The surprising 90p kitchen ingredient which kills ants and woodlice in your home

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You can kill ants with one 90p item (Image: PA)

Spring is here and with it, so are the little pests that come into our homes and start causing a nuisance on skirting boards, windowsills and especially in kitchens where food is stored.

But some gardeners are reporting success with an ant killer derived from a surprising source - a simple 90p item you can buy in any major supermarket.

Aspartame, a type of artificial sweetener used in everything from diet drinks to low-calorie snacks has at times been linked with all sorts of nasty illnesses but has been cleared as safe for human consumption in countless studies.

Not so for ants, though, as well as woodlice, which have been said to be killed by artificial sweeteners such as a jar of the off-brand stuff for less than £1.

The reason ants and woodlice seem to die when eating artificial sweetener is precisely because it doesn't contain any calories. The lack of nutrition in it means that ants take it back to the nest, gorge themselves on it, then promptly starve to death - or so the theory goes.

Gardening blogger Donna Balzer said she had success with the method: "I noticed two things right away. My puppy was attracted to the artificial sweetener and, once I locked her up inside and spread more, the two types of ants I had observed traipsing through and living under my house disappeared overnight. As a bonus there were a few pillbug [woodlouse] carcasses on the concrete pad. Maybe they usually die here and the ants cart them away or maybe artificial sweetener kills pillbugs too."

And gardeners on Reddit have reported similar. One said: "You should know that if you have an ant infestation that Saccharine, and Aspartame found in artificial sweeteners will kill off most ant nests because there's no nutrition and ants will starve."

This isn't foolproof, mind.

As BeTripleG said: "Just a warning from someone who battled an ant infestation in June: Don't use too much bait or you could start a feeding frenzy, which temporarily makes the infestation much worse. Also, by enticing them to a food source (toxic or otherwise) you may inadvertently lead them to a better food source in your home."

Although you should only kill insects as a last resort and leave them well alone in gardens where you can, in order to boost dwindling insect populations and help keep the food chain alive.

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