DIY Ant Bait

(Sung to the tune of The Ants Go Marching One by One)
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah,
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.
The ants came into my kitchen one day,
With thoughts to carry our food away.
And I took them ALL DOWN . . . TO THE GROUND.
Yes I did. . .by myself,
without Terro.

I’m crazy, you say? Yep, I am. But I was crazier when we had ants that wouldn’t go away. We spent probably $30 in spray, ant bait stations and other gadgets from the store and nothing was working. They were on my kitchen counters every day and every day I told my husband, “We need to do something about these ants!” He kept telling me, “We’ve tried everything!”

When I was little, I remember the liquid Terro that my mom would use when we’d get ants at home. We couldn’t find it anywhere in the stores. I knew we could order some online, but I wasn’t about to have to wait for that (even with Amazon Prime shipping). I looked up the ingredients online to find out the active ingredient in the liquid Terro. It was Borax. That’s when I decided to make my own DIY Ant Bait.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients & Materials

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Borax
1 cup warm water
Cotton balls
Pieces of aluminum foil
Tape

Mix all the ingredients together until they’re well-combined. Dip two cotton balls in the mixture and set them on a piece of aluminum foil taped down to a flat surface. Two pieces of tape are sufficient. The ants just need an entry point onto the foil.

Now sit back and watch the magic begin – here they come. Sorry for the horrible photos. Ants are difficult to photograph, folks. Especially in low light conditions. They started coming to the bait in the evening.

And. . .they kept coming. It took them a few hours after I put the solution out for them to find it. But when they did, I noticed a considerable difference in the number of ants the next morning. I saw one. And after that, they were gone. No lie. This stuff worked.

Just a note about the Borax, as with any insect killer, etc. please keep the solution away from children and pets. Borax can be harmful. I placed my solution on my kitchen counter far enough back so the kids couldn’t reach it. Just be smart with where you place it. I was so impressed with this bait! It will be my new “go-to” solution for any future visits from ants. If you’re having a problem with ants, I hope you try it, too!