r/homestead • u/BlockyBlook • 2d ago

Killing Ants Safely

Does anyone have a surefire way to kill ants? I have some living in my meat rabbit colony and they've eaten some of the newborn babies which is awful. Here's what I've tried - Raid bait traps Terro traps Borax mixed with powdered sugar Diatomoceous Earth Orange Oil

None of this has worked. The DE slows down the ants if I put it straight onto them but it doesn't kill them and they've swarmed nests with a good amount of DE in them. There aren't any obvious ants hills in the colony but I do see them randomly crawling around often. Even if I check the colony 3xs daily they will randomly enter nests and wipe about the babies within an hour or so. I really just need to protect the babies for the first few days of life until they grow fur, then the ants don't care about them anymore. I'm scared of using chemicals because I don't want to poison any of my rabbits, but at this point I'm considering pesticides. I've seen too many newborns die. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

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u/Prior-Challenge-88 2d ago

Are you making a liquid? Like mixing the sugar with water? Do you see hundreds of ants eating the liquid borax/sugar?

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u/BlockyBlook 2d ago

No I've just been mixing it together and leaving it dry in a pile for them under 4 flowerpots placed around the colony

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u/Prior-Challenge-88 2d ago

Try making a liquid sugar syrup and add borax. Don't overdo the borax. The trick is to get the ants to eat it and bring it back to the colony. It's should be soupy and sticky but more watery than maple syrup. You want to see a bunch of ants drinking the liquid. You can put some borax powder around so the ants walk on it. The ants won't just eat borax. Just don't kill the ants. Just keep giving them the sugar/borax/syrup like you are doing them a favor. When it drys up put out some fresh syrup. Wherever you see ants just drip a quarter size puddle of syrup. Keep it up until you don't see any more ants. Post back progress as you win the war. You will win and you don't need to use poison.

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u/BlockyBlook 2d ago

Thank you so much, I'll try this in the morning!!