HARRISBoric Acid Roach and Silverfish Killer Powder w/Lure for Insects (16oz)

We used to have terribe infestations of "sugar ants". In a search for a solution I learned about Boric Acid.To start with, despite some CYA warning labels it is not harmful to humans. You may even find that dilute solutions are sometimes prescribed for applying to infants.I've never been able to find out why it kills roaches and ants but with certainty it does. One crazy sounding explanation I ran across thought it was because the boric acid formed tiny crystals that cut up the insides of the insects but that is too hard to digest as a sensible answer.Anyway, there is considerable erroneous information about how to use this stuff to kill sugar ants but here is the sure fire approach I've worked out through experience.What you are striving for is a sugary solution the contains boric acid.Boric acid is not very soluble. If you start with a sugar solution then try to add boric acid you are operating in the blind because it will be frustrating trying to dissolve the Boric acid.My approach is to add as much boric acid as can be dissolved to a quantity of boiling water, say a quart. Add a tablespoon of boric acid at a time. You will find it doesn't want to dissolve easily so just add a table spoon or less at a time until you can see no more will dissolve. While the water is still hot strain it so the excess is separated. This should now be what will turn out to be a supersaturated solution when it cools. Adding a few crystals to the cooled solution should cause the excess amount that is dissolved to crystalize out leaving you with a fully saturated solution to work with.The original formulation I read about prescribed dissolving as much sugar as the solution would absorb until you have a syrup that can then be left in appropriate containers to attract the ants. I have found however that using honey instead of sugar works best of all. Sugar ants are crazy for honey so I add a quantity of honey to the saturated solution and then it is time to rock.This is the part of the operation that always reminds me of the story of Moses and the rock.You have to have faith that the solution you leave for the ants will work. I usual resort to using the solution when ants are crawling all over whatever space is involved. Once they discover the glory hole you've put out for them, seemingly every ant within a mile is invited to the party. If you think you had some ants before you started the party you will soon find out it was nothing compared to the mob that suddenly appears. For at least a day or more this ant Woodstock Festival will rage and you will be asking what terrible folly you brought upon yourself. Then a morning or two later when you come to check on how things are going, there will be no ants in sight. It will be like a miracle has occurred. They will be gone, gone, gone. It is truly bizarre. I have used this remedy many times and there are never any dead ants laying about. All I can figure is that they must get terrible tummy aches and rush home to die quietly in bed. Some people say they carry the poison back to their nests and take down the whole tribe with them but I'm not certain that is true. Sugar ants do not have central governments. Rather, somewhere there is a nest that becomes the node of a network of nests each of which becomes the node for more nests, each node having its own queen or queens. You may kill off an entire node and it will take a long time for a forager from another node to rediscover the path to your kitchen again (because all the ones who did know are now in their graves) but in time a new explorer will show up but it can take months before that happens.I still have things to learn because sometimes they appear to not be attracted to the sugar. I've been told some of the little ants prefer protein substances and tend to eschew sugar but I'm not convinced that explains things.

I've started getting roaches after a year in moving to my new home. I've been trying to get rid of them with roach gels but no luck.I started to use Harris Boric Acid after a friend recommendation. I applied the powder in small amounts along baseboards, under the sink, and behind appliances, as directed. I'll be honest and say I didn't see any result within the first 2 weeks. In about a month or two, I started to notice less roaches.What I love most is that it’s non-toxic to humans which is very important with kids, and it doesn’t leave a strong chemical smell like the roach sprays. It’s also incredibly affordable compared to professional extermination services.

I originally bought this product about 3 weeks ago. I rent a house and when I moved in about a week after it became very apparent that there was a huge roach infestation. Like, we couldn't even cook, eat, leave something on the counter for a few minutes. We couldn't do anything without it getting infested with bugs almost immediately. I can't even tell you just how much food we've had to throw away because of the roaches, they get into the bags of bread and everything else. I tried everything under the sun to get rid of these bugs, sprays, traps and anything else you can think of that you can buy in the store. I was pretty much at my wit's end because about a month-and-a-half ago we felt like we were literally being run out of our house by these bugs and the landlord was not doing anything. So I went perusing around Amazon and found this. At first I was relatively skeptical and I happen to have five kids so there are certain places in the house where you would see an abundance of bugs, particularly the kitchen the bathroom and it was actually getting to the point where they were just running out in broad daylight around the house on the floor on the walls, just everywhere. So I decided to send my children to their dad's house so that I could basically set the house up to not be touched for at least 72 hours. I started by scrubbing everything down, cleaning making sure there was no dishes, no water, no access to food which meant that I had to buy Ziploc bags and plastic containers that were airtight. I started putting everything into those containers. I also eliminated most of the cardboard which are places they like to hide.. Then I started making sure that there was nothing else that was going to save them. Then I proceeded to go to all the places that I saw a lot of roaches and sprinkled this powder in those areas, that included behind the sink into the drain after I had made sure that the sink was fully dry all down the sides of the sink. Then I started doing the countertops, anywhere that I saw that they would crawl, because you ultimately want them to come in contact with this in any way possible. If you put a big mound of it they're not going to walk over it they'll just walk around it. So you want to be kind of conspicuous when you're sprinkling this and not overdo it. The ultimate goal is to get as many bugs to come in contact with this as possible without them realizing that they've come into contact with it. So then I decided that I was going to gently sprinkle the entire kitchen floor with it because I knew that I was going to be leaving for a few days. This will only work if you don't disrupt it because the bottle specifically states that it takes about 72 hours before you're going to start seeing dead bugs. So after sprinkling this all over my kitchen floor and in other places that I felt were hot spots for bugs I proceeded to leave the house for 72 hours. I didn't go far I was able to come back each day and check in to see how everything was going and the plan actually worked flawlessly, because of the fact that they had no choice but to crawl across the kitchen floor. So it's been approximately two-and-a-half to three weeks since I did this and I would say that the issue has been decreased by about 50 to 60%. Now I've read that a very large investigation can take up to 2 months or 8 weeks but I do see a very large decrease in the amount of bugs that are in this house. I actually woke up this morning and there were dead bugs scattered everywhere. I actually thought that maybe my kids had sprayed bug spray but when I asked them they hadn't so I know that the product is working as it's supposed to. I'll update my review in about three or four more weeks when it's been almost 2 months.* edit 2 month update *We probably have nipped the infestation by 75 percent. Be persistent thats what this needs. I even started dusting this in nooks and crannies around the sink where the counters were kind of separated. Worked like a charm. We still see activity but it's random and I can now put a bowl on the counter or prep food and if i need to run to the bathroom i can safely. Also the powder cannot get wet if it does its basically useless. Goodluck all...