How to Get Rid of Ants in the House

The best way to get rid of ants in the house is to put a slow-acting ant bait right on their trail and leave it alone for one to three weeks, so foragers carry it back and kill the queens and brood. Spraying the trail kills only the few ants you see, and with multi-queen species it can split one colony into several.

Below is the plan that works for the common kitchen invaders (odorous house, pavement, Argentine, ghost and pharaoh ants), plus what changes for ants in the bathroom, in the car, and for carpenter ants.

Step 1: Identify the ant (2 minutes)

Most indoor ants respond to the same baiting approach, but two cases need a different plan:

• Large black or red-and-black ants, 1/4 inch or more, especially indoors in late winter or at night: likely carpenter ants. Go to how to get rid of carpenter ants.
• Tiny yellowish ants in an apartment, in bathrooms and around outlets: probably pharaoh ants. Never spray them; baits only.
• Reddish ants from a fluffy dirt mound outside that sting: fire ants. See fire ant control.

If you're not sure, use our types of ants guide.

Step 2: Remove what they came for

Baits have to compete with your kitchen. Before baiting:

• Put sugar, cereal, honey, syrup and pet food in sealed containers (zip bags aren't ant-proof; screw-top jars are).
• Wipe counters, stovetop grease and sticky spills; take out the trash nightly.
• Pick up pet bowls between meals, or set the bowl in a shallow dish of water as a moat.
• Fix drips and dry the sink at night. Water is often what brings ants into bathrooms.

Don't scrub the trail itself yet. You want the ants to find the bait.

Step 3: Bait the trail

1. Follow the trail to find where ants enter: a baseboard gap, window corner, outlet, cabinet back, crack in the slab.
2. Place baits on or right beside the trail, as close to the entry point as practical. Use 4–8 placements for a typical kitchen.
3. Pick the right food. Most house ants in summer take sweet liquid or gel baits. If they ignore it after a day, add a protein/grease bait (granular or gel) next to it.
4. Leave it alone. More ants at the bait for a few days means it's working. Don't spray, wipe or move baits. Refill liquid baits as they empty.
5. Expect results in 2–5 days for a big drop, 1–3 weeks for trails to stop.

Which actives to look for (all EPA-registered, sold as stations, gels or liquids): borates (boric acid, sodium tetraborate/borax), indoxacarb, abamectin, hydramethylnon, fipronil (mostly in professional gels). They are all slow by design. A bait that kills in minutes would kill the forager before it shares food.

Placement safety: keep stations out of reach of kids and pets, or use enclosed tamper-resistant stations. Read the label; it is the law for pesticide use.

DIY boric acid bait

A homemade sugar-borate bait works on many sweet-feeding ants. Keep the boric acid low so ants survive long enough to carry it home:

• Dissolve 1 teaspoon of boric acid and 1/2 cup of sugar in 1.5 cups of warm water (roughly 1% boric acid).
• Soak cotton balls and set them on bottle caps or foil on the trail.

Stronger is not better: at high concentrations foragers die on the spot and the nest survives. More recipes and what doesn't work are in home remedies for ants and the boric acid guide.

Step 4: Keep ants out of the house

Once the trails stop, prevent the next colony:

• Seal entry points: caulk gaps around windows, baseboards, plumbing and cable entries; replace worn door sweeps.
• Create a dry, bare strip 12–18 inches wide around the foundation: pull back mulch, trim shrubs and branches that touch the house.
• Control honeydew producers: aphids and scales on foundation plants feed huge ant populations right against your walls. Hose them off or treat the plants.
• Outdoor treatment: granular bait scattered along the foundation, or a non-repellent perimeter spray on the exterior, intercepts colonies before they move in. Treat the outside, not your kitchen floor.

What ants hate (and what that's good for)

Ants avoid peppermint and clove oil, citrus, vinegar, cinnamon, coffee grounds and powders like diatomaceous earth or talc. These repel or block; they don't kill the colony. Use them where bait isn't practical (a line around a pet bowl or a pantry shelf), not as the main treatment. Wiping trails with vinegar or soapy water erases the pheromone trail for a day, after which the ants usually lay a new one.

Room-by-room notes

Ants in the kitchen. Most often odorous house or pavement ants. Check behind the dishwasher and under the sink for leaks; bait under the sink and along the backsplash seam.

Ants in the bathroom. They're after water. Fix leaky faucets and caulk around the tub. If you keep seeing large black ants in a bathroom, check for water-damaged subfloor or wall framing, a classic carpenter ant nest site.

Ants in the car. Remove food and wrappers, vacuum seats and floor mats, and stop parking over the nest or under an aphid-laden tree. A bait station on the floor for a few days finishes stragglers.

Ants after rain. Flooded colonies move uphill and indoors. Bait as usual; the activity often fades on its own as the ground dries, but a nest may stay in a wall void.

What doesn't work

• Spraying the trail with household insecticide or bleach: kills foragers, leaves the colony, and pharaoh and Argentine ants respond by budding into new nests.
• Mixing spray and bait in the same spot: repellent residue keeps ants off the bait.
• Ultrasonic repellers: no evidence they affect ants.
• Grits, cornmeal, baking soda "to make them explode": myths; ants don't eat solid food that way.
• Changing tactics every day. Baits need time. In a typical homeowner forum thread, several people reported liquid sugar bait clearing ants within two to three days, one found it ignored (time to switch to a protein bait), and another pointed out that carpenter ants in an upstairs bathroom usually mean a roof or gutter leak worth checking.

How long it takes

When to call a pro

• Carpenter ants or sawdust-like debris inside walls or around windows.
• Pharaoh ants in a multi-unit building.
• Four weeks of correct baiting with no change.
• You'd like an exterior non-repellent treatment applied professionally.

Expect roughly $150–$300 for a one-time general ant service and $250–$600+ for carpenter ants (approximate US ranges). See ant control services for what's included.