We recently went down to our mailbox only to find it had become home to some ants. I don't know why they chose that spot, since there isn't any food there. Even though it's a good ways from The House, I didn't want them making their way to our home. Instead of calling someone out and paying an arm and a leg for a service call, or using harsh poisons, I looked online. I found a suggestion for mixing blue Dawn dish soap (just the regular one) with hydrogen peroxide. You just pour it into a spray bottle and swirl gently. You don't want to make suds. We sprayed it in the mailbox and the ants were history almost immediately. They haven't come back either.
Wow, that's very interesting to hear, @Zyni! thanks for sharing We often get a lot of ants in the summer. -and like you, although I want rid of them, I'd rather not harm them. I wonder what in the Dawn dish soap they don't like, that keeps them away?!
A great way to do this is just with some dollar store mouth wash, but I usually try to usher the ants out gently with a napkin beforehand. I had to peel a few hundred ants off my laptop case yesterday morning and just took the time to brush them all off. Mouthwash requires no mixing and just the little bit of residue is enough, peroxide is kind of overkill, they sense stuff for long periods of time and there was probably some form of sugar in the mailbox or something.
Dawn dish washing liquid (and probably most other soaps as well) leave a bit of a residue. I imagine that is what keeps them from coming back. Dawn soap seems to be good for many other purposes, besides washing dishes. I don't know how "healthy" it is, but I know it works, and it has saved me a lot of money. If you wish to save the ants then this is not recommended. Well, I guess maybe you could shoo them off and then apply it to keep them from coming back. I wouldn't suggest that you spray it when they are present if you don't want to kill them.
Yeah, ants are great for keeping oxygen in the soil but can become pests if they start hunting down your food supply. They also work as great food for certain types of lizards if you have those to keep other bug population down, especially spiders. Eco-friendly pest control is nothing more than using bro animals to counteract the not-so-bro animals.
Sometimes ants want to hide in a place where it's cool, that's why they chose to hide in the mailbox. Sadly, we don't have that brand of dishwashing soap over here. We just resort to using Baygon to kill them and get rid of them.
This is a wonderful tip, and I don't doubt that it works. Blue Dawn dish liquid is a very good staple to have on hand. As is hydrogen peroxide. Just google them, uses for. You will see! I will definately give this tip a try.
One other consideration that just came to mind is that spraying this mixture (since it contains peroxide) on things could cause discoloration. So, if you are going to try this method, I would recommend doing a test spot first to make sure it doesn't stain or bleach the item. No sense in losing money on an item when you're trying to save money by using a remedy like this. Also, be careful that the spray doesn't reach other areas that you are not trying to treat for ants. It does smell pleasant and clean as well, which is much better than bug spray. I can't handle that stuff.
I had ants in my house last year and to get rid of them I washed counters and floors down with vinegar. It worked great. I guess ants do not like the smell of vinegar and it removes the scent trail they leave. You just have to be diligent about doing this and they were gone in a day or two. I have learned after this that vinegar is a great household cleaner and now I use it all the time. Hence I shouldn't have a problem with ants again. Vinegar is a great inexpensive safe cleaner to use. I highly recommend it. The only thing is if you have granite countertops you shouldn't use vinegar on it.
