How to Make Pet Safe Ant Killer Recipes

Note: You should be aware that most of the ants you see in your house are the worker ants. Killing just the worker ant does not totally solve your problem because the colony back at the nest can continue to produce more worker ants. That might be the reason you see the ants return after you have killed a bunch of them in your house. Below, with each recipe, we have indicated the best scenario for each solution.

Soap and Water

This is definitely the easy button of diy ant killers that are safe for pets. Now be sure not to load up on soap. You only need a little bit to be effective. The key to this recipe is to not dilute it too much, and to not concentrate the soap to much. Just like goldilocks, you want it just right. So here’s the basic recipe, which works well with your good old run of the mill sugar ants. Dish soap is really good for this recipe, but you can use liquid hand soap too.

Recipe:
Mix 20-25 drops of liquid dish soap into a 16 oz ( 480 ml) spray bottle that has been filled 3/4ths full with warm water.
If you want to stay natural, there are several dish soap brands on the market that stick with all natural ingredients.

Directions:

1. Mix soap and water gently in spray bottle
2. Spray directly on ants and areas where ants are coming from
3. Let sit for 5-7 minutes
4. Take a damp rag or paper towel and gently wipe up area. If you don’t wipe off the solution, it may leave a soapy residue once the water evaporates. It also removes the dead and dying ants.
5. Sit back and relish your latest victory.

Best Application for this recipe:
This homemade recipe works best when there are too many ants already in your home and you just need to take them out. This recipe wont do any long-term damage to the colony, but it will help to reclaim your home from the ants. It also disrupts their scent trails so the next wave of worker ants will get confused and have a harder time invading that area.

Borax, Sugar, and Water

At first, many people think borax is a harmful substance, but it actually has a low toxicity so it is generally safe for pets and people. Taken in large quantities, however, borax can still make you or your feline or canine sick. We are using small quantities here. Below are basic recipes to kill ants with borax in both liquid and solid form. Don’t opt out of using the sugar. Ants won’t be attracted to the borax alone, you have to include the sugar. See our borax ant killer page for more details.
Recipe:
Liquid Sugar Bait
Mix ½ Cup of sugar, 1 ½ Tablespoons of Borax, and 1 ½ Cups of warm water in a bowl.
Directions:

1. Find something that loosely absorbs the solution, such as cotton balls.
2. Dip the desired amount of cotton balls in the mixture
3. Place the dipped cotton balls in an area the ants are likely to come in contact with.

You can set them directly on the floor, or you can place them on a small piece of wax paper if you want to protect your floor from the solution.

Solid Sugar Bait
Thoroughly mix ¾ Cup of powdered sugar and ¼ Cup of Borax in a bowl
Directions:

1. Set the mixture in containers that are easily accessible to ants. You can use a small piece of paper or wax paper too.
2. Place the containers in areas that the ants are likely to come in contact with

Best Application for this Recipe:
This homemade ant killer recipe works best when you can wait for the full effect of the borax on the colony. Borax slowly kills ants, so you won’t see them croak immediately. This recipe works by giving the ants time to take the borax back to the rest of the colony. The borax disrupts the ants’ digestive system and can be effective in eliminating your problem permanently, unless another colony shows up that is.

Vinegar and Water

Looking for an all natural ant deterrent? Vinegar and water just might be your ticket. This solution can be used to both kill and deter ants. Now to be fair, vinegar typically doesn’t actually kill the ant on contact. It does however disrupt their pheromone systems and causes them to look elsewhere. When you spray ants with vinegar and water, just take a paper towel or rag and wipe them up to get rid of them. You might not want to spray this solution near your pet’s food because it might actually deter them from eating their own food. Typically pets don’t like the smell of vinegar either. Below is a recipe for using vinegar and water for your ant problem.
Recipe:
Mix 50% white vinegar and 50% water in a spray bottle.
Directions:

1. Spray solution directly on ants. Take a paper towel or rag and wipe them up.
2. Lightly spray the solution on areas where you want to prevent ants from entering your house.
3. Boom! All natural ant deterrent, plus its pet safe.

Best Application for this Recipe:
This all natural, pet safe recipe is effective at deterring ants from entering an area of your house. Its not the best ant killer though, so spraying it directly on ants and leaving it there may not do a whole lot if you are just trying to eliminate the ants that are already in your house.

Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

Ok, this stuff is all natural, pet safe, and doesn’t even require the ant to ingest it. Caution: be sure to buy food grade DE. There are other types, such as swimming pool grade DE that are not safe for your pet! Food grade Diatomaceous Earth is safe for your pet to ingest though. In fact, people use it directly on their pets to get rid of fleas. Here’s the crazy way that DE kills ants, and other bugs. Diatomaceous Earth is made of fossilized remains of dead marine life known as diatoms. Their tiny parts contain extremely sharp edges that, when an ant walks through it, cuts through the outer surfaces of the ants exoskeleton. By cutting the exoskeleton, the ants natural body fluids begin to ooze out, causing the ant to dehydrate. This is why people put directly on their pets for fleas. It dehydrates the fleas the same way. With this stuff, you don’t even need to mix it with something to act as a bait. Just expose the ants to the DE, and let it do the work.
Recipe:
Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Directions:

1. Apply a light layer of DE along pathways where ants are traveling, and areas where they are entering your home or gathering.
2. Wait one or two days for the dehydration action to take place.
3. After the ants disappear, wipe up the excess Diatomaceous Earth with a damp rag and little bit of dish soap. This will not only remove the DE, but will also eliminate the scented ant trails that they left behind. If the ant trails are left there, they might actually attract more ants.

Best Application for this Recipe:
This pet-safe ant killer is best used when you have a couple of days to let it work. Keep in mind, it only kills the ants that are exposed to the Diatomaceous Earth. Sometimes the worker ants carry it back to the colony and it can kill some of those ants too, but it mostly just kills the ants that get covered in DE in your home.

Hot Water and a Mop

This is the easiest pet safe ant killer recipe on the planet. Now technically, if you get water boiling hot, its no longer “pet safe”. But assuming you can keep your pet out of the hot water, it will do the trick. The hotter the water, the better. This kills the ants by, well, boiling them alive. If you want, you can add a little dish soap or other cleaner to the water. This will not only kill the ants, but will also eliminate the pheromone ant trails, and get your floors clean. Talk about multi-tasking!!
Recipe:
Fill up a bucket or your bathtub with hot water. You can boil water in a pot and put it in the bucket or tub to get the water hotter (Careful: transporting boiling water can be dangerous if you spill it on yourself or someone else, obviously). Optional: put in a few drops of dish soap or natural cleaner (more if you are filling your whole tub)
Directions:

1. Take a mop and dip in the hot water. Lightly wring it (not too much).
2. Slosh the scalding hot water all over the ants with your mop. Slosh it around and let it sit for about 30 seconds.
3. Dip the mop back in the water, and this time wring it out as much as you can.
4. Mop up with dead ants and water with your mop.
5. Rinse and wring it out in the water, and repeat as necessary.

Best Application for this Recipe:
This method is extremely pet safe, assuming you can keep your pet out of the hot water. It is very effective at getting rid of an ant infestation that is already in your home. Its not a very good method if you have carpet. You need to have a floor that is a hard surface that can get wet and mopped. It doesn’t do anything to kill the ant colony, so you will want to try one of homemade ant prevention recipes or other ant killing recipes that actually take out the whole colony. Otherwise, the ants may return eventually.