Borax Ant Killer
Thank You for landing on our site! You are likely here because you want to learn how to get rid of ants both inexpensively and effectively. You have come to the right place as we are going to show you exactly how to make your own borax ant killer. We will show you exactly how to use borax to effectively kill ants by making your own homemade borax ant traps.
For over a century people have been using boric acid or borax (a laundry booster related to boric acid, but slightly milder) to kill and control ants. In other words, using borax for ants has been around for a long time. This method was in use long before other chemical ant poisons were invented and placed into aerosol cans.
Getting Started
Go ahead and browse this page. It won’t take very long to get through most of the information. When you’ve decided to take action you can either use our exact recipe and follow our step-by-step instructions, or come up with your own recipe.
Also, don’t forget to read our Disclaimer as products purchased in the store should only be used for their intended purposes per the instructions on the container. If you use them instead to kill ants, well, that is your business and the purpose of this website!
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Borax to Kill Ants
There are three basic steps that you will need to do to create your own borax ant killer traps and use them to start killing ants. You will need to mix the poison, create and fill the traps and then place the traps. Below is a complete step-by-step guide, with pictures, showing exactly how I create my own borax ant killer traps. These 13 easy to follow steps will show you exactly how to get rid of ants effectively.
The recipe for homemade ant killer is pretty simple, and can vary. If you’ve been searching around the internet on this topic, you’ll find that people use all kinds of different recipes, mixtures, ingredients and portions or ratios when mixing borax with food to use as an ant killer. I’ve experimented and found a mixture and homemade ant trap style that works perfectly! You can use more or less, depending on how much of the mixture you need. In other words, the following recipe can be made greater or lesser. Just make sure you use the same ratios.
How to Make Borax Ant Killer
- Step 1 – Mix 1/3 cup borax with 1 cup sugar (mix well)
- Step 2 – Slowly stir in water until you have a syrup-y consistency
- Step 3 – Stir in 1/4 cup syrup (optional)
These are just very basic instructions. Please see the Step-by-Step Instructions below for full detailed instructions for how to make your own borax ant killer homemade ant traps.
Borax or Boric Acid?
Borax is actually a salt of boric acid. It consists of a fine white powder that dissolves easily in water. The most readily available and easy-to-get form of borax can be found in the laundry section of most stores that sell laundry detergents. The most popular brand is called 20 Mule Team Borax. Click here to find a store near you that sells it. Or click here to buy borax on Amazon.
Borax for Ants
There are tons of household uses for borax, most commonly known as a laundry booster. Using borax for ants is only one of many uses, which is what this site focuses on. When consumed by ants, borax is a deadly poison. The easiest way to get ants to consume borax is by mixing it with a food source.
Some advice I’ve come across teaches you to sprinkle borax around the perimeter of the building that you want to keep ants out of. While this may be effective at deterring ants from entering, it doesn’t really kill them or get rid of them. You need the ants to consume the borax and bring it to the rest of their colony to consume. They will only do this if the borax is mixed with a food source.
The purpose of this site is to show you exactly how to get rid of ants effectively by tricking them into consuming and sharing the borax food source that you will prepare for them. I know this works, as I have used this exact method myself. I hope this helps and you have the same success that I have had.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 - Gather Ingredients
The ingredients consist of simply borax, sugar, water and syrup. The most popular brand of borax is 20 Mule Team and can be found in the laundry aisle of most stores. Plain white granulated sugar should be used. The kind you would use for baking or for putting in your coffee. Any brand or flavor of syrup is fine. Where you get your water (not pictured) really doesn't matter. Tap water is perfectly okay. You could use bottled water if your ants are the ritzy type.
Step 2 - Measure Borax
The recipe calls for 1 part borax to 3 parts sugar. In other words, however much borax you use, you will need 3 times as much sugar. For this example, I am using 1/3 cup borax. Using a measuring cup, measure this amount and then pour it into a separate bowl for mixing.
Step 3 - Measure Sugar
In a measuring cup (same one is fine), measure 3 times the amount of sugar as the amount of borax you used. For this example, I used 1/3 cup borax so I will be using 1 cup of sugar. Pour the sugar into the same mixing bowl that the borax is already in.
