Does Bleach Kill Ants?

Ants are a menace to deal with and are fairly resilient to many deterrents. But what about bleach? Does bleach kill ants or is this simply another home remedy that won’t work? 

Yes, bleach can kill ants, but it will also kill other insects and can be harmful to the environment so you must proceed with caution. 

The great thing about using bleach is that it is easily available and easy on the pockets. Bleach penetrates the ant’s exoskeleton and affects their ability to breathe by disrupting their body’s water balance.

If you are looking for an effective way to kill ants, you can use bleach. But, will it deter them for the long term and are there drawbacks in doing so?

Will Bleach Keep Ants Away?

Ant trails are pathways where ants lay down their scents so that other ants can follow. The ant trails will lead to food sources or nests.

You can use bleach to disrupt these ant trails.

Bleach has a powerful smell, and the scent trails can become disturbed by the strong odour of bleach. Even diluted bleach is effective in wiping the scent trails away.

If you find these trails, you can use some bleach: Simply take a cloth and soak it in bleach. Next, you can wipe the ant trail, ensuring the ants do not find their way back.

How Long Does Bleach Take to Kill Ants?

Bleach can work as long as it remains wet. Once the bleach dries, it will no longer be effective. The bleach works best as a spray. The bleach can kill some ants on contact, whereas others may take a while.

If the bleach comes into direct contact with the ants, it can instantly kill them. 

However, bleach may not be as effective if you have a large ant infestation. In this scenario, it would be wise to resort to other methods. 

How to Use Bleach to Kill Ants 

You can be versatile when it comes to killing ants with bleach. There are various ways you can use bleach, choosing the method which works best for you:

Create a Bleach Spray

The first thing you can do is make a mixture using bleach and water. You can add a few tablespoons of bleach to the water, pour it into a spray bottle and shake the solution.

It is important to be cautious when creating this mixture as the bleach can get on your clothes. Once you have prepared this mixture, you can spray the solution on the ants directly in your garden or home as and when you come across them.

Label the Bottle Clearly
Make sure you label the spray bottle with the contents, so you know what it is in future! You don’t want to pick it up thinking it is harmless.

Pour Into Nests

You can use bleach directly on an ant nest and disrupt them if you wish. Unfortunately, this will never kill all the ants, but it can disrupt them.

Pouring bleach in to cause some initial havoc followed by boiling water is a great way to get deep into the nest whilst killing as many ants as possible.

You must avoid boiling bleach, which can release deadly chemicals into your kitchen!

Wipe Ant Trails

You can soak a cloth in bleach and wipe away the ant trails. The bleach will kill the ants on the trail, and you may manage to squash some of them. You will also be disrupting the scent trail.

Drawbacks of Using Bleach to Kill Ants

While bleach effectively kills ants and has repellant properties, it may not be the best choice.

Using bleach can harm your plants, damage the environment, kill beneficial insects, and wash away into streams and ponds.

Although it can be effective, it’s not necessarily the best long-term solution to dealing with an ant problem. There are far more effective methods of dealing with them. Simply using boiling water is a sufficient solution!

Summary 

It is not an easy task to get rid of ants. One of the ways you can kill ants is bleach. Bleach works by penetrating the ant’s exoskeleton and affecting their breathing ability.

Another way you can use bleach is as an ant repellant. You can also use it to wipe the scent trails, so ants do not find their way back to their nests.