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How to Get Rid of Ants' Nests
How to Get Rid of Ants' Nests. Ant nests can pop up outside and inside your home and lead to infestations by these bothersome insects. Killing ants nests doesn't have to entail a costly visit from your local exterminator, and there are a few safe ways to kill them both in and out of the home that don't require the use of dangerous pesticides.
Ant nests can pop up outside and inside your home and lead to infestations by these bothersome insects. Killing ants nests doesn't have to entail a costly visit from your local exterminator, and there are a few safe ways to kill them both in and out of the home that don't require the use of dangerous pesticides.
Things You'll Need
1 cup unflavored pipe tobacco
Large bowl
2 quarts of water
Rubber gloves
Coffee filter
Large pot
Baby powder
1 tbsp. boric acid
1 cup granulated white sugar
Cotton balls
Outdoor Nests
Place a cup of pipe tobacco in large bowl with 1 quart of water. Cover the mixture and let it sit for eight hours to steep.
Put on rubber gloves and pour the mixture through a coffee filter, collecting the liquid into a large pot. The coffee filter will help to remove any chunks or pieces of tobacco from your solution.
Boil the tobacco liquid for five minutes on high heat, then carefully carry the pot outside to the nest and pour the hot solution atop the nest slowly. Remember to have your gloves on, as this liquid can burn and stain hands and leave a strong odor on skin.
Sprinkle baby powder over the hill to prevent any returning ants from coming back and pour over any lines of ants you see around the hill.
Indoor Nests
Mix together a quart of water with 1 tbsp. of boric acid and a cup of granulated white sugar. Stir the solution to form a thin mixture.
Place two cotton balls in your mixture and let them soak for 15 minutes to retain as much of the mixture as possible. Remove from solution and let sit on paper towels covered and away from children and animals for five minutes.
Take a small paper cup, and use a pencil to poke holes towards the bottom of the cup about 1 inch up. Poke four or five holes sporadically around the cup making them about the size of your pencil width.
Place your solution-soaked cotton balls into the bottom of your paper cup, and cover the top of your paper cup with some clear plastic wrap, using a rubber band to wrap it tightly around the top edges of your cup.
Place your trap in the back of a cupboard or any area ants travel through or are building nests. Don't leave where animals or children can reach, but you want the cups in areas where you know ants have fed; typically, inside or atop cupboards are good locales.
Make a few cups to place around areas where ants frequent. Over the next week or two, ants will discover these sugary traps and begin harvesting the sugar and boric acid mixture. The boric acid will kill ants and the ant families when they take it back to their nests.
Tips & Warnings
Rinse out pots and bowls you make mixtures in thoroughly with hot water and dish soap and discard paper cup traps and replace them after a month.