Step 4 - Mix Borax and Sugar
Using a spoon, spatula, fork, whisk, plastic toy or whatever else you might use for stirring - mix the borax and sugar together really good. Remove or crush any large clumps so that the mixture is a fine powder. This is a key step in the process, as you don't want any part of the mixture to contain too much borax and too little sugar. The ants will be after the sugar and you want the fine borax powder to seem like it is part of the sugar.
Step 5 - Add Water
This part of the recipe is not an exact science. You need to add enough water to your borax/sugar mixture to make it kind of thick and pasty, but not too runny. For this example, I attempted to measure the approximate amount that I used. I found that it turned out to be somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of water. My suggestion would be to use no more water than the amount of borax that you used.
Step 6 - Stir Water into Mixture
Using your choice of stirring utensil - slowly add water while stirring. The borax and sugar should already be mixed together sufficiently (step 4), so the main purpose of this step is to get the powder to dissolve into the water. Tip: Using warm or hot water could help the powder mixture dissolve easier into the water. I've done this step with cold water though, and the resulting mixture kills the ants just fine.
Step 7 - Add Syrup
This step is also not an exact science. You can add as little or as much syrup as you want. I've even read other suggestions on the internet that say they use only borax mixed with syrup for their ant killer recipe. For my example, I did not attempt to measure the amount of syrup. I poured it directly from the container into the mixing bowl. My best guess is that I probably used 1/4 to 1/3 cup of syrup. A good rule of thumb could be to use about the same amount of syrup as the amount of borax and water you used.
Step 8 - Stir Syrup into Mixture
Again, using your choice stirring utensil, stir the syrup into the borax/sugar/water mixture as best you can. Keep stirring until the entire mixture is one consistent color. When you achieve this consistency, you will know that you will have the perfect borax ant killer mixture. They will not be able to resist.
Step 9 - Gather Ant Trap Containers
This step could be as simple as gathering paper plates, or lids to plastic containers. You could place the borax for ants poisonous mixture on these and leave them out in the open for the ants to find. For my example though, I chose to make my own homemade ant traps using various plastic containers and even glass baby food jars. I've found the very best (and perfect size) containers are the plastic baby food containers that come with reusable lids.
Step 10 - Punch, Poke or Drill Holes
The purpose for this step is to make an entry and exit way for the ants to get in and out of the ant traps. The easiest and best way is to use a hole punch. In this example, I used a drill with a 3/8 inch drill bit. If you do not have access to a hole punch or drill, you can poke holes using anything sharp or pointy. Things that come to mind could be a pen, pencil, nail, screw or even a screwdriver. Punch poke or drill holes around the top of the sides of the containers and/or in the lids. Do not place holes near the bottom of the container as this would cause the borax ant killer to leak out. Avoid placing holes in the lid if the containers are going to be placed outside where rain water could get in.
Step 11 - Add Borax Ant Killer to Containers
Using a spoon or small ladle, scoop your homemade ant killer out of your mixing bowl and fill each homemade ant trap. It really doesn't matter how much or how little you put in each trap. Ants are tiny and they are never going to consume all of it anyway before they all die. You don't want to use too little though, as you want the scent to be able to drift out of the traps so the ants will find it. I usually fill each trap about half-way.
Step 12 - Place Lids on Filled Ant Trap Containers
I've found that it is best to use containers with lids, as this make it easier to handle, transport and move the borax ant traps around without spilling. Place your lids (with or without holes) on each container.
Step 13 - Place Homemade Ant Traps
This is the part where you dangle a carrot in front of the bunny. Place the ant traps either where you know there are already ants or where you suspect they might try to get into your building. If you already have ants inside, place them in various spots at or near where you saw the ants. Make sure you read the How To Get Rid of Ants section (below) to learn exactly why and how this will be effective. The worker ants will find your homemade borax ant killer and bring it back to the colony to kill the queen and the rest of the ants.
If you do not have ants inside, but are looking to simply kill them so they won't come inside, place your homemade ant traps at or near where you suspect they might come in. Obvious placements are next to windows or doors. Place them on the ground around the perimeter of your building. Kill of those ant colonies before they ever have a chance to get inside your building. Pictured above is my placement of a trap next to a window air conditioner. The next picture is my placement of a trap next to a sliding glass door.
