The Best Ant Bait - 2021
We looked at the top 7 Ant Baits and dug through the reviews from 9 of the most popular review sites including and more. The result is a ranking of the best Ant Baits.
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Our Picks For The Top Ant Baits
- The Best Ant Bait
- 1. TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Stations
- 2. Raid Max Child Resistant Ant Killer Baits
- 3. Bayer 10072 Max Force Fleet Ant Gel Bait
- 4. Terro 1806 Outdoor Liquid Ant Baits
- 5. Home Plus Indoor & Outdoor Ant Bait Stations
- 6. Syngenta TRTD11568 Optigard Ant Bait Gel
- 7. Hot Shot HG-2048 MaxAttrax Child-Resistant Ant Bait
Safe for CupboardsThese baits use borax, making them safe for most household areas.
Slow But SteadyA week or so is all it takes to see lasting results with these ant baits.
Kills Carpenter AntsThis gel works great against carpenter ants and can applied multiple ways.
Why we recommend these ant baits?
Products Considered
Products Analyzed
Expert Reviews Included
User Opinions Analyzed
Our experts reviewed the top 7 Ant Baits and also dug through the reviews from 9 of the most popular review sites including and more. The result is a ranking of the best of the best Ant Baits.
DWYM is your trusted roduct review source. Our team reviews thousands of product reviews from the trusted top experts and combines them into one easy-to-understand score. Learn more.
The Best Overall
TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Stations
Our Take
These bait stations are suitable for use in cupboards or shelves, under sinks or ovens — anywhere ants night roam. The active ingredient is borax, one of the safer compounds to use as a pesticide. Setup is as easy as removing a plastic tab on each station and letting the ants come marching.
What other experts liked
What other experts didn't like
The Best Bang For Your Buck
Raid Max Child Resistant Ant Killer Baits
Our Take
The active ingredient here is Avermectin B1, which is poisonous to ants but appetizing enough that ants will bring it back to the hive to be consumed. It's effective against a wide variety of ants. Allow a week or so for the ants to distribute the bait and begin thinning the population.
Our Ant Bait Findings
TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Bait Stations
What We Liked: These bait stations are suitable for use in cupboards or shelves, under sinks or ovens — anywhere ants night roam. The active ingredient is borax, one of the safer compounds to use as a pesticide. Setup is as easy as removing a plastic tab on each station and letting the ants come marching.
Raid Max Child Resistant Ant Killer Baits
What We Liked: The active ingredient here is Avermectin B1, which is poisonous to ants but appetizing enough that ants will bring it back to the hive to be consumed. It’s effective against a wide variety of ants. Allow a week or so for the ants to distribute the bait and begin thinning the population.
Bayer 10072 Max Force Fleet Ant Gel Bait
What We Liked: This gel is especially effective against common carpenter ants. The applicator is very versatile: It allows you to squirt the gel onto the bait traps or directly into crevices that are common entryways for ants.
Home Plus Indoor & Outdoor Ant Bait Stations
What We Liked: The food bait in these stations lures ants in very effectively. Once they’ve taken the bait, the ant killing compound hidden within does its job on the entire colony. The traps are suitable for indoor or outdoor use.
Hot Shot HG-2048 MaxAttrax Child-Resistant Ant Bait
What We Liked: Put these baits in the right place and you can expect to see ants milling around within a day or so. Soon after that, they’ll be bringing the poison back to their colony. Effects will last for months with even distribution of the traps.
Our Ant Bait Buying Guide
It’s easy to admire the dogged work ethic of the humble ant — as long as you’re doing it from a distance. It’s a different story when they’ve caught the scent of food inside your house and are swarming in through every crevice to get it.
Against this kind of infestation, bug sprays may offer some temporary satisfaction, but they’re not much help at all when it comes to getting rid of the colony once and for all. If you’ve got a little bit of patience, that’s exactly what the right ant bait trap can do.
Ant baits use a variety of different active ingredients and delivery methods, but they all work roughly the same way. Instead of killing ants on contact, they are actually meant to attract ants. Once they’ve done so, the ants eat some bait and bring the rest back to the colony. There the slow-acting poison starts to take effect, killing the workers and queen, and/or rendering her infertile. If you see more ants a day or so after placing your baits, don’t remove them. That means the traps are doing their job, and you should see the numbers begin to decline in a few days.
Most indoor ant baits are sold in plastic traps, similar to the “roach motels” that work on the same principle. They are meant to be placed in areas where ants are liable to go looking for food. In some cases, you may need to apply the actual bait to the trap yourself before setting in down. That bait can take several forms, and in most cases you don’t need to put it into a trap for it to be effective.
Gel bait can be applied to precise locations such as cracks in the wall or along baseboards. Liquid bait can be spread along a wide surface — as long as it’s not one where your pets are liable to come sniffing for food. Powder bait can actually be spritzed into the walls through the tiny crevices that ant might use as entryways. Finally, granular bait is ideally suited for outdoor use, since it is usually waterproof and won’t harm larger mammals or plants.
In some cases, the active ingredient — the poison — makes up a small percentage of the actual product. The rest is the actual bait; the material that is meant to attract the ants. That active ingredient might vary widely between brands, but common compounds are bifenthrin, pyrethrin, cypermethrin or borate (more commonly known as the all-purpose cleaner Borax). The slower these substances work, the better: Remember that you want the ants to carry the bait back to the colony before they start feeling the effects.
DWYM Fun Fact
We all know ants are expert burglars who specialize in stealing your food. Some even know that they’re super strong and that some species can lift up to 50 times their body weight. You might take some solace in knowing that at least they can’t hear — until you realize they can do something better. While ants don’t have ears, they can detect even small sounds as ground vibrations thanks to the subgenual organ below their femur.
The Ant Bait Tips and Advice
A word on safety for your pets and children. Although many brands may advertise their ant baits as “child-resistant,” that doesn’t mean they’re totally safe for kids to eat or even touch. All it means is that the traps are designed to keep little fingers and paws from touching the active ingredient. But as we all know, kids can be persistent — so place your baits in out-of-the-way areas to be extra safe.
About The Author
As a professional writer for the past couple decades and a homeowner for the last seven, Tod Caviness has learned the hard way what vacuum cleaners will actually pick up dog hair and which plants will survive on a Florida patio. His favorite room: The office, with the kitchen a close second.