The Strange Ant Hill Removal Hack You Should Reconsider Trying

Ant hills can offer a surprising benefit to your garden by aerating the soil. But understandably, many of us may still be eager to get rid of them. After all, some ants are actually dangerous and can deliver painful bites or trigger allergic reactions. So in our quest to banish ants and ant hills from our homes and gardens for good, it's easy to rush into believing tricks and hacks that have no real merit. That widely-circulated cornmeal method for repelling ants, for example, probably isn't very effective. Another DIY technique that has made the rounds on social media involves using human urine to vanquish ant hills, but this smelly solution may not actually be the silver bullet (or, erm, golden bullet?) that you're hoping for.

Here's how the method supposedly works. Instagram user backyardgardengirl — who has touted this solution on social media — suggests peeing into a mason jar, letting it sit "for days" to allow it to ferment, then pouring the liquid down the ant hill. Seemingly, the ammonia in the urine kills the ants, and if you pour enough down there and take out the ant colony's queen, you've successfully eliminated the entire colony. But this method isn't foolproof, and may actually have the opposite effect of the one you intended.

Ammonia works as an ant deterrent by disrupting the pheromone trails that enable ants to locate food and communicate with each other, but it isn't considered an effective tool for eliminating them completely. Ants need to be exposed to high concentrations of ammonia in order to kill them, and unless you can guarantee that the queen has been exposed, you won't destroy the whole colony. And while it's true that the urea in urine is naturally converted to ammonia, you would need to go through a lot of trouble storing that urine in order for it to have a good chance of being effective. The ammonia can easily evaporate out of the urine if left in an unsealed container, and you would need to store the urine in an airtight container for at least a month in order for high enough ammonia levels to build up.

Furthermore, this hack might actually have the opposite effect and attract ants to your yard instead of eliminating them. The urea in urine is a nitrogen-rich substance that ants are actually attracted to, so you may be unwittingly inviting more ants instead of banishing them. In fact, one Australian study found that sugar ants were even more attracted to the urea of humans and kangaroos than to sugar water!

Instead, if you're looking for DIY ant hill solutions, there are a few staples in your kitchen cabinet that can help. For example, black pepper has been proven to banish ants from your yard. Studies show it works on ant hills and ant trails alike when combined with water, or even sprinkled directly from the canister. Dish soap is another tried-and-tested method to get rid of ant hills. Combined with boiling water and poured on ant hills, or sprayed on ants, it kills on contact.