natural ant repellant?

[mum22dd's]

We have ants coming in the kitchen window, and since the kids can reach the window sill I need to find a natural ant repellant. I've tried lavendar because I read that's it's actually poisonous, but it doesn't seem to keep they abay. Any ideas?

[Mothernature]

I've heard peppermint, (didn't work at our house) chalk, (might be an old wives tale) and cinnamon (haven't tried yet.)

Let me know if you have any luck. They seem to like my bathroom of all places. :

You of course know to keep all food sealed up tightly. Don't leave dishes in the sink. Wipe up all spills. Make sure there aren't any crumbs in your cabinets. You're trying to starve them (which is impossible-especially with children around.)

So, does anyone know why they would enter the bathroom at the opposite end of the house from the kitchen?

[OneTrickPony]

There are a couple older threads on this - do a search on "ants" and you should find some info.

My suggestion is diatomaceous earth. This is harmless if ingested by people and animals (some people actually give it to their pets to maintain digestive health). The way it works is to scratch the waxy coating off the ants' exterior skeletons, leading to dehydration and then death.

I've also heard that ants do not like the smell of ammonia. You could wipe down your surfaces with diluted ammonia.

[NoHiddenFees]

Dont' use diatomaceous earth where your kids can reach; it can really irritate the eyes. I use it under floor boards and liberally sprinkled it near the borders of our crawl space (small one under a converted porch).

Peppermint works for our ants, but has to be reapplied so often as to be useless. However, it is great to add to a wash when you're getting rid of ant trails. Can you see where the ants go outside when they leave the window? If it's down the exterior wall you may be in luck and just have to wash the trail away.

We've had to kill a couple colonies... one had moved into the foundation of the house. We used 5% borax in sugar water for one and 5% borax in peanut butter for the other (different kinds of ants). Not all ants are looking for sugar, colonies also need water and protein.

Here's a great link:

http://www.thebestcontrol.com/bugstop/control_ant.htm

[Melinda77]

When I didn't want to kill them (I need ants for my peonies!) I just draw a line with chalk where they have been coming in - had to outline 2 kitchen windows with it, but no more ants coming in.

[boobear]

This works flawlessly for me..

When I find an ant trail in my home, I spend about 5-10 min time killing them, vacume and then drop a bunch of bay leaves (the ones you'd use for stews and cooking) all along their trail.

I've never seen them come back, a few stragglers but after 24 hours they're gone.

Good luck!

[owensmom]

My ants come in the bathroom too - and I only see like maybe 5 at a time, wandering around. I don't even know where they come in! I've given up on them, I just say howdy now. As long as they don't come in my kitchen.

Of course, I keep pulling out dishes in my kitchen and finding mouse poo in them. I think it might even be a rat, as it has eluded the humane mousetrap a few times, even chewed it from the outside to try and get the snack inside!

[kimbalicious]

Cinnamon works wonders! I sprinkle it along the trail and across the entry point and poof the little buggers are gone!