Dawn dish detergent. mix with water(1:1 )works well in spray bottle. = dead ants

Carpenter ant = bad news! Definitely find out where it came from and treat right away.....check around your outside foundation to make sure they are not working up from underground.

Saw one outside several years ago and when I located what appeared to be an enterance they were using I just poured some concentrated insecticide into it and never had a problem since. (I didn't have anything else at the time and I figured it couldn't hurt! :lol: )

I have always used Boric Acid. (Borax and Boric Acid are NOT the same.) I buy the bottle with the nozzle, so I can direct it where I want it. Be careful to put it only where pets can't get at it, since it is a poison. (Also wash your hands very well after touching!) Just 1 application, on the path of entry, and in a ring around that point should do it. I have become an ant 'expert' since I bought land for my home, that used to be a Cherry orchard. I also had DH go under the house and spread it, and haven't had an ant since. Good luck.

Thanks for adding the clarification between the two.
In the recipe I mentioned, I should have specified putting the little cap away from where pets and/or children could get at it.
The amount that I would put out is probably equal to ¼ tsp.
The ants are attracted to the sugar and cornmeal and take it back to the nest where it is shared and eaten. The Boric acid powder then causes them to dehydrate...or so we've been told by exterminators.
Whatever works.

;-)

When we had ants we used icing sugar and borax.It really worked. Now there is a new breed of ant here in America from Argentina, they are a hard ant to get rid of. They seem to be immune to just about everything. Good luck.

Take 5 or 6 lemons, cut in half, place in water, bring to a boil then let cool completely. Like making lemonade but without the sugar.

Pour into a spray bottle (without the lemons, of course) spray areas you want.

Ants do not like the flavor or the aroma of lemons and there is no harm to humans or fur babies.

Sigh.........wonderful! Just what we need......more invading bugs....Africanized bees, Fire ants, invasive non-native fish, zebra mussels...........
I think I really like the 40's...before life got so fast between point A and B. Infections were treatable, cars were built solid..gasoline was 11 cents a gallon (1940)! :-D

I read your title, haven't read throughout your thread. I apologize if this is a repeat. Boric Acid, if no one else has recommended it, does the trick. I found it at the dollar store. It's an old home remedy from my mom and grandmother. I put it around the base of the perimeter of the house and all around inside the base boards. No more ants. It works. I do keep it away from pets.

I use to get them all the time. Then I started using a product called Amdro. It goes around the perimeter of the house outside. I also used the chalk around the perimeter of the house and drew a chalk line. Then I drew a chalk line around my kitchen window where they seemed to be coming in. In the fall I washed the inside chalk line away.I used windex or a similar product on the counters and that killed them if they were there.

peppermint oil works well for mice. and bay leaves work for ants. just put out a few leaves around where they are and they will leave.