Ant hills can be 3 ft (0. 91 m) deep, so you need to use a lot of water to flood the tunnels all the way to the bottom.
You may have better results if you boil 2-3 pots of water simultaneously, then pour them one after the other into the ant hill. The more water, the better! Check after a couple hours and over the next few days. If the ants are still alive, repeat the process or try something else.
While there isn’t clear scientific evidence to support it, it’s possible that adding soap will coat the ants in a slippery sheen that will make it impossible for them to function properly. This, mixed with the torrent of boiling water, may just do the trick!
You may have even more success if you pour several scoops of baking soda into the hole first. The volcano-like foaming action caused by the combination of vinegar and baking soda may push the mixture deeper into the ant hill’s tunnels. It also looks cool erupting out of the ant hill!
There isn’t a lot of scientific evidence to support either of these, but lots of people swear by one or the other. Also, they’re not harmful to your lawn or pets.
Ants supposedly hate the scent of citrus oils, so the hope here is that they’ll be so upset with the citrusy goop that they’ll move somewhere else. Support for this method is primarily anecdotal rather than scientific.
Diatomaceous earth will irritate your skin and can cause quite a bit of discomfort if it gets into your eyes or breathing passages. Only apply it on a wind-free day, and consider wearing eye and breathing protection when using it.
However, boric acid will also kill any grass in the immediate area, and it is also dangerous to use if pets or kids frequent the area.
Deltamethrin Bendiocarb Bifenthrin Diazinon Carbaryl (e. g. , Sevin brand)
Follow the reapplication instructions included with your chosen insecticide, if necessary.
Enclosed bait traps make it harder for pets or kids to access the poison, but they aren’t completely foolproof. Supervise any pets or kids closely or, better yet, keep them out of the area. It will probably take less than a week for the ant colony to be poisoned and killed off. You can buy these traps and other insecticides at home improvement stores.
Like an iceberg, the vast majority of an ant colony is beneath the surface, so you’ll be doing very little overall damage to their home this way.
This works occasionally to get rid of an ant hill permanently, but don’t count on it—ants are very persistent!
You might also manage to kill the queen this way, in which case the colony will die off in disarray. Be prepared to dig deep—ants often tunnel down 3 ft (0. 91 m), and the colony can be several feet/meters in diameter as well. So you’ll end up digging up quite a bit of your yard!
