Anytime it rains a lot or is hot outside the ants come inside and they are everywhere. Not after anything in particular, just wandering around on the kitchen counter, the cabinets, the floor, the bathroom sink, the back of the toilet, the medicine cabinet, my toothbrush! Eggck!
We have been using little ant traps since we moved in and buying a new set every few months. When we were at the store last weekend, though, and went to grab some ant bait we looked at the box. It was a liquid you put on little tabs of paper and hide around in the back of cupboards. We looked a little closer and saw that the only active ingredient was Borax. The box of ant bait cost $3.50 for probably a 2 ounce vial of liquid. Literally next to it on the shelf was a 76 oz. box of Borax for $4.50. Borax is also used in lots of household cleaners and detergents as well, so it's not just a one-trick pony.
Mike made up a batch of homemade ant bait last night. It was nothing more than diluted sugar water with borax. In an old glass he mixed the sugar water and added 1/4 tsp. of Borax. This was enough to make about a pint of liquid. Total cost of homemade ant bait: $.50. (Cost of Borax used: $.00026, the cost is almost entirely sugar.) Total cost for the same volume of ant bait bought at store: $28. That's some good frugality there!
Then he dipped cotton balls in the solution and placed them strategically around the kitchen. We also have a gallon sized ziplock filled with pre-soaked cotton balls ready to put out when we notice more ants.
Now, the question is how effective is it? Well, here's one of the cotton balls this morning. So far so good! I'll let you know if we see a decline in the indoor ant population in the next few days.
Our house gets infested with ants on a regular basis. They are the little black ants, so they don't bite, but they are very annoying and are probably slowly eating away the walls of my house. I used to live in a rental about six blocks away from where we are now and I had the same ant problem there. Anytime it rains a lot or is hot outside the ants come inside and they are everywhere. Not after anything in particular, just wandering around on the kitchen counter, the cabinets, the floor, the bathroom sink, the back of the toilet, the medicine cabinet, my toothbrush! Eggck!
We have been using little ant traps since we moved in and buying a new set every few months. When we were at the store last weekend, though, and went to grab some ant bait we looked at the box. It was a liquid you put on little tabs of paper and hide around in the back of cupboards. We looked a little closer and saw that the only active ingredient was Borax. The box of ant bait cost $3.50 for probably a 2 ounce vial of liquid. Literally next to it on the shelf was a 76 oz. box of Borax for $4.50. Borax is also used in lots of household cleaners and detergents as well, so it's not just a one-trick pony.
Mike made up a batch of homemade ant bait last night. It was nothing more than diluted sugar water with borax. In an old glass he mixed the sugar water and added 1/4 tsp. of Borax. This was enough to make about a pint of liquid. Total cost of homemade ant bait: $.50. (Cost of Borax used: $.00026, the cost is almost entirely sugar.) Total cost for the same volume of ant bait bought at store: $28. That's some good frugality there!
Then he dipped cotton balls in the solution and placed them strategically around the kitchen. We also have a gallon sized ziplock filled with pre-soaked cotton balls ready to put out when we notice more ants.
Now, the question is how effective is it? Well, here's one of the cotton balls this morning. So far so good! I'll let you know if we see a decline in the indoor ant population in the next few days.
Ew. I hate ants.
ReplyDeleteI have the same shelf liner as you.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have ants bad in our old place. Now we have spiders, spiders and more spiders. Oh, and centipedes. I miss the ants.
This was "The Summer of Spiders" in Portland. A wet and cool summer was perfect for them and they were everywhere. You would open the door in the morning and walk through like three webs stepping outside. It was gross. And I'm really glad we don't have centipedes. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to report that ants have subsided! There are still some working on one of the cotton balls in the cupboard, but they are few and far between now and I'm pretty happy with that.
ReplyDelete