If you have an ant problem, you need the best ant bait to get rid of your problem quickly. Bait lasts 24 to 48 hours, and these baits are slow to digest because the ant needs to be able to make it to the queen.
You can kill off any worker ant you want, even hundreds, but if the queen is not targeted, the colony will live on.
Bait is also just a small portion of an ant’s diet, so you may need to reapply the bait often to be able to kill off a colony.
We’ve done a lot of research and we believe that we have found the best ant bait on the marke?tag=pestwiki-20t.
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Our Top Pick
AMDRO Ant Block Home Bait Granules
AMDRO offers a 24-ounce size ant killer that kills ants outside before they come inside. Works for 23 of the most common ant species as well as fire ants and carpenter ants. Barriers last for three months and a single bottle can cover 1,080 linear feet.
Features
- Works on 23 ant species and fire and carpenter ants
- Lasts for three months for maximum ant protection
- Main ingredient includes hydramethylnon
7 Best Ant Baits to Buy in 2019
(That Are Effective, Affordable and Proven to Work)
1. Best Outdoor Ant Bait: AMDRO Ant Block Ant Bait
AMDRO’s Ant Block is the best ant bait for outdoor use, and it’s the one I recommend the most because it’s very effective. Ant block provides a fast, efficient way to kill ants – all types of ants.
But these granules have been designed to kill a variety of ants:
- Fire ants
- Carpenter ants
- 23 other species of ants
All you have to do is create a barrier around your home’s exterior. You simple shake the ant bait around your perimeter, and it will last for up to three months. One 24-ounce bottle is more than enough to treat your yard five times.
There is a 12-ounce bottle available, too.
The main active ingredient in this product is hydramethylnon. A proven method of treatment for ant extermination, the ingredient is slow working so that worker ants have enough time to bring the bait back to the mound’s queen.
Once she has ingested the bait, she will die killing off the colony over time.
- Works to kill 25 total species of ants
- Lasts up to three months
- Proven active ingredient
- Only meant for outdoor usage
AMDRO is the most effective outdoor ant bait that we’ve reviewed. While the bait cannot be used indoors, it contains world-class ingredients and lasts for up to three months in the yard.
With more than enough product in a single container, you’ll be able to treat the average exterior of a home five times – more than enough to kill the queen ant.
2. Best Indoor Ant Bait: Terro T300
Terro has a lot of great products, many are on this list, and this is a cheap, easy solution for indoor use. I have used this ant bait to kill ants in my office, and it will attract ants from everywhere.
I had ants walking in a line that was hundreds of feet long to gather the bait.
It was an interesting experience, and initially, it will attract more ants than you’ll ever want to see in your home. But after a few days, the trail of ants will grow smaller and smaller until the point where there aren’t any ants left.
Bait stays fresh until opened, and it’s easy to use:
- Open the bait
- Place it where you see ants
- Monitor your placement
- Replace every three months as needed
Borax is used as the active ingredient, and it’s one of the best solutions to control ants. The trap is also clear, so you’ll be able to see ants going in and out of the bait station.
- Works using Borax
- Attracts ants you never knew existed
- Lasts for months
- Attracts an absurd amount of ants
My only complaint is that you’ll see dozens or hundreds of ants swarming the bait. It can be a startling process, and for me, I made the mistake of putting the bait on my office desk. I was watching ants all day for a few days, but then I also watched them start declining to the point that the infestation was completely gone.
3. Best Ant Bait Gel: Syngenta TRTD11568
Syngenta is another great company, and they offer ant bait in gel form. Gel is the ideal option when you have ants comes in from cracks and crevices. The active ingredient has been proven to kill:
- Carpenter ants
- Ghost ants
- Fire ants
- Harvester ants
- Other ant species
What’s ideal about gel ant bait, this product in particular, comes with four tubes of gel and a plunger. You use the plunger to put the gel in cracks and crevices that ants use to come into the home.
Ants that are sneaking in from outdoors or from the walls of the home will eat the gel and bring the bait back to the queen ant.
Thiamethoxam is the active ingredient in this ant bait, and it has been approved for outdoor and indoor use. Brood, worker ants and queen ants will not be able to stand a chance – they’ll die.
- Attractive formula that attracts ants
- Thiamethoxam active ingredient
- Syringe allows for easy application to crevices and cracks
- Gel can dry and doesn’t work well if it gets wet
One complaint I do have, and you’ll see this with a lot of gel products, is that it will begin to dry over time. You’ll also notice that when applied outdoors, the bait seems to be far less effective if it rains.
