Having extensively lived in the desert, the mountains and the tropics, here’s a simple and environmentally friendly way to get rid of and discourage ants from visiting your kitchen. The most obvious preventive measure is to make sure you thoroughly clean up after cooking and after every meal… and this is especially true if you live in an area where ants are plainly visible anywhere outside your home.
Start off by disciplining yourself to make a habit of always doing the dishes after each meal, or at least put any “dirty” dishes inside your dishwasher; wiping down all the counter tops and tables where food was prepared and eaten; and be sure to thoroughly wipe up and clean the floor where any food or drink was spilled.
But if after all these steps have been taken, and you still find that those pesky ants have come in to feast on some microscopic “tidbit” that was unnoticed or left behind, here’s a great “non-Toxic” solution we learned how to deal with returning ants in Hawaii. And best of all, it doesn’t involve the use of any chemicals or pesticides that could harm you, your Family or your pets.
Simply watch the ants closely to see if you can find their “point of entry” into your home or kitchen. These “secret portals” into your home will almost always be through some unseen crack in the cabinet under your kitchen sink… or they might be coming in from under the kitchen door or front door. No matter where they come from, here’s a “Green” way to discourage them and eventually get rid of their relentless invasion.
Put two Tablespoons of dishwashing (liquid) detergent into an empty Spray Bottle, such as an empty Windex spray dispenser. Fill it half way with warm to hot water… and start spraying all the ants that are in plain sight. You’ll see that the ants are instantly stopped dead in their tracks.
The reason this is so effective is that ants (like so many other insects) have a natural “oil” on the surface of their tiny bodies… and as the dishwashing detergent was specifically designed to clean “dirty dishes” of left-over food and grease, the result is that the ants are totally immobilized.
Use a paper towel to wipe up and throw away any ants that you’ve captured, and be sure to take this trash out of the house in the event any ants survived the soapy mist… but you’re not done yet.
That was only your “first strike” and will not eliminate the colony or invasion forces… as you will soon see that more ants will surely arrive. Again, look for the “point of entry” to see where the new ants are arriving.
The ants that may have survived this “soap attack” are probably now scurrying about in a frenzy as they were following the “oily path” left by the constant stream of their comrades… and now, without a path to follow, they’re in a panic as they try figure out where to go and what to do; and are now moving about at twice the speed they were before you bombarded them with your soapy mist.
Continue to spray down your counters and floors until you see that you’ve taken back your kitchen. Until the ants are finally gone for good, keep your “soap solution” spray bottle handy under the kitchen sink.
For your next assault on your tiny invaders, you’re going to target that “point of entry” under the sink (or where ever it might be). Have a couple of hand towels standing by (and a mop if your ants are really bad and seem to be all over your kitchen floor) as this is undoubtedly going be a “wet” process.
IF you have ants in your kitchen drawers, remove the drawers from the kitchen cabinet and thoroughly sponge wash each drawer (inside and out) and be sure to re-wash any and all silverware or cooking utensils in hot water (or whatever items or contents are stored in those drawers).
Keep in mind the “scout” ants are always on the “lookout” for even the tiniest particle of food to share with the nest, so even a single crumb in a drawer can be a “dinner bell” to dozens of scavenging ants… and they will always follow that “oily” trail left by other ants.
Now with the ant’s “point of entry” in sight, get an “empty” dishwashing soap bottle (or any type of squeeze bottle — shampoo; conditioner; etc.); and put three or four Tablespoons of dishwashing soap into this empty squeeze bottle and fill up about half way with warm to hot water to make a very soapy solution.
Using the squeeze bottle, point the tip of it directly into the ant’s “point of entry” and squeeze the bottle, sending a steady stream of the concentrated soapy water down into the ant’s entry into your home.
Wait and watch to see if more ants arrive. Should more appear squeeze another “blast” of soapy water down into their point of entry until they give up their assault. They’ll probably return, so keep the bottle handy if needed in the future.
For now, that should stop the immediate flow of ants into your home, as the soap will ruin the “trail” blazed by the initial invasion and the ants will not want to venture along the “soap saturated” pathway.
Keep in mind that as ants have the gravity-defying ability to walk anywhere they want to, it may take several applications of this process to discourage them from returning. But if they have found a steady food supply in your home in the past, they will probably look for another means of entry, so repeat these two steps as many times as necessary until you “take back” your home from the invading insect forces!
