Ants and humane deterrents

Published in Better Ways

About ants, their varieties, some of their habits and uses, and how to remove them, if you need to, from one’s personal space without cruelty

Ants and humane deterrents kookabee, design by Melita Kukac

Friends or pests

There are enormous numbers of ants in the world, in a multitude of species (over 8,000) with varying characteristics. Members of the Formicidae family, they are related to bees and wasps (Hymenoptera order). They live in highly organized colonies, in vastly differing conditions. The proper place for ants is outside, where they can create their nests underground or in other selected safe sites to store food and provide a space for the queen ants to breed in. A queen ant is technically called a gyne.

Ants as helpers

- ants keep the environment clean by decomposing organic waste, insects and dead animals

- many ants collect and use leaf litter

- carpenter ants accelerate decomposition of dead and diseased timber

- ants improve soil drainage and chemistry: by turning and aerating the soil, they allow water and oxygen to reach plant roots; they also bring pebbles and other particles up to the top of the soil

- ants improve soil chemistry by bringing in their stores of food, enriching the soil with food and excreta; especially increasing nitrogen and phosphorus, they leave behind soil which is more or less pH neutral

- many ants disperse seeds across locations where they can flourish: they preserve the seeds by transporting them into safer nutrient rich habitats where they are protected from seed eaters, drought and fire; caches of seeds can be collected by humans when needed

- some plants are protected by ants from harmful insects, because they produce a particular nectar which the ants eat

- ants prey on pest insects and eggs – including other ants, ticks, termites, scorpions and stink bugs

- weaver ants are used as biological control in citrus cultivation, especially in China

- fire ants control pests on cultivated fields

- red wood ants help control bark beetles and caterpillars

- the large army ants prey on insects, small reptiles, birds and small mammals

- ants and ant plants: plants with with cavities (technically known as domatia if they have formed naturally) can serve as food stores or nesting places for the ants; the plants may get a supply of mineral nutrients and nitrgoen from their tenants' waste; the ants may protect the host plant from predators, whether mammals, other insects or even invasive plants such as vines

- some tropical and subtropical species of ant are totally dependent on their host plants, which in turn depend on their ant colonis to thrive

- rarely, ants are pollinators, for instance of certain orchids

- in some parts of the world certain types of ants are eaten by humans

- large ants such as army ants are used in some countries as sutures after operations

NOTE: to allow ants to do their work on and in the soil, heavy diggers should not be used to clear land for cultivation, as their weight compacts the earth into a hard mass to a significant depth. Plastic sheeting to suppress weeds also prevents ants from working in the soil.

Ants as pests

- some ants can sting, causing a variety of reactions from mild irritation ro serious allergy, according to the type of ant

- some ants protect aphids and mealybugs in order to ensure their source of high-energy honeydew: the protected mealybugs can cause problems for fruit cultivation, especially pineapples

- ants can cause damage if they choose to nest in a building or one’s home

Natural predators

- woodpeckers and other insect-eating birds

- certain types of frog

- flies

- certain fungi

- some caterpillars

- anteaters, aardvarks, pangolins echidnas, numbats

- brown bears, which especially eat carpenter ant larvae and pupae

Natural deterrents against ants

Note: the suggestions given here are based on the wide variety of personal experiences, including our own, which people have shared over the years. Always make sure that you do not use any substances, whether natural or chemical, in any way which can cause incidental harm to yourself, others, animals or the natural environment. Bear in mind that some essential oils are toxic to pets. If in doubt, seek professional advice. We accept no responsibility for misuse of the information we are sharing.

Hygiene is of course vital. To prevent ants from entering the home or to expel them, you can mix white vinegar half and half with water and use it to scrub the floors and to clean all the surfaces where the ants have appeared.

The smell of white vinegar and various essential oils such as peppermint oil, tea tree oil, cinnamon oil or neem oil are effective deterrents. You can make a spray by filling a spray bottle with water and adding a teaspoon or two of the chosen substance, and spray around where the ants have entered. Alternatively, you can soak cotton wool swabs in the substance and place them around the ant infestation. HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE: many essential oils, especially peppermint and tea tree oil, are toxic to pets, so you should make sure pets do not come into contact with these substances.

Other methods include sprinkling used coffee grounds, pepper, Cayenne pepper, or cinnamon powder along the ant pathways, or spreading citrus peel around.

NOTE: We do not recommend killing ants.

However, for those who feel they need to, natural ant killer insecticides include borax, boric acid, cornmeal and diatomaceous earth. NOTE: diatomaceous earth has been associated with allergic skin reactions and lung problems in humans.

The Dalmatian chrysanthemum (tanacetum cinerarifolium) is a flowering plant which acts as a natural deterrent against many insects. Pyrethrum is an insecticide made from the dried flowers of the Dalmatian chrysanthemum, whose active ingredient is pyrethrin (not to be confused with the synthetic pyrethroid), which acts as a nerve agent. Pyrethrum is allowed as an insecticide in organic agriculture.

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: White vinegar as a deterrent, described by Nada Kozulić in Vitarnja on Hvar Island:

Ants are truly useful creatures, but are not welcome in the home. When they make their way into our living space, evicting them usually evolves into a bitter struggle, which is the more difficult if you don’t want to use chemical pesticides.

A few years ago, ants emerged from the ground to settle at the base of my front door, and proceeded to eat out part of the wooden frame to create a nest for the queen ant and her eggs. I tried various products to get rid of them and direct them to alternative lodgings – without chemical poisons – but nothing worked.

