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RobinB · July 12, 2015

I'm not sure how organic it is, but I use borax or boric acid mixed with either sugar water or peanut butter or beef baby food. Some ants like it sweet and others like fat. This is what works for me. I realize that not everybody is going to be okay with this as a solution. I have also heard that orange oil or clove oil will work.

I took some dead ants (I dropped them into containers with rubbing alcohol) down to our local coop extension office and left them. A couple of weeks later an entomologist said that they were non-wood-eating carpenter ants. They really, really ended up liking the beef baby food!

So, if what you try doesn't work on the ants you have, try finding out exactly what kind of ant it is. Try to bring in several ants from the same mound. I was told that some species are so similar to each other that they need a male and a female to ID them.

July 12, 2015	#5
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	I'm not sure how organic it is, but I use borax or boric acid mixed with either sugar water or peanut butter or beef baby food. Some ants like it sweet and others like fat. This is what works for me. I realize that not everybody is going to be okay with this as a solution. I have also heard that orange oil or clove oil will work. I took some dead ants (I dropped them into containers with rubbing alcohol) down to our local coop extension office and left them. A couple of weeks later an entomologist said that they were non-wood-eating carpenter ants. They really, really ended up liking the beef baby food! So, if what you try doesn't work on the ants you have, try finding out exactly what kind of ant it is. Try to bring in several ants from the same mound. I was told that some species are so similar to each other that they need a male and a female to ID them.