Ants, I hate ants in my house. It probably has something to do with an incident as a kid.
When I was about 12, I decided to have cold cereal with milk for breakfast and wondered about the small dark pieces that were flowing from the box with my cereal of choice into the bowl. I started to eat after adding milk and was wondering what were the small things floating in my bowl. I tried to ignore the thought that came to me, well you may have guessed it already. There were dead ants in the cereal box and I was now eating them. I promptly puked everything back into my bowl. To this day I am not much of a cold cereal eater and shutter when I see ants in the house. Yes I do understand that some people enjoy eating ants and find the high protein wonderful but as a child I had no idea.
So you are likely wondering what I do about ants. I used to use those little metal pucks and the small yellow and red bottle of liquid food to get rid of them. HOWEVER my cat Scamp, (you can see pictures of him in previous blogs) would eat the ants that the colony would clear out from the nest and leave at the back sliding door or at the front door. (As a side note ants like to keep their area neat and clean.) Scamp would be very sick from eating the ants that were left at the doors. The liquid food was very effective and there were hundreds of dead ants everyday and I could not keep up to the body removals. He was puking constantly, his coat was looking rough, and I was very concerned for his health. At first I had not realized exactly what was going on and once I discovered his eating dead ants was the cause of his decline in health, I decided there had to be a better way to deal with them.
I have spent a lot of time experimenting with peppermint and cinnamon bark essential oils and seeing if ants really stay away, change direction, or curl up and die when exposed. Firstly before I found essential oils I started using ground cinnamon, and it worked. Ground cinnamon however left my white baseboards reddish and messy. Cinnamon had to be swept up and replaced every day or two and it created more cleaning than I wanted to do. ;0) When doTERRA came int my life that is when I tried essential oils to deter the pests in my home. I also wanted something safe for my cats.
Cinnamon Bark essential oil is as or more effective than the ground cinnamon was with the benefits of being way cleaner when sprayed on the baseboards. So much cleaner as now there was water and oil on them and not a ground up red powder. I still respray every few days in the fall as the migration happens but so much better! This year in particular, the results have been better than ever. I rotate with Peppermint essential oil.
Peppermint essential oil is strong and works like a dream to get rid of spiders as well. Interesting fact: Spiders taste with their feet! They do not like lemon essential oil either. Just a few drops of peppermint or cinnamon bark in a glass bottle with distilled water and you are on your way to a insect free home. I like the addition of water to help cover larger areas and thus saving money. I have however when the ants migrate dropped a few drops along the baseboard and run my finger along the edge with great effectiveness. I then follow up with the spray periodically as needed.
I do diffuse Peppermint for short periods of time during the migration as well. I find when the ants start coming in the spiders do too. I am not a fan of them either. Having a cat I am careful with peppermint. Cats are more sensitive about oil use but you can read about best practices with pets in other blogs or join in the Continuing education class for oil use with your pets. If you do not see the listing in EVENTS check back in there again, there is a rotating cycle and it will show up about every 13 weeks. Here is the
blog link about safety and pets, Oh by the way, that is a pic of Scamp.
Peppermint an Cinnamon Bark are not your only choices for natural pest control. A few years ago I found a place the ants would come in by the sliding door, I use TerraShield there. TerraShield is a blend of essential oils that is know as the outdoor blend. Love it when I am gardening and walking in the woods as well. Some day I will block that hole and maybe the migration will stop. In the mean time I have oils that come to my rescue.
If you would like to try any pest control using these oils let me know by commenting below.
Looking forward to serving you.
Remember I am here to help you on Your Road to ReNew You.