EE-gads, here comes those big black ants again!?

Ants don't care for mint or citrus, cloves or bay leaves, so think orange peel, peppermint tea, lemon juice, ground cloves, etc. If you can plant mint around the foundations of your home, you may deter them from entering. Vinegar has the same acid as citrus, so use it to clean with and ants won't feel welcome. (It probably erases or overpowers the odor trail other ants have left for them to follow.)

Clean bench tops and cupboards down really well, and then wipe down with a clean damp cloth that has a few drops of essential peppermint oil on it, you may need to apply a few drops of oil a couple of times.

Ants hate the smell of it and it is also environmentally friendly, and safe for humans and children, and no residue powders etc to clean up. And the big bonus is that the room smells fresh and minty. I also want to add that you can put the oil on a cotton ball after cleaning and put in the areas you have ants and that should help too...replace once the smell is gone.

I hope this was helpful,Good Luck!!! :)

For ants on the counter top, wipe down counter top with white vinegar. To prevent ants from coming into the house, or getting into cupboards, sprinkle dried mint or red pepper where they are entering the house and in the cupboards. If you know where the anthills are make a mixture of 50 percent borax (sold in laundry aisle of supermarkets) and 50 percent confectioner's sugar and place near anthill. The ants are attracted to the sugar and carry the fatal borax/sugar combination back to the nest to feed the queen and other ants. Soon all ants will be dead. I know you have children and pets but if you can put this in an area where the children and pets ca't ingest it, it should solve your ant problem. To get rid of anthills, pour 3 gallons of boiling water down them. This is best when done when the ants are active and at the surface. Do not do it near flowers or they will die.

Regular insecticides will only kill the critters it touches. I have a great link that has EFFECTIVE ant control products. The ants take the bait back to the nest and feed it to the queen making her sterile. I have used this twice on carpenter ants that have moved into my house (about 3 years ago and again this spring) Max Force is the product's name.

Now I heard last summer that ants hate orange, the smell and the taste of it. So they said to use anything with orange in it around the house. As I also have dogs and cats I couldn't use anything toxic, and believe it or not this seemed to work. I used orange juice and sprinkled it around the outside of my house as well as anywhere inside I seen them. It seemed to keep them away and it's a safe and cheap solution..Hope it works for you too...

check this site out....it might help....Good Luck

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef603.as...