Replied By Dave (Battle Ground, Washington State, Usa) on 08/30/2010
I went out one morning to see thousands of small black ants outside our garage door, where the car drives in, all along the edge of the door. My first thought was to get some insecticide and spray but I don't like killing living things no matter what they are. I read a post somewhere saying 20 Mule Team Borax makes insects go away. So I sprinkled some across their path and went to the grocery store to shop. When I came back every single one of them had left, none were killed, and they went elsewhere.Replied By Westsound (Vancouver, Vancouver Canada) on 08/16/2011
Borax works for killing ants. I found ants in the kitchen, didn't know where they were from. Read online and tried putting borax along the kitchen counter, the edge of the sink etc. Then I went to Seattle with my doggy. Couple days later we got home, cleaned up the borax with a vacuum cleaner. I haven't seen any ants since. It works wonder :)Replied By Patricia (Gulf, North Carolina) on 08/28/2011
Do you think the borax would work on getting rid of Fire Ants as well?Replied By Sheila (Cork, Ireland) on 09/22/2011
Peppermint essential oil is a good way to deter ants; they just turn right around and head away when they're near it. I prefer it, then I don't have to worry about having harmed them.Replied By Elizabeth (Oceanside, Ca) on 10/22/2011
You might want to determine why the ants are there in the first place. We discovered that the place we were renting had termites and the ants were eating them.Replied By Teresa (Auckland, New Zealand) on 12/08/2012
Before resorting to killing ants why not ask them to move? Tell them that they have so many mins. to go outside or you will kill them. And if they are outside why kill them? They have a purpose. It works, try it.Replied By Mia (Ukiah, California) on 02/19/2013
I had such fun reading the progression of the posts. It was delightful. I love how we the people are taking back our rights & being good hearted & sensible.Replied By John (Rumson, Nj Usa) on 04/11/2013
I thought I was the only one in the world that knew "tell the Ants to leave" actually works. It really does work. And it makes you laugh because it's so simple.Replied By Sarah (Lehi, Ut) on 04/14/2013
I'm going to try asking them to leave. I like that idea, it certainly makes me smile. Wonder if it works on spiders too. :) I don't like killing anything, I figure they have a right to be here as much as we do and obviously there's a natural purpose for them.Replied By Polly (London, England) on 04/15/2013
I'm going to try this when the first little critturs come marching in when the weather warms up! At the moment I don't kill, them I use rotten lemon peels put down where they come in and it takes a little while but they certainly don't like the smell or taste of rotting lemon peels. I don't eat oranges so I haven't tried them maybe someone else could try that?Replied By Deanna (Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Usa) on 05/21/2013
There was an ant running down the side of my bathtub yesterday. After reading here I sternly said to him "get out of here or I'm going to kill you! " He screeched to a halt and ran out of my house. I am truly stunned at his reaction.Replied By KT (The Usa) on 05/21/2013
I remember reading to put lemon juice in the corner of windowsills to keep ants out of the house.Replied By Duh-oh (Virginia) on 08/23/2014
I decided to try the "tell the ants to leave" tactic because I found it interesting. So when I saw the ants and approached, I was surprised when said ant instead turned and asked ME to leave! I now have 30 days or I will get evicted. Thanks alot guys...Replied By KT (US) on 08/23/2014
Placing whole cloves on your kitchen counter in the corners, behind cookie jars, coffee makers, canisters, etc. DOES, in fact keep ants away. I started to see them this year on my kitchen counter. I remember reading about the whole cloves and tried it and they left! I was amazed. KTReplied By Om (Hope, Bc, Canada) on 08/24/2014
Hi Du-oh, thanks for your post; it made me crack up and chuckle that day. Namaste, OmReplied By Yvette (Germany) on 05/18/2015
Killing ants is bad stuff, since its one of the two, insects natural enemies that kill/destroy TICKS, if u want to have a garden free of Ticks, "plant" ants or pray to God to "send" some. Ants eat the eggs and the larvae. In my garden I had lot of ants and no ticks, all the other neigbours had ticks because they killed the ants. So think twice before u kill the ants around you. Then getting Lyme is worse then having some ants on your property.Replied By Trudy (Al) on 05/18/2015
We have fire ants. Have you ever been bitten by one? They call them FIRE ants for a reason. Can you imagine your little child falling into a pile of them? One bite can kill you, and they burn for days and cause blisters. I'll chance it with the ticks.Replied By KT (Usa) on 05/19/2015
The lemon juice in windowsills and cloves on the counter work great but I do use "Terro" in our downstairs bathroom (that area is on a concrete slab). There are plenty of ants "out there" to take care of any ticks.
Terro works great but when you first use it, ants will appear to come by the hundreds and you think you're feeding them...well, you are, but after about three days they are all gone.
Replied By Patricia (Downsville) on 08/22/2016
Do you think fleas would be as cooperative as ants are when asked to leave my house?Replied By Robin (Northern Michigan) on 06/04/2017
I have tried asking them. The first time, it worked and they stayed away for 3 years. Once I even saw one large carpenter ant on the verge of entering at the slider door and I took one look at it and wow, it scurried right back out.
This year, no luck. I spent a week asking nicely, pleading with them, explained if they did not leave I would poison them, yelled at them, no go.
They are still here and I've had ant poison out for several days.
Bummed.
