After trying a dozen of methods to kill ants by using gentle ingredients but with little success and feeling really frustrated with the infestation of tiny brown ants in my kitchen and surrounding Cass' desk (this brat eats at her desk!), I tried another method just out of curiosity to see if it worked. I wiped our kitchen counter and floors with hand sanitizer and VOILA, I saw dead ants everywhere!
All I did was pumped some hand sanitizer with sodium hydroxide and wiped the sides of the kitchen counter, the dining area floor and under Cass' desk and that's it. The ants just stopped coming and I see dead ones here and there.
What prompted me to use hand sanitizer was our leftover stash of hand sanitizer which we spent much effort and money to hoard during the first wave of Covid-19 early last year. At that time, face masks and hand sanitizers were flying off the shelves of all the pharmacies around the Klang Valley. Whenever we saw any being replenished, we went berserk and grabbed bottles of hand sanitizers and face masks though some unscrupulous sellers jacked up the price. Now that face masks and hand sanitizers are a glut everywhere and they are even given as free gifts, we now have too many bottles of hand sanitizers and some are nearing their expiration dates. Thus, I use the hand sanitizer to do general cleaning around the house and experimented it with ants. And it worked!
So glad I found another accidental discovery! 😂😂😂
If you have hand sanitizer that contains alcohol, this can also be used to kill ants. However, this is quite an expensive method to try with. You could use your near expiration date hand sanitizers or simply use cheap alcohol and wipe it on the paths that ants move about to kill ants safely.
Good luck in trying and do let me know if any of the methods that I mentioned works!
6 comments:
What a great idea! Hv also used vinegar with some success to deter ants; wipe along the edges of the wall where they usually hang out or around the at food bowl. I hv even found ants around the water bowl! Guess they were thirsty.
I always find ants in our jugs and kettle too! This really pisses me off as I would have to throw away the water and fill up the jugs again. You're right about ants drinking water. They need water to survive too 😅
Hi! What a great idea! never thought of using sanitizer. however i don't have spray sanitizer.. only the gel type in pump bottles. And they don't contain that ingredient you mentioned. I shall try it and see. For the past few months ants have been invading my home and they literally everywhere.. kitchen counter, room, study room table and chairs, even an occasional one on my phone.. yes and my stainless steel water container too! However i don't pour out all the water, just use a spoon to scoop the dead ants out from the water surface. If I pour all the water away i have to boil a lot of water to refill the container!
Also i tried Bye Bye Semut.. doesn't work. And yes, the tiny reddish brown ants are annoying.. and when they get on the skin they can bite too!
Hi Sarah
You don't really need spray sanitizer. I used the gel type from pump bottles. I pump out some on tissue papers and then wipe it on the ants' paths. After wiping with sanitizer, don't wipe it off with water. The next day mop the floor as usual and followed with another layer of hand sanitizer on the same paths.
I used to reboil water that had ants in it until it happened so frequently that I gave up. Like you, I just use a spoon to scoop out the dead ants. Too much work to reboil water and fill up all the jugs & containers again :D
I found it worked on termites pretty well too
Good to hear that it works on termites too! It's very costly to exterminate termites.
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