how do I get rid of black ants, I don't want to use chemicals.?
I'm killing hundreds a day
Answers:
Chemicals are the only way to do it.
Other answers:
Release a fire ant queen near their colony, wait two weeks and they'll all be dead.
Release a fire ant queen near their colony, wait two weeks and they'll all be dead.
put pepper balls in the corners of your house
Self-rising flour -- It will kill them after they eat it. They will also carry it back into the next, thereby killing the queen which is the root of your problem.
Ants don't like chalk.
Ants refuse to cross a line of baby powder or chalk. You can first outline your home with baby powder concentrating around windows and doors. It is less messy and easier on some places like window sills to use chalk.
Also you need to clean your kitchen really well and then do a special chalk outline or baby powder outline areound the perimeter of the kitchen. This will only take a few days to rid of the ants.
Do you have a flute?
I never heard of most of these cures. They might actually work. Mine is to mix a solution of borax and sugar, and water. The ants eat take it back to the colony, where it eventually kills the queen. It takes a few weeks for the colony to die, but it always does. Borax, while being a chemical, just as water is a chemical, is a naturally occurring substance . Just be careful around animals, and pets. While small amounts will not hurt them much, large quantities will have deleterious results.
=>Borax.
It's sold in the laundry detergent section and usually is very inexpensive.
Just pour it down around the corners of your house, and put it in the carpet. Leave it overnight, and then vacuum/sweep it up.
burnt used car oil dig the top of the ant mound with a rake and poor the burnt car oil slowly around the mound they carry the oil back to the queen ant and when she is gone then the other ants will leave the area or pass away.. this is an old way to get rid of ants and trust me it works.. ants inside the house they come in for sweets and sugar cover your food thats out in the open and buy ant traps to put inside the house around your kitchen counter.. hope this old fashion cheap trick is helpful and good luck...this is used by many farmers and it works... they don't like amonia either.
Have you tried D.E.?
http://www.epinions.com/content_78868221572
Ants are difficult. Toxic sprays just kill on contact, and don't get rid of the thousands that live "back at the nest." I've tried assorted things over the years, and have yet to find anything that totally works. I've used toxic sprays, only to have more ants come in and walk right where I sprayed. I've used baits, yard sprays, and home made non toxic things.
Here are my suggestions. Remove houseplants from near the outside of the house. Ants move in and have very easy access. If you have plants indoors, take those outside and flood them with water, and see if they have ants in them. If they do, don't put them back in the house. (I had a problem last summer and it turned out ants kept rotating nests from one of my houseplants to the next. Now I only have a few hanging plants and I check weekly for any trail that leads up to the ceiling!)
Find where the ants are coming into your kitchen, and where they enter your house. The two locations may be on opposite sides of the house, or in more than one place. Vacuum up the ants in the house. Keep vacuuming them up until you pretty much get them all. Then, where they enter the kitchen (or anywhere else inside), place some strongly scented oil, such as citronella, peppermint, or euchalyptus. Use a q-tip and rub the oil in a half circle all around this entry point, but out from the wall about a foot. In this open area, allow ants to come but put some bait. (I use home made and I'll give the recipe). The ants will congregate on the bait, eat it, take it back to their nest, and it will wipe out 80% or more of the colony. This may take a few days, but the ants will love this bait and not invade the rest of the house. Meanwhile, keep sucking up any stray ants you still find wandering the house.
On the OUTSIDE of your house spray a toxic chemical from the hardware store, just try any old brand, the kind that comes in a gallon bottle with a hand pump (about $10 or less). Apply this spray on the bottom foot of the exterior of the house, and extending out for 3 feet. Look carefully all around the outside of your house (and on any trees that touch the house) as ants are very sneaky. They sometimes climb up a balcony and their trail is hidden between 2 pieces of wood. look on the ground for a few ants or more, all around the house. If you find them, after spraying, spray back along the trail aways too. Then, place more of the homemade bait along the trail.
Reapply the toxic spray once each month.
I personally hate using toxic sprays, but I hate ants more, so I use the stuff. Be sure to wear long sleeves when applying it and don't use it on a breezy day.
Homemade ant bait. Some ants like sugar, some like fat and this recipe works for both. You'll need Boric Acid, peanut butter and honey. Use 1 tablespoon of each and mix them all together. Take some small pieces of cardboard or very thick paper and smear a teaspoon of this goo on each piece. Smear it thin so lots of ants can feed. This mix will smear at least 8 pieces of cardboard. Place the bait here and there inside or outside the house.
You can buy boric acid in many grocery stores, and in hardware stores. It's often sold as cockroach bait and comes in a big plastic bottle, about 8 inches tall. Costs about $5 or less.
If you really don't want to use the toxic spray outside, then you'll have to somehow deter the ants from entering the house. You could try lots of scented oil along the exterior of the house, but I have yet to find something that truly works.
Good luck.
I see someone else knows what diatmous earth can do ie DE this is listed in home and garden sprinkle this arround there path and it will stick to them and cut holes into there body and kill them its not chemical its called mechanical and a little goes along way I thied it on my hummer feeders to stop the black ants from empentying by feeders and you can see them turning arround and leaving