Posts Tagged ‘ants’

Yesterday, my son found ants in our kitchen.  They were swarming around a fallen crumb of food.

Well, as much as I admire their industriousness, I simply can’t have ants in my kitchen.

No trouble, I know just what to do.

It’s Mighty Mule Team Borax to the rescue… again.

You see, my mom had this same problem at her house a year ago.  She tried the little ant traps available at the hardware store.  They didn’t work.  She called an exterminator.  They wanted a $60 fee to come out to the house and they use pesticides.  “No thanks,” she said.

Start with a small spoonful of jam.  Ants apparently can’t resist strawberry jam- or whatever else you may have.

Next pour in an equal amount of Borax.  And stir together well.

And spoon a small amount of the mixture onto an index card.  I cut my index card into 4 pieces and made 4 cards.

Next place the cards in strategic locations where you’ve seen the ants.

BE CAREFUL IF YOU HAVE A PET.  While Borax is natural and environmentally friendly, it is toxic if ingested.  I placed my cards just inside the pantry door, and cautioned to kids to make sure to keep the doors shut while I have the cards out.  The ants can get to the sweet concoction, but my sweet little lunch-mouth dog cannot.

Give the cards a few days to do their job.  If all goes well, those ants should be history.

It worked for my mom last year, so I have high hopes.  I love when you can solve a problem for pennies.

***2013 Update:  I had ants that were more difficult to get rid of this year.  The first time I tried this method, it worked they were gone, but came back about 2 weeks later.  This time they didn’t seem to be drawn to the jam.  So I mixed together a small amount of jam and peanut butter, then added the borax and set them out.  They went for the trap almost immediately and it worked like a charm getting rid of them.