Rehabbing & House Flipping
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
#2 Questions About BiggerPockets & Official Site Announcements Contributor
- BiggerPockets Founder
- Maui, HI
- 5,815
- Votes |
- 16,121
- Posts
Getting rid of ants without harsh chemicals
#2 Questions About BiggerPockets & Official Site Announcements Contributor
- BiggerPockets Founder
- Maui, HI
Hey guys -
I've got a small ant problem and want to get rid of them without all the chemicals, sprays, etc. Does anyone have any effective techniques that work to get rid of them?
My Mom would leave a jar of honey out in the kitchen, the ants would come to collect and get stuck in the honey. Its worked well but didn't eradicate them.
Have you tried an anteater?
I live in Florida and ants are an utter b####. I have to share this story. I had a property with a cheesy old 1' retention wall made from decaying decades-old wood. I removed it and installed a block one, but it took me a few weeks to take the old ant-infested wood I put in my truck bed to the dump. I eventually noticed that I would occasionally see these odd-looking black ants with long legs on my dashboard or in soda cups when I forgot to throw them out.
I eventually figured out that those ants in that wood somehow colonized my truck! I tried a few tricks like plates of boric-acid laced jelly to kill them with no luck. I then bought a new rental property where my truck actually fit in the garage (it's just a humble Dakota) and I used bug bombs on the truck twice. That ended my ant infesting for good.
Moral: these hippy-approved "chemical free" solutions to ant problems are BS for 2 reasons: 1) EVERYTHING is a chemical. Water is a chemical. 2) Ants are evil. The baits I put in my truck of plates of sugary food with boric acid (all chemicals BTW) just didn't work because this low-tech Borg collective was evil and refused to die until I hit it with Admiral Janeway-quality chemicals.
Over the years, we’ve tried just about everything including shoving sprees into a bottle of Pepsi and turning the 2-Liter upside down into the ant hill.
What we found most effective is diatomaceous earth. It’s all natural and works just like boron but will not kill small children or pets. Mix it with sugar and let the ants take it back to their colonies.