Having trouble with ants? These small individuals can certainly get on your nerves one they swamp over your food or sugar.
Here are the best insecticides for ants you can buy in 2024:
- Best Overall: TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Ant Killer, 12 count
- Best For Thief Ants: Advion Ant Gel Insecticide
- Best For Fire Ants: Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules, 11.5 lbs
- Best For Black Ants: Bonide BND568
- Best For Carpenter Ants: Amdro 100522342
- Best For Mall Infestations: Combat 10023400973061 Indoor and Outdoor Ant Killing Gel
| Top 6 Best Insecticides For Ants | ||
|---|---|---|
Best Overall | TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Ant Killer, 12 count | Read Our Review |
Best For Thief Ants | Advion Ant Gel Insecticide | Read Our Review |
Best For Fire Ants | Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules, 11.5 lbs | Read Our Review |
Best For Black Ants | Bonide BND568 | Read Our Review |
Best For Carpenter Ants | Amdro 100522342 | Read Our Review |
Best For Mall Infestations | Combat 10023400973061 Indoor and Outdoor Ant Killing Gel | Read Our Review |
Best Overall: TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Ant Killer, 12 count
- Ready to use set the bait
- Ants vanish in 2 days
- Easy to use
- Work for Indian red ants
- Quite expensive
TERRO T300B is liquid ant baits that work in the home. It can handle common household ants. Your task is to find areas where foraging ants gather.
They will take the bait back to the nest and circulate it inside the colony. Most ants will be killed in 2 days, some you see, some you don’t.
Thanks to the snap-off tab design, it is easier to set up bait. You just need to hold the station vertically and rotate the tab.
The ants then will come and access the bait. The close station prevents the bait from drying out. It will take up to 2 weeks until you can completely control the ants.
This product features 5.40% of active Borax, a slowly affecting ants’ digestive system. It doesn’t kill ants immediately but leaves time for the bait to spread around. The downside is probably the price.
| TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Ant Killer, 12 count Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 4.6 ounces |
Usage Area | Indoor |
Highlight Features | Ready-to-use liquid 5.40% Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate (Borax) |
TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Ant Killer, 12 count is immensely effective. If you were sick with the ants crawling up the wall, this would be your number 1 option.
Best For Thief Ants: Advion Ant Gel Insecticide
- Work flawlessly
- Takes 2-3 days to work
- Requires a small amount
- No dead ants to clean up
- Not safe for pets and children
Are you sick of ants? Advion Ant Gel Insecticide is your next wise move to get rid of these annoying insects. This product features 5% of indoxacarb, strong enough to handle any species of ants. This active ingredient allures both foraging ants and workers.
The foraging ants will bring the bait to their nest and share it among the colony, offering a high kill rate. You will wipe off the whole colony within a short time. You only need to use a small amount of bait.
Using Advion Ant Gel Insecticide, you need to first inspect the infestation level and nesting location. Any cracks and crevices could be a suitable place for baiting. With Advion, you will rarely find dead ants around the house, no need to clean up after them.
This product is probably not safe for pets and children.
| Advion Ant Gel Insecticide Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 9.6 ounces |
Usage Area | Indoor |
Highlight Features | Indoxacarb .05% |
Advion Ant Gel Insecticide provides absolute kill to thief ants, workers, and the whole colony. A trusted product to try.
Best For Fire Ants: Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules, 11.5 lbs
- Control fire ants for 6 months.
- Kills fly-in queens
- Great to use in the garden and under the window
- Super effective
- It smells funny.
If you want to find a specific insect killer to handle fire ant, you should try Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules. Fire ants often live in huge colonies. There are thousands of them in each colony. Even if you can find the nest, it is nearly impossible to kill them all.
However, Ortho can destroy the mound in 15 minutes. It can handle both mounds and fly-in queens. This tiny beast is active within 5000 sq.ft. Your house will be free from fire ants in 6 months. If new mound pops up, you just need to put some Ortho around and the ants will disappear.
This product smells a bit funny.
| Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules, 11.5 lbs Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 11.85 pounds |
Usage Area | Treats up to 5,000 sq. ft. |
Highlight Features | Bifenthrin 2% |
Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules, 11.5 lbs is the best method to treat aggressive fire ants, restoring peace and safety around your house.
Best For Black Ants: Bonide BND568
- Ideal for black ants – permethrin
- Easy to apply – water-solution form
- Long-lasting, up to 5 years
- Everything is fantastic, no need for improvement
Have issues with Black Ants? Our favorite pick for you is the Bonide BND568. It's easy to use, highly effective, and long-lasting.
According to the manufacturer, this insecticide can provide a protection barrier between little black ants and your wooden furniture for up to 5 years per treatment.
The product is water-soluble, so you can use it as a spray.
Per application, this insecticide not only kills those black ants that come in contact with the product but the residual activity also can kill the other ants when they go back to the sprayed areas. This means you don't have to apply so many times, which is efficient and effort-saving.
| Bonide BND568 Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 2 pounds |
Highlight Features | permethrin water-solution form Long-lasting, up to 5 years |
The Bonide BND568 is the most effective and long-lasting insecticide for black ants. Once applied, its protection barrier can last up to 5 years.
Best For Carpenter Ants: Amdro 100522342
- Highly effective – hydramethylnon
- Easy to use – spike form
- Able to kill ants at their sources
- Not bring immediate results
This insecticide from Amdro is renowned for its effectiveness on killing ants of different kinds at their sources, including carpenter ants.
Its active ingredient is hydramethylnon, known as one of the most effective formulas for treating infestations of ants, cockroaches, and other insects.
