A March 5, 2026 guide from Wellness Mama describes a prevention-first approach to household ants, recommending tighter food storage, cleaning to disrupt pheromone trails, and several DIY barriers and baits—while urging caution with ingredients like borax around children and pets.
Ants can appear to “multiply” indoors after a single forager finds food and lays a pheromone trail that other ants follow, a behavior highlighted in a recent Wellness Mama guide on natural ant control.
Prevention: cut off food and easy access
The guide recommends starting with basic housekeeping and storage—keeping sweet items such as honey and maple syrup tightly sealed and cleaning drips. It also suggests paying attention to common attractants such as crumbs under appliances, sticky cabinet handles, pet food dishes, trash areas and food-prep surfaces. The article notes that some ants are drawn to more than sugar, including oils or proteins.
Repellents and “barriers” at entry points
For areas where ants typically enter—such as door thresholds, window sills and along baseboards—the guide lists several do-it-yourself barriers that some people report ants avoid, including chalk lines and sprinkling cinnamon, cayenne pepper or coffee grounds.
It also recommends citrus peel powder as a deterrent, saying citrus peels contain D-limonene, a compound used in some insecticidal products, and suggests drying and grinding peels (such as orange or lemon) and applying the powder near entry points.
The guide further recommends essential oils—especially peppermint oil—diluted in water and sprayed along entry points, describing this as a way to repel ants and cover food odors and pheromone trails. Another suggested method is placing cotton balls with peppermint, orange or lemon oil in cabinets. For trail removal, it recommends a 50/50 vinegar-and-water spray, optionally enhanced with peppermint or citrus oils, and says vinegar can help erase pheromone trails.
If ants are already inside: clean trails, then target the colony
The Wellness Mama guide advises first identifying where ants are entering and what is attracting them, then cleaning surfaces to remove both ants and their pheromone trails. It suggests soapy water, a 50/50 vinegar-and-water mixture, or an essential-oil spray for trail cleanup.
For longer-term control, the guide emphasizes colony-level control using baits that worker ants carry back to the nest:
- Borax bait: It proposes mixing equal parts borax and corn syrup and spreading it on an index card. The guide says ants will carry the sweet bait back to the nest, where borax can kill ants that feed on it, and it advises placing the bait away from children and pets.
- Baking soda bait: As an alternative for people avoiding borax, the guide suggests mixing equal parts baking soda and powdered sugar and placing it near ant activity. It says the sugar attracts ants and that ingestion of baking soda can be fatal to them.
Sprays and powders the guide says can kill on contact
The guide also describes a castile-soap spray—1 quart of water mixed with 1/4 cup liquid castile soap—saying soaps can compromise an ant’s protective waxy coating.
It recommends food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) as a fine powder that can kill ants and other crawling insects by damaging their waxy coating and dehydrating them. It suggests dusting DE along doorways, window sills, cabinets and baseboards and warns against applying it where honey bees may be exposed outdoors.
Carpenter ants and winged ants
The Wellness Mama guide notes that carpenter ants can damage wood and may sometimes require a more aggressive approach, including locating and directly treating the nest. It also says winged ants found near windows or lights may be reproductive ants and can be confused with termites, advising professional identification if there is concern about structural damage.
Reader experiences
In the article’s comment section, some readers report that cinnamon helped deter ants in their homes, while others describe persistent invasions that were harder to control with do-it-yourself methods alone.