In the end I tried to remove them with a simple product which everyone has at home, alcohol vinegar, used as a spray. The smell alone was enough to send them scurrying off, and I sprayed both their nest and the pathway they took liberally. I repeated the spraying over two or three days, with the result that there were no ants at my door for the whole summer.

The following year in the middle of June I saw that they were starting to invade their previous nesting place again, so I repeated the alcohol vinegar remedy with the same result, the ants disappeared. For good measure I also spread around some pyrethrum powder. So the ants went off somewhere else, hopefully where they would not be a nuisance.

Information compiled by Nada Kozulić, Nicholas Haas, Vivian Grisogono 2022

More in this category: Healthy Herbs and Spices »
You are here: Home environment articles Better Ways Ants and humane deterrents

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Energy secretary says countries must work together during conference at which US delegate called net zero ‘dangerous’

    Britain will find “common ground” with the US on energy and the economy including on nuclear power, despite differences over climate policy, the UK energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has pledged.

    He was speaking at the close of a two-day, 60-country conference in London on energy security, hosted by the government and the International Energy Agency (IEA), at which the US delegate Tommy Joyce attacked net zero policies as “dangerous” and “damaging”, and said it was in the interests of “our adversaries”.

    Continue reading...

  • Trees are being cleared for rainforest mega-event – but state governor says a ‘new history’ is under way

    Fake metal trees have been set into the concrete ground of the Amazonian host city of this year’s climate summit, prompting scandalised contrasts with the once-living vegetation that has been cleared in preparation for Cop30 in Brazil.

    But in an unlikely convergence of views, both the centre-right state governor and leftwing social movements insist this is a storm in a plant pot compared with the darkening geopolitical threats to the world’s biggest diplomatic gathering, which will take place in November in Belém.

    Continue reading...

  • Transforming a former industrial area in Sweden will bring psychological benefits for future residents and reduce construction’s climate impact

    Although activity is high, it is surprisingly quiet inside the construction site of a high school extension in Sickla, a former industrial area in south Stockholm that is set to become part of the “largest mass timber project in the world” according to the Swedish urban property developer Atrium Ljungberg.

    Just a few months remain until students enter the premises, but there is no sound of drilling or pounding against concrete walls. The scent of wood is unmistakable, and signs of the material can be spotted everywhere – from glulam (glued laminated timber) columns and beams in the building’s frame to cross-laminated timber (CLT) slabs in the floors, ceilings and staircases. CLT, made by gluing together layers of planed wood into panels, offers strength and rigidity comparable to concrete but is significantly lighter and quicker to build with.

    Continue reading...

  • Employees of water firms who obstruct investigations into spills could face jail under new rules that come into force on Friday

    Water company bosses have entirely escaped punishment for covering up illegal sewage spills, government figures show, as ministers prepare to bring in a new law threatening them with up to two years in prison for doing so.

    Only three people have ever been prosecuted for obstructing the Environment Agency in its investigations into sewage spills, officials said, and none received even a fine.

    Continue reading...

  • Authorities warn of mudslides during intense rainfall, as Kenya is hit by deadly flash flooding

    After Storm Hans battered northern Italy in the runup to Easter, severe weather continued to lash much of the country this week. Since Tuesday, the conditions have triggered potent showers and thunderstorms, and yellow and orange weather warnings have been issued.

    With winds generally remaining light this week, the greatest concerns surround the risks from intense rainfall, as slow-moving heavy showers can deliver a prolonged downpour to a fairly localised area. The authorities have warned people to avoid high-risk areas such as roads with steep embankments amid a threat of flash flooding and mudslides.

    Continue reading...

  • UK prime minister tells energy summit his government is determined to transition energy system from fossil fuels to renewables

    Continue reading...

  • Some households aren’t suited to solar – but do batteries make environmental or financial sense on their own?

    Many people want to reduce their carbon footprint but for various reasons can’t install solar panels. Some roofs face the wrong way, others are overshadowed or subject to heritage restrictions, and apartment blocks often lack space.

    Landlords are also often reluctant to install solar systems in rental properties since the benefits flow to the tenants rather than the property owner.

    Continue reading...

  • Hurricane Katrina: Mississippi Remembers captures the grief and resilience of survivors in the Magnolia state

    Twenty years ago this August, the United States Gulf coast was irrevocably changed when Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest storms to ever hit the country, made landfall. Making landfall as a strong category 3, the storm, which was so vast it stretched the length of the Mississippi Gulf coast all the way into Alabama, hit the Mississippi-Louisiana coastal border before continuing northward.

    Since then, superstorms fueled by the climate crisis have become relatively commonplace in the country, but the impact of Katrina endures to this day. Immediately following the storm, the country and world were enthralled by tragic stories out of New Orleans, where the levees failed to a catastrophic effect and the local, state and federal responses were disastrous. But Mississippi, which received the maximum impact from the storm surge, was largely left out of the national narrative around Katrina.

    Continue reading...

  • Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump

    Continue reading...

  • The UN has called the detention of Pablo López Alavez ‘arbitrary’, while human rights organisations say his sentence is part of a systematic and alarming pattern of criminalisation of Mexico’s environmental activists

    The meeting room in the prison of Villa de Etla, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico, doubles as a classroom with school desks and a small library. The walls feature motivational phrases such as “First things first”, “Live and let live” and “Little by little, you’ll go far”.

    Pablo López Alavez, a 56-year-old environmental defender, has had nearly 15 years to contemplate these sentiments – and faces 15 more, after being imprisoned for murders he says he did not commit.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds