Effective, beardie-safe ant killer/repellent?

[Juniper]

We've got an ant problem in my house. In the past, we've used those little plastic houses full of poison to kill them, but now I've got a baby beardie, and this morning I saw an ant in his cage. I haven't seen him try to eat any ants yet, but I wouldn't put it past him, so I don't want to poison them for fear of poisoning him.

Does anyone know an effective way of getting rid of ants that wouldn't harm Norbert if he ate an ant that had come in contact with it?

 

[AHBD]

How bad are the ants ? We had them about a month ago but they seem to have run their course and died out or disappeared. One thing you can try is to mix confectioners sugar with borax soap. If you don't have other pets that would eat it you can put a few small plastic lids on the floor with that mix, the ants eat it + it kills them. Maybe others will have suggestions as well.

 

[CooperDragon]

When ants get in my house I spray the floor and areas around the door where they get in with vinegar. That seems to remove their "tracks" and keeps them from coming back in droves. I also put a combination of crushed calcium, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in the doorway. They don't seem to like it and don't go past it very often. I've also heard of the Borax traps that AHBD mentioned being very effective at killing them but I haven't used that.

 

[neacail]

We get thousands of tiny ants in our house during July and August. They're a problem through our whole neighbourhood. No one has been able to keep them at bay. After years of battling this, we found a solution that works for us.

We make up a couple of pitchers of Kool-Aid Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade. We let the Kool-Aid sit for a couple of days, and then we fill a bunch of disposable glasses half full of the Kool-Aid. We place the glasses all around the house: inside and outside. The ants are drawn to the glasses, climb into them, and then they drown in the Kool-Aid.

It takes a couple of days for them to start drowning themselves after the glasses are put out. And, it never works with freshly made Kool-Aid. It has to sit for a couple of days before they're interested in it. The Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade seems to work the best.

We found this solution by accident . . . when our son left a glass of Kool-Aid on the floor where we couldn't see it. When we finally did find it, it was full of ants that had drowned themselves.

A word of warning if you try to do this: It will totally gross-out any guests that you may have over.

 

[Lizzieball12]

Get some lemon or lemon grass extract or essential oil. You can either drip some along wherever they're coming in or put some on a paper towel and wipe around where you see them. Just make sure you can smell the lemon. That will disrupt their trail sent and they absolutely hate the smell!

 

[AHBD]

I'll scratch my suggestion, these 2 posters provided what seems to be much better alternatives. I will remember these if we ever have an ant problem again !

 

[Juniper]

Thanks for these suggestions, guys! The ants seem to have mostly gone away (like AHBD's did), but I'll try these if they come back.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Extremely creative & very safe!
That is a lot of suggestions, all of which are terrific. Good luck with the ant problems.


Tracie

 

[Dragongrlwi]

Mix equal parts powdered sugar and baking soda. Attracts the ants and kills them on the spot! Try it out!