Learn how to kill all of those pesky outside ants naturally, with no toxic chemicals whatsoever. It has been the best and cheapest way to kill ants, and the great thing is, that it is a perfectly safe method to use when kids and pets are going to be in your yard.
I am a big believer in not using toxic chemicals whenever possible, you know, when there is a natural/healthy/safe solution to a problem as an alternative.
So this particular tip was extra helpful when I learned about it… it has saved me from so much worry about my kids potentially getting into ant poison in our yard.
Many years ago my friend, thanks Eileen, mentioned this amazing life hack to me when we were standing in her yard, gardening and looking at some of the ant hills that were right in our way.
I remember thinking that it sounded WAY too good to be true.
Eileen had told me that she heard that all you have to do is boil some water and pour it down their ant hills and they would die.
Does Boiling Water Actually Kill Ants?
I am here today to tell you that not only can you kill them with no freaky chemicals, but this method of killing ants is SUPER effective too!
It’s literally the best/cheapest/easiest way to kill ants.
At least I think so…and since I prefer not to use anything toxic in my home and yard, this method of DIY killing ants was a total God-send to me (plus, I’m cheap…the nearly free option is always the best way to go if I do have an option).
When I tried this for the first time I was simply astounded at this simple method for pest control!
Lucky for all of us, I took pics of my results so you can see it for yourself before you try it.
As I said before, the tip that Eileen had told me was that you can kill ants by pouring boiling water down into their anthill/colony.
That’s it?…what?
You just pour boiling water on ants?
Yes! Yes, it really truly does! That’s all it takes.
It may sound fairly simple and straight forward, but I do share some tips so make sure to keep reading and seeing what I recommend after having done this a few times.
*Please keep in mind that I’m in no way suggesting that you all go and do this to every ant hill/colony on your property… I personally think that ants are an important part of our ecosystem, I recommend this method more for taking care of any ants that are coming into your home, near where your kids play, or near any animals that could be harmed. I prefer to leave any non-threatening ants alone to do their thing.*
When I first tried this, I thought maybe I had a few hundred ants in my ant hill, and many of them were making their way into my home, which is why I even bothered to kill them… but I was shocked to discover that there were more like thousands of ants in that one ant hill.
My ant problem was easily 10X worse than I had anticipated.
It’s a wonder that my house wasn’t totally infested there were so many of them. How did I know that there were so many, you may ask? I’m just about to show you.
I started out by boiling water in MY AWESOME KETTLE on the stove for about 15 minutes.
I wanted to make sure it was boiling pretty good before I started.
It’s a little hard to to pour a kettle for that long without burning yourself, so I do recommend that you use some sort of heat protecting gloves or thick oven mitts when you do this.
You really don’t need to see a picture of the kettle on the stove :).
I poured the water along the various ant holes that I saw on my sidewalk right next to my back door that leads into the yard.
Then I went back inside and didn’t even think about again for a while.
That is until…My preschooler refused to go outside because “there are dead ants everywhere”.
I thought for sure the kid was exaggerating, until I looked outside and saw hundreds upon hundreds of dead ants all over the patio…which just happens to be right in front of the sliding door.
I decided that if there were that many, I better sweep them all up and try it again.
The exact same thing happened again!
There were so many dead ants that there have been birds all over trying to feast on them.
At this point I figured I better grab my camera and show you all, because it is nuts that there were that many ants.
So, here is the patio covered in ants. This was after the second time I had poured boiling water down their hole.
This is how it looked after I had mostly swept up the ants from the second attempt, getting ready to do it for the 3rd time.
And this is how it looked a couple of hours after the third time I poured boiling water down their hole (I swept them up after each time)… STILL hundreds or more of ants!!! It’s nuts!
Keep in mind, you’re only seeing what I could show in this single shot.
I’m so glad that I found out about this non-toxic method to take care of the ant problem in my yard.
***My tips are first and foremost, to be careful not to burn yourself or others… this is one of those things that should be done when you don’t have little ones running around under foot.
I suggest doing it once, and then go back out in an hour or so and do it again. Repeat as necessary until you are sure they are all gone.
Obviously, if you don’t kill the queen ant you will continue to have ant problems later down the road, so make sure to be thorough and keep doing it until you are satisfied that they are all dead.
Worst case scenario is that you have to do it again in a couple/few months…but it really takes so little effort and MONEY that it’s not a big deal when you do need to do it again.
It’s really not necessary to clean up all of the dead ants in between each time you pour boiling water down their hills/mounds, I only did so so that I could share with you guys just how many ant carcasses there were.
Besides, odds are that you will have some nearby birds helping you clean up just like they did at my house, and the wind may help clean them up too.
So, if you know anyone that is asking you if you know…
What home remedy kills ants?
Please remember this post and to send them my way so that they can read up on it themselves.
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*Reposts: Please note that this idea/post was originally posted to this website on 06/12/2015, but it was in great need of a refresh/update, so it now is more user friendly & shareable.