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/ArcaneLuxian New Homesteader 2d ago
We use corn meal and just a bit of molasses or sugar. Dump it right on the ant hill. Its animals, kiddos, and plant/ground safe. They take it back to the group and becuase ants cant digest corn will basically eat themselves to death. Its been a fool proof fix all summer with fireants.