Last Updated September 28th, 2023: If you are like me, your pets are part of the family, and I’ll do anything to keep my pets safe and healthy. I’ve heard of many pet owners who will suffer through ant infestations because they are afraid of harming their pets during the ant control process. But you don’t have to life with ants any longer, this is our complete guide to pet safe ant control ant the best ant killer that is safe for pets!
3 Ant Killers That Are Safe For Pets In 2023
- TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Killer: Extremely Effective, And Uses Borax Which Makes It Safe For Pets!
- Syngenta Advion Ant Gel: More Powerful, Uses Indoxacarb .05% Which Has Low Toxicity At These Doses!
- Optigard Ant Bait Gel: This Is What Pest Professionals Use, When Used As Directed It’s 100% Safe For Pets.
Pet Safe Ant Removal (Safe For Your Dog, Cat, And Other Pets)
Pet safe ant removal can be slightly difficult but thankfully by understanding how ants function, you’ll better be able to get rid of them, now and forever!:
You are watching: #1 Ant Killer That Is Safe For Pets – Complete Guide To Pet Safe Ant Control! (Safe for Dogs, Cats, Other Pets)
- Ants live in large colonies, with a few thousand workers up to 50,000+ in a single colony.
- Because of this you need to treat for the entire colony not just the individual ants you find in and around your home.
- If you only kill individual ants, the colony will continue to grow and you’ll never get rid of your ant infestation.
The Best Type of Pet Safe Indoor Ant Killer
There are many different types of ant control methods available, but when you’re looking for pet safe indoor ant killers, then you’ll almost always only want to use liquid or gel bait ant control methods.
Why Should You Use Liquid Or Gel Bait Ant Treatments?
Liquid and gel bait treatments for ants are the best option because individual ants will find the bait, and then they will carry the bait all the way back to their colony thinking its food. Then the entire colony will begin feeding on the bait and it will then eradicate the entire colony.
Take a look at our best overall ant killer guide!
Why Are Ant Gel and Liquid Baits Safer Than Sprays?
Ant baits are safer for your pets because they have an extremely low amount of poison concentration compared to sprays. Along with this, baits come in little bait stations which are often placed on top of countertops, or in crevices which makes it difficult for your pets or family to reach, but easy for ants to reach.
Along with this, even if your dog was to eat a bait station like Terro, they would have to eat quite a few bait stations to get sick.
Although ant sprays are effective, you end up treating a huge area with spray which means the likelihood for unnecessary contact is extremely high. If you have pets or small children, do not use ant sprays! Along with this, these sprays are strong insecticides and can possibly disrupt or kill other animals such as birds, lizards and bees.
Best Ant Killer That Is Safe For Pets – Ant Baits
There are quite a few different types of ant treatment options, but not all of them are safe for pets! Below we’ll be outlining the best ant killer that is safe for pets and other treatment options that will get rid of ants quick, but still be safe for your pets!
1. TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait:
The best ant killer that is safe for pets is easily the TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait. It is extremely effective and you’ll start to see a reduction in ants in just 48 hours. Along with this, TERRO ant baits uses borax rather than a traditional insecticide which keeps it effective, but makes it much safer for your pets.
For a dog to be seriously injured by consuming these TERRO T300B bait stations, they would have to consume a huge amount of the borax in these traps.
The lethal dose of borax in pets is around 5 grams per kilogram that your pet weighs. One individual TERRO T300B bait station contains 0.55 grams of borax, which means a 10lb pet would need to consume somewhere around 41 individual TERRO T300B bait stations for a fatal dosage.
Read more : How to Remove Mold and Mildew From Outdoor Cushions (5 Simple Methods)
Along with this, they are extremely easy to use and setup, here is how to use these TERRO T300B bait stations:
- Break off the tab on the end of the bait station without spilling the bait.
- Place the bait station (label side up) near the area of recent ant activity, as well as additional areas you want protection in. It’s recommended to use all the bait stations at once.
- Monitor the stations regularly but don’t move them. If the bait inside is depleted, then you can replace them.
- Once you no longer see signs of ants, you should consider placing bait stations every 3 months to ensure ants don’t come back.
Overall, this is the best ant killer that is safe for pets. It’s extremely effective and near guaranteed you’ll get rid of your ants. Along with this, it’s safe for pets because it uses borax rather than a traditional insecticide, which makes it much safer for your pets and your kids. Along with this, these can also be used to get rid of ants in your car!
2. Syngenta Advion Ant Gel
If you’re looking for the most effective ant killer safe for pets, then it is easily the Syngenta Advion Ant Gel treatment. This is the treatment used by professional pest control technicians and if used correctly, it is completely safe to pets.
Syngenta Advion Ant Gel is designed to be bait for a single worker ant, who will then bring the bait back to the rest of the colony, killing the entire colony rather than just the individual ants. This is a much more effective way to get rid of your ants while still being safe for your pets.
