Cinnamon....they hate it and won't cross a line of it. Hope that helps!

I've heard borax works, too.

bay leaves

I use Terro. They eat it and take it back to the nest and die!

I've used borax before. One remedy I heard recently for fire ants is to put a spoonful of grits on the mound. It is supposed to dry the buggers out from the inside. I haven't tried that solution yet.

We use Terro after we find the reason they are coming into the house in the first place.

Grits works and my parents have tried it!!!

powdered chalk will work too.
Just make a line around your plants.

If I can find where they are coming in I use baby powder. Just spread it around your plants and they won't be able to cross it.

I use boric acid powder but it is hard to find. It works. I sprinkle it around outside where they come in and around the baseboards inside. Are your ants the little ones?

I've had good luck with ammonia also. I found where they were in the yard and poured a line of it so they don't cross it and then in the hill they were in. Hope you find a doable solution. :D

You might want to call an exterminator. The bigger black ones could be carpenter ants. They don't have wings do they? If they do they are definitely carpenter ants.

borax and powderes sugar about 1/2 and 1/2 and mix with water. spray outside a leave little lids of it ad they will drink and take back to nest and it blows them up like rat posin to rats. We do it every summer all areond the RV just under the edge all around, others have ants but we don't

Cloves, they will run from it.

Carpenter ants can lead to termites......they did for me....what a mess.

Boric acid is best found with cleaning supplies. It is cheaper than when you get it from the pharmacy.
Mix boric acid, sugar and a little cocoa place on waxpaper or paper towel, ants can get to this easy.
Cornmeal is good for amall ants.
The larger black capenter ants come in from the outside. The nest is in the ground or dry decaying wood. Unless you can locate the nest and destroy it, professional help is needed.

I am told to pour club soda in an ant hill. a bottle will kill 3 or 4 mounds. Kill the whole hive. does not hurt birds or other animals.

P.S. Boric acid is not harmful to pets. It is a white powder so when mixed with sugar you can't tell which is which.
My dad always sdded enough grated onion to make a stiff paste the rolled into marble size ball. This can be placed in cabinets or where ever needed. Not harmful people or pets.
But I said in earlier note Carpenter ants have to stopped at the nest.

If the ants ever get on your kitchen counter you can make a spray bottle of dish soap (about 2 tbls) and water. Then spray them and they die instantly. They can no longer breath. No need to worry about chemicals around food. We get ants twice a year around Sacramento. When it is too hot and when it rains. I hate them.

Ants come into get the protein in hand soap, so that means kitchen and bathroom.

I like the idea of spray of dish degerent.
We get ant anytime here in SC I found some today. Is is raining and chilly. Who knows do ants like hot dry or cold weather.

TERRO ........ works wonders. In fact, hubby is at this moment, putting a drop or two on the back of the counter.......

comes in an orange box at the supermarket.

bye-bye, ants !!

You got that right. Whereabouts are you, neighbor?

For ants that love my cats' dry food, I simply put down a few
crushed Wrigley's Breath Mints. The ants went away and have never
returned.

Then I put some outdoors, and the ants swarmed over them!!
Might be a different kind of ant. So had to resort to my old favorite,
sugar and boric acid. This always kills off insects, ants, roaches, don't
know about sliver fish that a friend was talking about recently. She will
try the boric acid with them.

This is a reply to Mad Quilter

I live just a few blocks north of Elk Grove. Hwy 99 and Mack Rd :thumbup:

Boric acid is sold in hardware stores and plant nurseries as a bug remedy. Not toxic and can be sprinkled in out of way places.

Someone told me to put down corn meal. They take it back to the nest and they eat it, but they cannot digest it. It kills them.

Ooooh - big and juicy? chocolate covered ants? YUK

I use Borax laundry detergent I sprinkle it outside in front of the doors and under my baseboards and on the rug then vaccum it about a hour later what stays in the rug kills spiders ants fleas and any thing that crawls it dries out their bodies and kills them. It doesn't hurt your animals....