Anyone who has ever had ants knows just how hard it can be to get rid of them. Not to mention, calling an exterminator can be extremely price. But what if you could get rid of the ants by using a much cheaper trick? Here are a few tricks that can help get rid of ants, without breaking the bank.

This is something any homeowner must know!

Start by identifying what kind of ants you’re dealing with

There are over 12,000 species of ants all around the world, so knowing which kind you’re dealing with is vital to get rid of them.

To find their species take a close up photo of the ant, then, send it to your local university extension service. You can do this by entering the state you live in followed by “university extension service” into a search engine like Google. They will tell you what kind of ants you have, and where they nest. Once you’ve identified the ant species, there are a few tricks you can use before calling an exterminator.

Get rid of ants by using this cotton ball trick

This one is cheap and easy, you’ll just need some cotton balls and a few other supplies. Get 1 cup warm water, 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of borax. Then, mix the 3 together and soak some cotton balls in the solution.

After your cotton balls are soaked in the mixture, set them where you’ve been seeing ants and keep them there until you don’t see any more ants for awhile. Make sure to keep these soaked cotton balls away from children and pets.

You can also use regular foods to get rid of them

It’s important to remember that ants taste change. They usually prefer proteins during the spring and sweets or oily foods in the summer. By setting out the right foods, you’ll surely attract the ants that are bugging you, no pun intended.

Set out some peanut butter, honey, and some fried food mixed with borax, changing the mixture until the ant problem is gone. Just make sure you get rid of the sweet smell once they’re gone, so you don’t attract another colony.

Another important factor is killing their scent

Even if you see just a few ants, you’re bound to see others. This is because ants leave a strong scent trail for other ants to follow. Unfortunately, just sweeping and mopping isn’t enough to get rid of the scent. One great way to kill the scent is by mixing 1 part vinegar and 3 parts water in a spray bottle. Then, spray the areas you’ve seen ants and it will get rid of the scent.

Remember, this will only get rid of the scent, you’ll still have to use baits to kill off the colony.

How do toxic ant baits kill off the colony?

When you see ants taking the bait, what they’re actually doing is bringing the poison back to the colony which will eventually kill off the queen. Once the queen ant is dead, any ant colony will go extinct soon after and you’ll be rid of the pesky insects.

Ants can be a huge pain in the butt, so make sure you try all of these tricks before spending loads of money on exterminators, it’s definitely worth a try!

Learn more in the video below.

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Source: Shareably/HomeHacks, Family Handy Man, Youtube