Syngenta Advion Ant Gel is designed to be used as a crack or spot treatment for ants. This means you will put the gel inside cracks and crevices where ants are present, as well as behind cabinets, in your pantry, etc. The overall idea is to place the gel treatments where ants are present and in areas that are hard to reach for your pet.
Along with this, Advion uses Indoxacarb as the main killing ingredient. Although Indoxacarb technically is dangerous to pets, Advion only contains 0.05% for each 30 gram tube, which means each tube only contains 0.15 grams of Indoxacarb.
In this study, they introduced dogs and cats to more than 0.25 grams of indoxacarb every single day for 90 days with zero signs of toxicity afterwards. Obviously you shouldn’t purposefully be allowing your pets to eat the gel, and it should be placed out of reach, but generally speaking the risk of danger is pretty low.
3. Optigard Ant Gel Bait
Similar to Advion, Optigard Ant Gel Bait ant treatment is another gel bait which attracts singular ants to the bait, who then take the bait back to the colony, killing the entire colony and wiping out the infestation.
This is developed in using a syringe/plunger system which allows you to apply the gel in hard to reach places with ant activity, such as in cracks and crevices, underneath and behind cabinets, underneath your dishwasher, etc. It’s designed to be placed in out of reach areas so you don’t have to worry about your pets eating the bait.
That being said, this study shows that the main ingredient Thiamethoxam is only dangerous in dogs at levels of around 15mg per kg, where each of the Optigard tubes only contains around 3mg of Thiamethoxam which makes it generally pretty safe. If you have a 50 lbs dog, they would need to eat 300+ mg of Thiamethoxam to be considered dangerous which would be around 100 Optigard ant gel tubes.
That being said, if you notice your pets eating Optigard ant gel tubes then you should still consult with your veterinarian to be safe.
Best Type of Ant Killers Around Pets:
There are many different types of ant killers around, but not all of them are safe for use around pets and children. Here are the different types of ant control methods:
- Borax Ant Baits: Such as TERRO T300B, these are effective but have the lowest toxicity towards pets, so you should try these bait stations first!
- Professional Grade Bait Stations: These are bait stations with more powerful chemicals such as Indoxacarb. These are bait stations such as Advion Gel Ant Bait or Optigard Ant Bait Gel. They are highly effective, but you should ensure your pets don’t eat these treatments, as they are slightly more toxic than Borax traps.
- Ant Killer Sprays: These ant killer sprays such as Raid or Ortho are effective in killing ants on contact, but aren’t likely to eradicate the entire colony, so I don’t recommend them. That being said, once these products have dried, they generally are safe around pets, but I still wouldn’t recommend allowing your pets to lick the dried spray.
Ant Traps Safe For Cats – AVOID Pyrethrin
Read more : 10 Types of Safe Wood for Rabbits to Chew On
One very common chemical found in ant treatments and pesticides in general is Pyrethrin. It’s commonly used because it’s effective and considered “safe”. When used correctly, Pyrethrin products are relatively safe for humans and dogs, but cats specifically are very sensitive to Pyrethrin, and even small doses can be dangerous to cats.
It is of utmost importance that when treating for ants in a house with cats, to avoid any product with Pyrethrin in it!
Because of this, we recommend using one of the above-mentioned products!
Is Borax Safe For Pets?
Borax ant bait stations are our #1 recommended product for those with pets. It’s highly effective, but also much safer for pets compared to traditional insecticides. In fact, using borax for ants is one of the most effective ant treatment options. That being said, how safe is borax for pets?
When used as directed, borax ant bait stations like TERRO T300B is completely safe for pets. The concentration of borax in these bait stations is extremely low, and pets would have to eat 30+ TERRO T300B bait stations to ingest a lethal amount. Many lawn ant killers use borax as their active ingredient because it’s safe for other animals but deadly against ants!
That being said, if your pet was somehow able to digest a large quantity of borax, then it would be dangerous and possibly fatal for them.
Overall, borax bait stations are safe for pets, but ensure you follow the proper directions as well as place your traps in areas that are difficult for your pets to reach, such as behind furniture and on your countertops.
https://iris.epa.gov/static/pdfs/0410tr.pdf
Final Thoughts On Pet Safe Ant Killers:
Overall getting rid of an ant infestation while having pets is very possible! You definitely need to be wary of which type of product you’re using to ensure that it’s safe for your pets.
I recommend the TERRO T300B Ant Bait Stations because they use Borax rather than insecticides which means it’s much safer for your pets, while still being very effective! Overall I’d recommend you start with the TERRO T300B and then if that wasn’t effective, then you can move on to a more powerful bait station.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide on the #1 ant killer that is safe for pets!
Resources:
http://npic.orst.edu/incidents.html#anim
Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Outdoor