Natural Ant Repellents

Overview

Objectives The objective and goal of this study was conducted to find out the most effective natural repellent around the house. I wanted to know the best way of finding a repellent for ants without harming the environment. Methods I conducted the experiment in about 2 weeks. I did 5 trials for each repellent,6 in total, including the control. I worked on observations and recorded the behaviour of Argentine ants searching for food. Then, I added natural repellents to determine which of the natural barrier worked better than others to repel or delay the ants from finding a food. I got my own ant farm (called Small Ant Tower) on a website called AntsCanada. I caught ants in my backyard and then set them up with water, food and other necessities. I then used the tube to make a experimental box where I would put the ring barrier of natural repellents and the cheese inside (used for the bait). Results My experience has shown the ant colony responded differently to each natural repellent. The Peppermint repelled the ants the most in both ways, keeping them away from the ring of natural repellents (distance) and delaying them in finding the food (time). The least efficient repellents were the Lemon and Cayenne Pepper. They did work better than the control but did not dissuade well the ants. Conclusions This data that I have obtained will spread the knowledge on ants and the natural repellents. This data shows that Peppermint has the best repellent barrier so this will inform us on how to keep ants away with the best non harmful repellent. This will also help people use other methods to repel ants than harmful environmental ways.

Awards (1)

• Honorable Mention

Competition history

• CSEF 2019 Zoology · Entry J2213

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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