I am fighting dreaded sugar ants in my kitchen. Any ideas on how to get rid of these things? i don't want chemicals in the house due to various reasons. I have tried the concoction of borax, yeast and powdered sugar, but they still come around. Some assistance would be greatly appreciated

The borax solution takes a lot of time, because it's ant bait - they don't eat it right away, so they're taking it back to the nest and reducing the nest size. But that takes time.

The key togetting rid of them fast is to figure out where they're getting in.

Ants don't like to cross a line of cinnamon, or strong mint oil.

When we had a bad ant infestation in the pantry, we ran a line of cinnamon along the edge of each shelf to keep them away, and it worked. You can make a cinnamon paste and smear it on a wall, if you find where they're coming in. Sorry, it doesn't look nice. And you have to be careful - cinnamon will stain.

Strong mint oil works much the same way - if you smudge it along the area where they're getting it, they can no longer smell the trail the scout ants left. If you have fresh mint leaves, they help too.

Finally, I really like to use the Safer brand ant spray - it's safe for the animals in your home, but it kills the ants. Specs here at SaferBrand.com.

All these things work inside and out, but these chemical free solutions get washed away with rain, and need to be reapplied regularly indoors. When the scent fades, the effectiveness is gone.

Good luck!

Sometimes baking soda will help; they track it back to the nest. I've read that the sodium bicarb acts on their stomach juices and puffs them up. I'm not sure what happens next, but apparently they don't survive this attack on their stomachs.

I've also used a spray of rubbing alcohol and a bit of water. Vary the strength depending on how many ants you have. If there are just a few, a little bit of rubbing alcohol will take care of them, but if there's a large number, use a spray and get as many as you can.

Unless and until they become resistant to it, it can be very effective. If you've had them for a significant time, there might be other issues which are attracting them, such as a source of moisture.

You're sure they're sugar ants and not carpenter ants? I've had both, and the carpenters are much hard to eradicate.

Good luck.

I grow catnip for my kitties and have used catnip leaves or little branches of it and it works like the mint leaves. I was told by someone at a garden center that peppermint was the strongest smelling...and to me any of the mints smell so wonderful that it is a pleasure to have around! ***Just a mention on the catnip if you have indoor cats they may try to get to it and cause trouble by removing the leaves, They are kitties after all! They do not bother Peppermint tho.
We get the ants every Spring-2 different kinds of ants-sugar ants and red ants- that try to move in here in the NorthWest and for me I had to resort to a readily available chemical treatment-traps that solve the problem outside before they get inside. My pets never bother it and it works every year before they get it. I do put mint around where we have windows open anyway as another preventive. I always thought ants were just part of living in the woods but have known city people who get them too.
I know you don't want chemicals but will say it is called Terro and I learned about it here in DIY from another member years ago. Just in case anybody wants to know.
I hope you get them out and they stay out!!