Content Updated: March 18th, 2025

Ants can be a nuisance whether they are in your yard or in your home. They multiply quickly, carry bacteria, and can leave unsightly ant hills all over your lawn. While ants can be beneficial for vegetation, too many of them can become a problem, especially if they are making their way inside your home. DIY ant control solutions may seem simple, but they aren’t always targeted enough to eliminate the problem effectively. Learn more about how to get rid of ants, including common home remedies for ants to decide whether you should skip the DIY solutions and go straight to professional ant control. 

Natural ant killers and repellents

It’s not hard to find ideas for “natural” ant killers. Mixing your own DIY ant-repellent sprays with essential oils like peppermint, citrus oil, and tea tree oil and spraying areas where ants might be entering your home, like around baseboards, doors, and windows, is one popular method. While there’s no harm in trying, the problem is that DIY sprays only address the ants you can see and not the entire colony. That means their effectiveness can be short-lived, and ants are likely to return.  

An ant trap is a device that contains a blend of food (the bait) and a poison that the ant will transport back to the nest. These traps can be more effective in treating the problem, but still have their limitations.

Borax for ant extermination

Borax is a salt that is toxic to ants. When they ingest it, it disrupts their digestive system, eventually causing death. Borax acts slowly, so worker ants that encounter it will carry it back to the colony, where more ants will ingest it and die. For borax to be effective, it must be mixed with the right ratios of sugar and water and placed in areas where the ants can easily access it, like around ant hills.

There is no guarantee that borax will work on your infestation, and you may have to do multiple treatments to ensure the queen is eliminated, or else the colony will simply rebuild itself.  

Boric acid and sugar

Boric acid is a mixture of borax and other naturally occurring minerals, like hydrogen or another acid. Mixing boric acid with sugar is a common DIY approach to killing ants. It’s important to get the right ratio of boric acid to sugar because the sugar acts as bait, and the boric acid acts as a poison. If there is too much boric acid, the ants might die before they have a chance to carry it back to the colony. If there is too little, the ants might not ingest it all.

Not all ants will be attracted to the sugar bait either, so this approach isn’t always as effective as you might like.

Common home remedies for ants

If you’re looking for a quick ant remedy that you already have in your kitchen, there are a few options that some people swear by. These pantry items might help deter ants:

  • Cinnamon: A study recorded in the International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications found that cinnamon essential oil can help repel ants. The problem is the oil must be highly concentrated and placed in the right places to be effective.

  • Lemon: Lemon juice is highly acidic and has a strong scent that may deter ants. However, its effectiveness depends on constant re-applications, and it won’t eliminate the problem at the root.

  • Vinegar: Spraying vinegar in areas where ants are entering your home and in places where food is stored may help repel them. The pungent smell masks the trail of pheromones the ants leave behind, so other ants can’t find the food source. But vinegar doesn’t actually kill ants, and it might attract other pests, like fruit flies.

  • Coffee grounds: The acidity and strong scent of coffee grounds can interfere with ants’ sense of smell, making it more difficult for them to utilize pheromones. 

While briefly effective, DIY ant control remedies shouldn’t be considered a permanent solution. In fact, if you rely on DIY methods, you’ll probably find yourself stuck in a cycle of treating the symptoms of the infestation—a few ants in your kitchen—and never really getting to the root of the problem—the colony. Instead, targeting the queen is the best way to get rid of ants in your home.  

Ant barriers and exclusion

Sick of seeing ants in your home? The answer is simple: prevent them from getting inside. From sealing up any cracks in the foundation to repairing openings in window and door frames, make sure your home has no clear entry points. Ants look for dry, sandy, loose, well-drained soil to start building their underground colony, so keeping your lawn well-watered, fertilized, and mowed can help. Removing rotting vegetation like piles of wood and leaves may also help eliminate conditions ants are attracted to.

Can you get rid of ants without professional help?

Your success in getting rid of ants without professional help depends on a few things: the species of ant and the extent of the infestation. While it may be possible to get rid of your ant problem initially on your own, enlisting a professional pest control expert will be more efficient long term. Having a professional in your corner will also take the stress out of the process.  

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