Does Anyone Know of a Nontoxic Way to Beat My Ant Problem?

Peppermint oil at the area they are coming in. Usually I mix Borax with honey and put it in an empty margarine tub with a small hole cut in. Cheap and effective! I tape the containers down so they can't be moved.

Cucumber peels at every window & door. I don't know what it is about them, but the ants won't go near them or even come inside at all!

corn meal + borax. plus something to attract them. I think we used sugar. the borax is poisonous, the corn meal makes them explode. The sugar gets them to eat it.

Should your cat get into it, it's almost completely non-toxic. We have it lining all our cabinets, including the pantry, to control the house roaches Texas breeds. Works like a charm for both bugs.

Good luck!

If you call an exterminator they will put a tiny bog of boric acid deep into your outlets. It is extremely toxic but it will be completely inaccessable to your little one and your cat. We had this done 6 years ago and still have yet to have a single ant in our house.

I use to have ants come in and head straight to the cat food bowl. We heard that you could put a dryer sheet under the dish to deter them. We thought we would give it a try and sure enough we never had the problem again. Hope that helps.

MrsLola took the words right outta my fingers.

While prepping the garden last summer before my Sister and brother in law moved, I came upon a huge any hill. We used the Borax sugar and corn meal mixture and voila...a whole lotta dead ants:)

I have ant problems where I live and I recently asked the same thing on another board. I went to lowes and got this thing called terro. It's little ant bait things that you put out and just leave it. The ants will come in and eat it all and then go back to their nest and die. I put mine behind an upright piano so my kids can't get to them. I also have 1 in the kitchen, hidden so my kids won't find it. Seriously like a thousand little ants came into the house and ate the bait and never came back. I have been ant free for about 2 months now.

Cucumbers worked for us.

I had the same problem with ants coming in at a window sill. One of the non toxic solutions that I found online was to sprinkle ordinary baby powder in that area. It has worked somewhat for me. Other solutions that were suggested were creating a barrier with Vaseline or sprinkling a spice like cinnamon or crushed pepper. These I have not tried.

I've read that there are some essential oils that the ants don't like, because it interferes with their sense of smell. I read that clove oil works, but I'd bet that any strong one would work, as I use a cleaner that has eucalyptus, and a few other oils in it--when we get ants from the kids dropping crumbs, I use it and the ants don't come back! Good luck.

We lived in CA where there is a horrible Argentine ant problem. They are relentless. After literally trying every green option from cinnamon to chinese chalk, to borax to orange oil we gave up when we had a 3" thick trail that was all around the ceiling of our kitchen (YES, it was really that bad). Orkin offers a green chrysanthemum oil option. And if you get your perimeter properly treated, they may never need to come in your house to do anything. We ended up having to get the service every month and it was worth every penny. Good luck.

we found something that says it's natural called ecosmart- I believe from Home Depot. Works well.

Baby powder. Ants will not cross over it. I use it at the saddle of my back door and I have not had a problem since.

My maid suggested baking soda for pests. But I've been told that it's equal in harm (or relatively harmless) as boric acid.

I used combats. You can actually place them up on the wall were the ants are. They will get in there. Put it behind stuff the baby can't get to. It works! ;)

Vinegar worked for me !