Last Updated on February 17, 2020 by Ecorf
When you’re boxed because of the excessive proliferation of ants in your home, you may have to take urgent steps to prevent the escalation. The search for a simple home ready could lead you to use a baking soda, which has been tipped as one of the feasible solutions for keeping ants. But, can baking soda kills ants? You would discover that subsequently in this article.
Table of Contents
What Is a Baking Soda?
It’s essential to understand the underlying concept of the baking soda before looking at the options it has in place for killing ants. So, what is baking soda?
Baking soda, which has the chemical name, “sodium hydrogen carbonate,” is a base mineral commonly used for baking purposes. When used in that instance, it helps to create air bubbles in the baked products. More so, the baking soda can be spotted by the white, powdery texture and the salty taste that accompanies it.
Aside from being one of the primary components of baked foods, baking soda, on the other hand, has been misinterpreted to be the same as the baking powder. While both may have similar functionalities, the difference is that the baking soda doubles as a cleaning agent, whereby it knocks off stains and helps in deodorizing the home. These and many more features combine to bolster the effects it has on the eradication of the “ant menace’ in the house.
Can Baking Soda Kill Ants
Many theories abound on this with many perspectives given in the same regard. At the base level, baking soda might not have the necessary factors on its side to kill ants. However, from the outcomes of some researches, combining baking soda and powdered sugar can be the perfect combo for killing ants in a good time.
How To Kill Ants Using Baking Soda
Considering that the combination of baking soda and powdered sugar can go the extra mile to kill ants, the guide below would lead you by the hand to make the most out of it.
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Mix Equal Parts of Baking Soda and Powdered Sugar
You might be wondering about the reason behind the mixture. As asserted earlier, baking soda, at the base level, lacks the powers to get rid of ants. Even if it has some at its disposal, it might all turn out to be a futile attempt because ants are versed in avoiding baking soda. So, you have to use something that resonates with ants to trap them, and that is powdered/confectionery sugar.
Mixing the sugar and the baking soda is a trick to prevent the prominence of one over the other. Also, the need for confectioneries sugar over any other type of sugar is because ants are quick to detect any other type of sugar.
Aside from the addition of the confectioneries sugar, you may also want to integrate additional sweeteners like peanut butter or jam to increase the chances of the ants to get attracted to the solution.
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Sprinkle the Mixture in the Traffic Areas
By now, you must have discovered the different areas in your home where ants converge. Notable among those are the doors and the cracks in the wall. Your kitchen is not spared, either. So, look for cracks or any other opening because those are potential harbors for ants. Once spotted, sprinkle a substantial quantity of the mixture into the opening.
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Scatter the Mixture Outside the Home
While you’re slugging it out with the ants inside the home, you should also note that the entrance or exterior part of the house is another place worth infesting. Therefore, scatter the mixture on potential sites outside the home where the ants tend to build a nest. Some of the areas include but not limited to firewood piles, stepping stones, and around the base of the trees.
Pro Tips
There is more to kill ants with baking soda. So, below are some professional tips and ideas on how to go about it.
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Find Out the Ants’ Locations
Indeed, ants come from outside, but they tend to create another home within your home. Hence, finding out the locations or areas in the house they converge or set up a nest is an excellent way to channel the solution in the right direction.
The rule of thumb is to sprinkle the baking soda and confectioneries sugar mixture at the entry points of the home, such as the windowsills and doorways. Within the home, potential places you can spread the mix are the cabinets, cracks/openings in the walls, dark, moist areas, and under the sink.
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Use the Baking Soda Can Trick
Ants do not hesitate to check the contents of any can that lies about. So, if you’re concerned about ants coming from outside into your home, then it would save you some headache to position a baking soda can outside the house. The trick here is to mix the baking soda and the confectioneries sugar and place some of it in the can. Ants that climb into the can would definitely not make it out alive.
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Create a Paste
Because ants can spot baking soda from many miles and avoid the same, you may want to bring them closer using one trick, which is mixing the baking soda and confectioneries sugar into a paste.
Alternatives to Baking Soda
If you don’t have baking soda or you feel it wouldn’t work as fast as you expected, then you may want to consider other options.
Boiling water can suffice, whereby you would pour it down the opening of the nest/mound of the ants to kill the inhabitants.
The second baking soda alternative is a mixture of soap and water. The solution would bring forth bubbles, which, when in contact with the ants, would coat and suffocate them.
The third and last is a mixture of vinegar and water. Just like the baking soda, the solution can prevent the entrance of ants into the home, just as it can kill them, too.
Kill Ants Using Baking Soda
Baking soda, when mixed in the right proportion with the confectioneries sugar, can kill ants. So, set about the task of using this excellent solution to get rid of ants in your home.