The safest way to get rid of ants combines three things: cutting off what attracts them, sealing how they get in, and using low-toxicity treatments like borax baits or diatomaceous earth to eliminate the colony. Most ant problems can be solved without calling an exterminator or reaching for heavy-duty pesticides, but the approach depends on what kind of ant you’re dealing with and how established the problem is.
Start by Erasing the Trail
Ants navigate by following invisible chemical trails left by scouts. Every ant you see walking in a line is following a pheromone path back to a food source. Killing individual ants does almost nothing if that trail stays intact, because the colony will simply send more workers along the same route.
Wipe down ant trails with a mixture of equal parts white vinegar and water, or just soapy water. Both break down the pheromone signal. Spray along countertops, baseboards, windowsills, and any surface where you’ve spotted a line of ants. This won’t solve the problem on its own, but it buys you time and stops reinforcements while you set up a real strategy.
Seal Entry Points and Remove Food Sources
Ants are opportunists. They’re inside because they found a way in and something worth eating. Removing both of those things is more effective long-term than any bait or spray.
For exclusion, caulk cracks and gaps around windows, doors, pipes, and where the foundation meets the siding. For tiny gaps you can’t caulk easily, petroleum jelly works as a temporary plug. Keep plants, grass, and mulch at least a foot away from your home’s foundation, since these create nesting sites right next to your walls. Trim tree branches so they don’t touch the house, which forces ants to approach from the ground rather than dropping onto the roof.
For sanitation, the priority list is straightforward: store food in sealed hard containers (not plastic bags or open packaging), clean up crumbs and grease immediately, rinse out empty drink containers, fix leaky faucets (ants need water too), and take out garbage frequently. Outside, manage sweet food sources near the house like aphid-covered plants or fruit trees dropping ripe fruit. These steps sound basic, but skipping them is the main reason ant problems come back after treatment.
Homemade Borax Baits
Borax baits are one of the most effective DIY ant solutions because they work the way professional baits do: ants carry the poisoned food back to the colony, where it’s shared and gradually kills the queen and workers you’ll never see. This takes a few days to a couple of weeks, but it addresses the actual colony rather than just the foragers in your kitchen.
Colorado State Extension recommends a concentration of 5% to 10% borax by weight in homemade baits. Too much borax kills the ant before it returns to the nest. Too little won’t affect the colony. A good starting recipe: mix one part borax with 19 parts honey by weight, which produces roughly a 5% mixture. Place small amounts on pieces of cardboard or in shallow lids near ant trails, but out of reach of children and pets.
If ants aren’t interested in your honey bait, they may be protein-seeking rather than sugar-seeking. Different species have different dietary preferences, and the same species can shift preferences seasonally. Try peanut butter or bacon grease mixed with the same ratio of borax. Test a tiny dab of the plain food first (without borax) to confirm the ants will take it before mixing up a full batch.
Borax Safety Around Pets
Borax is low-toxicity for humans at bait concentrations, but pets deserve more caution. Dogs appear more sensitive to borate compounds than rodents used in standard toxicity testing. Ingestion of even small amounts can cause excessive salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, with symptoms typically appearing within two hours. Vomit or stool may have a blue-green color. Young and elderly animals are more vulnerable. Place baits inside enclosed bait stations or in areas your pets genuinely cannot access, like behind appliances or inside cabinets where you’ve seen ant activity.
Diatomaceous Earth for Dry Areas
Food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) is a powder made from fossilized algae. It kills ants physically, not chemically. The microscopic particles absorb the oils and fats from an ant’s outer shell while their sharp edges scrape through the waxy coating. This causes the ant to dehydrate and die, typically within a day or two of contact.
Apply a thin, even layer in dry areas where ants travel: along baseboards, behind appliances, inside wall voids if you can access them, and around entry points. DE stops working when wet, so it’s not useful outdoors in rainy conditions or in damp areas like under sinks unless the surface stays dry.
The main safety concern is inhalation. Breathing in DE dust can irritate your nose and airways, and in large amounts cause coughing and shortness of breath. The amorphous form found in food-grade products is rapidly cleared from lung tissue and associated only with mild, reversible inflammation. Crystalline silica, which may be present in trace amounts, is the more concerning form and is linked to chronic respiratory problems with long-term exposure. Wear a dust mask when applying, keep it away from areas where children or pets will stir it up, and let the dust settle before re-entering the space.
Essential Oils as Repellents
Essential oils can work as short-term repellents, but the differences between oils are dramatic. In controlled testing against carpenter ants, clove oil showed 88% repellent efficacy and maintained its effect for at least 72 hours. Peppermint oil came in at about 56% efficacy. Tea tree oil was nearly useless at under 9%.
To use clove or peppermint oil as a deterrent, mix 10 to 15 drops into a spray bottle with water and a small squirt of dish soap (which helps the oil mix). Spray along entry points and ant highways. This won’t kill ants or eliminate a colony, so think of essential oils as a complement to baits and exclusion rather than a standalone solution. You’ll also need to reapply every few days as the scent fades.
When the Species Matters
Most kitchen invaders are small sugar-loving ants (often odorous house ants, the ones that smell like rotten coconut when crushed). For these, the combination of sanitation, sealing, and borax baits described above typically resolves the problem within one to three weeks.
Carpenter ants are a different situation. They’re larger (often a quarter-inch or more), they nest inside wood, and they can cause structural damage over time. Baits are generally less effective against them because carpenter ants have such a varied diet that they often ignore bait stations. Spraying individual workers is similarly pointless since the colony remains unaffected.
With carpenter ants, the priority is finding the nest. Look for small piles of sawdust-like shavings near baseboards, window frames, or wooden structures. Follow foraging ants at night (when they’re most active) to trace their path. Carpenter ants typically establish colonies in wood that’s already moisture-damaged, so correcting leaky roofs, windows, door frames, and plumbing is essential both for treatment and prevention. Remove dead tree stumps near the house and store firewood on a concrete pad away from the structure. If you find a nest in a wall void, dust-based insecticides containing boric acid, silica gel, or diatomaceous earth can be applied directly into the cavity. Never use liquid insecticides inside walls, as the water can damage insulation, drywall, and electrical wiring.
Putting It All Together
The most reliable approach layers multiple methods. Clean up existing trails with vinegar or soapy water. Remove food and water sources that drew ants inside. Seal every crack and gap you can find. Then set borax baits near active trails for colony elimination, and apply diatomaceous earth in dry crevices as a physical barrier. Essential oils can fill in as supplemental repellents at entry points.
This combination works because it addresses every stage of the problem: it stops new ants from arriving, removes the reason they came, and kills the colony at its source. Most infestations of common household ants clear up within two to three weeks using these methods, without any products that pose serious risks to your family or pets when used as directed.