Note: Always use common sense and keep out of reach of children or pets or anybody or anything that could possibly be unintentionally harmed.
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Proof That It Works!
Pictured here is the inside of a homemade borax ant trap that was placed outside for about 2 months. As you can see, it is effective for not only killing ants, but also other bugs as well.
How to Get Rid of Ants Effectively
There are countless ways to get rid of ants. Ideally, you want to kill them. Killing ants is a sure fire way to really get rid of them. The question is, what is the most effective way to kill ants?You could squish them. That usually kills them. The problem with squishing them is that you only kill the ones that you see. There are a few things that you need to know and understand if you really want to know how to get rid of ants effectively.
Here at BoraxAntKiller.com – we have a really sweet solution that works amazingly well! And by sweet – we mean that literally! The best part about our method for getting rid of ants – it’s 100% natural and you probably already have the ingredients in your home. That’s right. You can make your own homemade u2018borax ant killer’ today! We are confident that you will find that this is the very best and most effective method for how to get rid of ants naturally.
Ants Live in Colonies
Ants live in colonies. There is no such thing as a rebel or renegade ant that is out going it alone. Fending for itself. Nope. If you see a single ant, it is likely out searching for a food source to either bring back to the colony or to bring the colony to in order to feed.
You could squish this single ant and kill it, or spray it with an ant spray that kills instantly. But in most cases this won’t take care of your ant problem. The rest of the ants in the colony remain and eventually they will come out and search for food. You need to kill off the entire colony (or colonies) in order to rid yourself of those pesky ants.
Eliminate the Queen
How to get rid of ants most effectively is to kill the queen ant. Typically, the queen stays in the nest and her sole purpose is to reproduce. She continually lays eggs for reproduction while the worker ants tend to her every need. They bring her food and dispose of her waste. If you kill the queen, there will be no more reproduction in that nest. Eventually, the rest of the ants in that nest will meet their fate and then that colony will be dead.
Trick the Worker Ants
So, how do you kill the queen if she never comes out of the nest? You poison her! And how do you get the poison to her if you don’t even know where the nest is? You let the worker ants bring the poison to her. And why would the worker ants bring poison to their queen? Because you trick them and make them think it is a food source.
This really works. The worker ants bring the poison to the queen. She eats it and dies, hence stopping the entire reproduction within that nest. The rest of the colony also eats the poison and dies. If any escape, they follow the trail to the food (poison) source and eat it there and die.
Ant problem solved!
Choose Your Poison
You could use one of several store bought poisons to attempt to control your ants. If you were going to do that though, you wouldn’t be on the internet searching for alternative ways to get rid of ants. You’ve come to the right place, because we’re showing you exactly how to get rid of ants naturally and effectively by mixing your own borax ant killer.
Borax is a milder and safer alternative to boric acid. In fact, borax is a salt that is derived from boric acid – so, they essentially do the same thing. For purposes of this website and easy availability – we always refer to the powdered form of borax when showing you how make your own ant killer with borax.
Lastly, I would advise against using store bought sprays or other poisons that kill ants on contact. If you’ve read the rest of this page, the reason is obvious. Dead ants can’t bring poison back to their queen in order to kill off the entire colony. While these sprays can be an effective tool to create a barrier that prevents ants from coming into your home (or other building or structure), they are not effective at killing off entire ant colonies. Unless, of course, you know where the nest is and can spray directly into it.
How to Get Rid of Ant Infestations
First of all – you need to know or be sure that you actually have an infestation. An infestation can be defined as being completely invaded or overrun by pests. You might notice hundreds or even thousands of ants if you are being overrun by an infestation.
If this is the case – it is possible that there are several nests and the ants might be reproducing faster than you’ll be able to kill them off with a simple homemade borax ant trap. You may want to consider calling in a professional exterminator if you have a full blown ant infestation. It’s actually really easy to get multiple price quotes for exterminators in your area. And it only takes a minute to get started!
Screw It - Buy on Amazon
Don’t feel like spending your precious time to make your own ant killer traps? Want to spend a little bit of money instead?
Store-bought ant traps are actually quite effective as well. You could buy on Amazon and have them delivered to your location in a matter of a few days. Just click the button below to see our top recommendations for ant killer products on Amazon.
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