Does Peanut Butter Attract Ants?

It’s ant season and it’s the same nightmare all over again. Ants are everywhere, destroying your belongings and contaminating all of your food. Definitely, something no one wants to deal with, but eventually happens to everyone.

Ants are very attracted to sweets and greasy food, and it happens that peanut butter is the perfect candidate for ants. Its consistency, bittersweet flavor and the intense scent will drive ants crazy for a bite.

Peanut butter is widely used for many other things besides eating. When using it as bait, it may lead to other problems like attracting more unwanted ants and ruining your trap for some other pests (like rats for example).

There are some tips you can follow to make peanut butter efficient for killing ants and keeping them out of it for good. Keep scrolling down and you’ll get the best ant killer ingredients to mix peanut butter while keeping it safe from your pets.

Ants devouring a piece of peanut butter on a white table with a glass jar
Piece of peanut butter being devoured by many ants alongside a glass jar.

Can Ants Eat Peanut Butter?

Ants can eat a wide variety of foods in which we can include Peanut butter. This food is full of protein and it is greasy enough, to attract ants on the full scale. The sugar in the peanut butter is another flavor that also plays an important role in the ants’ interest.

They tend to have a major interest in the sweetness of certain foods and will not miss the chance of getting them.

Does Peanut Butter Kill Ants?

The stand-alone peanut butter will not make ants die, quite the opposite, it will feed them and it will attract more ants in mass. Only peanut butter mixed with something else is capable of killing ants.

If you want to eliminate ants, you will need to make some home remedies mixed with peanut butter and apply them in strategic places so ants can pick it up and disappear.

What Can I Mix With Peanut Butter to Kill Ants?

There are several things you can use to mix peanut butter to kill ants, but the most used ingredients are borax and baking soda. These can be quite effective when applied with the right strategy.

You’ll also have to make sure to keep it away from your pets and small children. Although baking soda is not directly harmful to pets and humans it can become toxic when consumed in high amounts, on the other hand, borax is extremely toxic to pets and humans, so you need to keep it inaccessible.

Will Borax Mixed With Peanut Butter Kill Ants?

You can use borax mixed with peanut butter as a less invasive way to kill ants. Although borax is highly toxic, there are commercially produced ant poisons that are far worse. Borax-peanut butter is definitely a better and safer solution to kill ants.

To do the mix, use two teaspoons of borax for each teaspoon of peanut butter, mix it well and apply it in ant-infested areas. Don’t forget to keep it hidden from pets and small children.

Will Baking Soda Mixed With Peanut Butter Get Rid of Ants?

Using baking soda mixed with peanut butter is a great and safer way to get rid of ants when compared to other commercial products. You will have to mix it well, as ants can separate baking soda from the peanut butter mix.

To make it even more efficient add another sweetener such as honey or jam, this will make it very appealing to most of the ants. To do the mixture you can use 1 part of baking soda with one part of peanut butter and half a spoon of a sweetener of your choice.

Mix it very well, and place it near ant trails and far away from children or pets. Ants will pick the scent right away.

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Using Peanut Butter Mix to Kill Ants While Safe From Pets

  • Start by doing your mixture of peanut butter with the “killer” of your choice, keep it sweat and greasy.
  • Cut lengths of straw up to 4 inches long and place your peanut butter mixture on the inside.
  • Place the trap where you find trails of ants, this will be usually in your kitchen and your bathroom.
  • Don’t keep them laying around on the floor because your pets can still chew them.
  • Place the straws in inaccessible places from your pet, ants will find them just attractive and will still consume them.
  • Enjoy the results.

What Kind of Ants Are Attracted to Peanut Butter?

Almost every ant will be attracted to peanut butter but according to some studies peanut butter works best on:

  • grease ants,
  • little black ants,
  • big-headed ants,
  • and pavement ants.

Although these ants are more inclined to search actively for your peanut butter jars, other ants will not miss the chance if they can find them.

What Do Ants Look For in Peanut Butter?

Foods like peanut butter can supply ants with high protein provisions. Peanut butter also contains in its composition sodium and oils (fat) that are very much appreciated by ants.

Overall they are getting premium food without too much effort to search for these individual nutrients. To summarize, they gain more with less effort, this is probably every ant’s dream.

How Do You Get Rid of Little Grease Ants?

You can use solutions like a mixture of peanut butter and borax mix, or peanut butter with baking soda mix. Both of these solutions work well with grease ants. If you are searching for an aggressive solution (when the infestation is too big), you can always try some commercial products.

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Will Peanut Butter on a Mouse Trap Attract Ants?

Many people end up having this question and the answer is yes. A mouse trap with peanut butter will attract as many ants as they can come. This sometimes can ruin the purpose of the bait, due to the strong appealing effect that peanut butter has on ants.

Can Ants Eat Peanut Butter off a Mouse Trap?

Yes, they can. People often encounter their mouse traps empty without the peanut butter bait and wonder what the hell happened. What happens in these cases is that ants will devour the peanut butter from traps, they can devour a small teaspoon of peanut butter in a matter of hours.

How Do You Keep Ants From Eating Peanut Butter on a Trap?

You can keep ants off a trap with peanut butter by using some peppermint spray. In case you are not able to know where ants are coming from, just spray enough around so it can cover a great area and protect the trap from ants.

Conclusion

Ants can go wild with peanut butter, and if you are not fast enough to spot them, they will devour every single piece of it. Just be watchful for any ants that might be near or around your peanut butter supplies and you’ll be able to stop them on time.