It's made in the form of spikes, which is easy to use. These spikes will lure those carpenter ants finding food for the colony. When they bring the baits to their nest, any ant - including the queen - that eats the bait will die.
| Amdro 100522342 Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 1.28 ounces |
Highlight Features | Active ingredient: hydramethylnon the spike form |
Compared to other similar counterparts, the Amdro 100522342 is the most effective; it can kill carpenter ants at their sources and is very easy to use.
Best For Mall Infestations: Combat 10023400973061 Indoor and Outdoor Ant Killing Gel
- Versatile
- Easy to use
- Child-resistant
- Able to kill the entire colony
- Fast and easy application
- Quite expensive
Combat 10023400973061 is a great option for small infestation. You can place this gel in any cracks around the house where ants are active. The ants will take the gel back to their nest and feed to the queen and larvae. The whole colony starts to collapse in hours.
The gel will take effect within 3 to 5 days. You can use Combat both inside and outside. The easy application allows you to get rid of ants with ease. The gel doesn’t leave a mess. It is child-resistant as well.
This product is quite expensive, but it works miraculously.
| Combat 10023400973061 Indoor and Outdoor Ant Killing Gel Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 1.6 oz |
Usage Area | Indoor and outdoor |
Highlight Features | High water content Use indoor and outdoor |
Combat 10023400973061 Indoor and Outdoor Ant Killing Gel can handle a small infestation, bringing peace in mind to homeowners.
How To Choose The Best Insecticides For Ants?
Before buying ant killers, you need to ask yourself these questions.
Who makes the best insecticide for ants?
Which type of ants am I dealing with?
Where to put the bait?
Eco-friendly products or not?
Each type of ants requires different approaches.
Carpenter ants, sugar ants, fire ants or thief ants fall for protein-rich food. That’s why they love sugary baits. Some others prefer fatty food, so you need to be extra careful when buying insecticide.
Some flexible options combine protein and sweet baits. For outdoor baits, the package should state clearly that it is waterproof and outdoor-friendly.
Baits are often used for big colonies and huge infestation. If there is a small infestation or you want to handle ants in the short-term, the spray is more cost-effective.
Which Brands Make The Best Insecticides For Ants?
TERRO
- TERRO Ant Bait is quite famous among the pest-management community. TERRO provides one of the most effective pest control solutions for homeowners. Its products are available in many forms: spray, solid baits, liquid.
Advion
- Advion is famous for its ant-gel baits that can handle over 15 different ant species. Advion ant killers can be slow-acting or fast-acting. They kill the whole colony within a few days.
Ortho
- Ortho provides a wide selection when it comes to ant killers. The company offers from liquid, spray to traps, so you can choose whatever suitable means for your family. Most of the products are affordable.
Taurus
- Taurus is known as a cost-effective alternative to handling small and large infestation. The company mainly uses human-safe chemicals as active ingredients. It is a great choice if you have pets and kids.
Combat
- If you want to know what is the most reliable and trap, Combat has the answer. Combat offers many cost-effective options to handle most common household ants.
FAQs
What do professionals use to kill ants?
Most professionals don’t use heavy toxins to kill ants as they used to a few decades ago. In fact, the more you use toxin the more you have to depend on it. Professionals nowadays swift to a greener point of view.
They handle ant management by using no-toxicity to low-toxicity methods, which aim at the source of the problem. Most professionals will make sure to look at ants’ living habits before baiting them.
Some professionals use active ingredients such as fipronil or indoxacarb, which is used to kill flea for cats and dogs, to handle ants. These chemicals are relatively safe for humans.
How do I get rid of Ants permanently?
How to get rid of ants once and for all? It isn’t about harsh chemicals. You might kill a few visible ants but there are a few hundreds of them out there somewhere. You need to get rid of the whole colony, the queens, workers, grubs, and larvae.
Using slow-acting pesticides will help you do the job. These pesticides are disguised in sweet or fatty baits, attracting foraging ants. They carry the bait back to the colony and spread it around. The whole colony will collapse within 2 weeks or longer.
What spray will kill ants?
There are a few spraying options to kill ants. Some chemicals such as fipronil, avermectin B1 and Cypermethrin are used to get rid of ants. They aren’t toxin to humans as well as other insects.
For those who want an environmental-friendly option, you can find spray featuring biodegradable ingredients.
You can also mix liquid soap with water and spray where you see ants. Some essential oils are believed to chase ants away such as peppermint, clove or thyme.
How do I find where ants are coming from?
Ants love the moist area to build their nest and protect eggs. Your garden, kitchens, bathrooms are places where ants love the most. You can also look under refrigerators, microwaves, sinks or cabinets. Any cracks and crevices should be inspected too.
If the trait of ants isn’t clear, you can set up a simple honey and peanut better trap to attract ants and follow the trail of ants. You should set up this trap in the late evening since ants are quite nocturnal.
How do you find where ants are entering my house?
Find the source from the outside: inspect your garden, lawn or the outdoor area for any trait of the nest. You should also check the sidewalks and even outside the gate. Once you can locate the nest, find out the route to your house.
Check your kitchen and bathroom to find ants. They love the moist area. Look in warm and damp places such as leaky pipes, washing machine, dishwasher. If you find any ants, follow them and see how they escape. Most of the time, you will find they go in and out through the basement or crawl space.
Conclusion
You need the best insecticide for ants to get rid of these annoying insects out of your garden or kitchen. Each type of ants requires different approaches, so make sure you pick the right ant killer solution.
Harry RamosI’m Harry Ramos, who's crazy about all things green. I’m here to share some experience in my gardening adventure and how to choose the best products for your garden. Let's dig in, get our hands dirty, and celebrate the simple, earthy pleasures of the garden together!