But when ants are making their way into your home through cracks and crevices, gel is the best method to stop these ants in their tracks.
4. Terro Multi Surface Ant Baits
Terro’s multi surface ant baits come in one, two and five packs, but they’re different than the liquid ant bait that we reviewed prior. Sometimes, you do not want the world to know that you have an ant infestation.
Terro works wonders, and it’s discreet.
Two-color designs match most decor, and these are adhesive strips that you use for discreet baiting. All you need to do is attach the adhesive in a hard-to-see location, and ants will be attracted to it.
Ants will be attracted to the bait, carry it back to the rest of the colony, and kill the entire mound.
Stay-fresh tabs allow you to keep the bait good until it’s time to use it. You will want to keep the bait out of reach of pets and children.
- Discreet adhesive
- Kills most common ants
- Two colors to match decor
- Doesn’t kill carpenter ants
These adhesive strips will not kill carpenter ants or other hard-to-kill ants, but it will kill other common ants. Sleek and discreet, this is an effective ant trap that can be placed right on the wall or under a cabinet.
It’s the best way to kill ants without them crawling in front of all of your house guests.
5. Advance 375a Ant Bait
Do you have hard-to-control ants? If so, Advance 375a has incorporated a variety of attractants into their formula to attract ants directly to their death. Ideal for outdoor use, this ant poison kills:
- Fire ants
- Pavement ants
- Black ants
- Field ants
- Pharaoh ants
- Crazy ants
And this is just the start of the different ant species that 375a Advance can kill. Using a protein-based bait, this formula is a delayed-action insecticide containing: Abamectin. You’ll want to place the bait around the exterior of the home so that the ants will come in contact with it and carry it back to their ant mound.
This ant bait can be used indoors or outdoors, but it’s best used outdoors and out of reach of pets and children.
- Designed to eliminate difficult-to-kill ants
- Multiple attractants attract ants of all species
- Kills ants quickly
- Often leads ants indoors
It’s funny, but there are times when the bait is so effective that the ants are lead back indoors. You’ll want to make sure that when using this bait, you use an indoor bait, too. Ants are very smart, and they will be able to detect the best ant bait and actually avoid it.
6. Ortho Fire Ant Killer
Ortho’s 12-ounce fire ant killer is able to treat up to 162 ant mounds. Hundreds of thousands of ants can be killed with a single bottle. The mound, worker ants and queen will die.
There’s no watering-in required, and the product is guaranteed to kill or you’ll get your money back.
You’ll want to treat mounds as they appear, and it’s best to treat when it’s 65 – 90 degrees outside. A two-action formula does two things:
- Kill the mound
- Protect the ground
But keep in mind that this product is designed to kill fire ants. Fire ants are very resilient, and if it kills fire ants, it will kill other pests. Consumers have had success with killing roaches, crawdads and other insects with this bait.
- Offers dual protection for all of your ant-killing needs
- Kills fire ants and roaches with ease (other insects, too)
- Works very quickly
- Smells horrible
You’ll want to be very cautious when placing this ant bait outside of your home. A lot of people put the bait outside of their windows, but the smell is overpowering. The strong smell can permeate into the home, which no one wants.
But this ant bait is an effective killer and will quickly get your ant infestation under control.
7. Terro 1806 Outdoor Ant Bait
Terro has a new product that I wanted to review because it’s similar to the liquid ant bait that I reviewed previously. But this product is specifically designed for outdoor use. The product comes in a six-pack, so that’s more than enough bait stations to place outdoors.
Baiting outdoors works, and one ounce is included in each product. Safe around pet and kids, the active ingredient is borax.
All you do is place the stakes out, give it a twist and stake the bait station to the soil. Simply place these products against the exterior wall of the home. You can also hide them behind bushes so that they offer a discreet method of ant control.
Attracts all common species of house ants.
- Stakes keep the ant bait from flying away
- Fits nice and snug against the exterior wall of the home
- Contains borax and is safe for animals
- Attracts racoons and opossums
I have read that a lot of people have their ant bait traps stolen or the liquid drained out of the trap by various pests. Racoons and opossums seem to be the biggest culprit, but as an outdoor ant bait, it’s something that you need to expect.
Terro has done a wonderful job with the 1806, and with the addition of stakes, this may be my best choice for a discreet outdoor ant killer.