Homemade ant bait--need a formula

[hvn_nbr_2]

Anyone have a formula for homemade ant bait, for sugar-loving ants?

I've used the commercial brand Terro successfully, but it seems a bit silly to spend $5 or $10 for five cents worth of Borax and sugar. But I haven't found the right proportions or some other secret of making it.

Someone told me to use equal amounts of Borax and sugar and just enough water to dissolve it all. I tried that and it has several drawbacks: the ants won't touch it, although a few do sniff around it a bit. It's not visually clear like Terro is; I suspect that's because I don't have enough water in it. Also, it dries out and becomes hard very quickly.

I haven't found a recipe on the net but it seems like there must be one. I've also heard four parts sugar to one part Borax but haven't tried that yet. One other difference from Terro and what I've tried is that I put mine in an open lid or other small container rather than the almost completely closed containers that Terro comes in. It seems unlikely that that matters (except that it dries out quicker in an open container).

BTW, they're definitely sugar-loving, not fat-loving. They completely ignore dirty frying pans and spatulas sitting right beside their trails, and they went for a piece of candy cane that I left on the counter.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I googled this phrase and got a lot of hits. It seems you may be wrong to use sugar

Most of the recipes I looked at (admittedly **very** quickly) use corn syrup and boric acid .... not sugar.

"ant bait sugar recipe"

[Warpy]

2. Why bother with bait?

When ants find a nice food source, they track back to the nest leaving a trail of sugary pheromone footprints. The other ants follow that trail into your kitchen (or wherever) to find that source of food.

What I do is sweep up the line of ants and deposit them outside (if they live, they deserve to), then wash down the whole area with a half and half solution of white vinegar and water. Then I rinse the area.

That seems to destroy their carefully marked trail. You'll see a line of ants from the nest to your door, then it will break apart in confusion because that's where the trail ends.

However, if they're carpenter ants, you need to call an exterminator. Now.