Have an insect problem? Instead of using smelly and toxic insecticides, try using borax to get rid of ants and cockroaches. Boric acid and borax, the sodium salt of boric acid, are colorless, odorless, white powders. Borax is soluble in water, while boric acid is slightly soluble. Both function as a stomach poison to the insects when ingested. These powders also damage the exoskeleton, or outer shell of these insects, upon contact loss of body moisture so they dry up and die.

Borax is also an inexpensive alternative to commercial insecticides. Borax is readily available on store shelves at most grocery stores or drugstores--usually on the laundry detergent aisle--as "20 Mule Team Borax". Alternatively, you can purchase boric acid powder at a pharmacy, variety store or hardware store.

In order to effective use your Borax to control pests, you will also need white table sugar for some of the recipes, which are especially important for ant control. In addition to these key ingredients, don't forget that part of controlling ants and roaches is to remove any debris from nooks and crannies where the ants and/or cockroaches are hiding. These are the places where you will be applying the borax powder or formulations. Remember to be patient during this process, it may take from 7-14 days to wipe out your ants and cockroaches. The formulations that you use can differ; therefore this page will give you several formulations for you to try to see which works best for you. Read further to find out how to use borax to get rid of ants and cockroaches so you can have a pest-free home. http://www.greenharvest.com.au/fact_sheets/fs_cockroach.html<ref>

1. Cockroaches and ants move in and out of cracks in the wall, underneath appliances, through wall outlets and baseboards, etc. See if you can determine where they have refuge and their major routes of ingress into your house.
2. Clean debris from those areas with a broom. Remove outlet covers that are likely suspect areas for pest ingress.
3. For all areas, except the wall outlet, clean with a detergent and let it dry thoroughly. Drying is necessary because water reduces the longevity of both boric acid and borax.

When roaches walk through the borax or boric acid, it attaches to their feet. Since they groom frequently, when they clean their feet they will ingest the particles. http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8778/roaches.php

1. The first method for killing cockroaches involves to simply dust the hiding areas and sites of ingress with the borax powder. It helps most if you apply the dust in a barely visible layer. If it is applied properly, they will walk through it and pick it up on their legs, body and antennae, from where they then ingest it. You may put the borax powder in a cleaned and dried plastic squeeze bottle, such as a mustard or ketchup bottle. and puff it out along baseboards and crevices.
2. In some cases, it works best to make a bait to kill the cockroaches. The recipe is equal parts of borax and sugar. Some formulas use a 1/3 each mixture of flour, borax and sugar. Use the underside of jar lids to hold the bait and place these in cabinet spaces and under appliances where they hide. The sugar attracts them to the bait and then they walk through it.

Different ants sometimes respond differently to baits. For that reasons, several recipes are given that you can try to see what works for your situation. You can even tweak the recipes if the ants don't seem to be attracted to it.

1. Dry powder formula: Mix 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of borax. This works out to 20% borax. Dust this in areas where there is ant traffic. You may also place teaspoon it onto jar lid bottoms that are placed on the ant trails. If it gets wet, empty and refill with dry mix. Some recipes start with 10% borax, so if the ants aren't taking the bait, lower the amount of borax a little.
2. Wet formulation: A sugary syrup is instantly attractive to ants, and when it has a little borax in it, they don't seem to mind. First make the sugar syrup, which is 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water - heat it in the microwave to dissolve the sugar. Then add 2 cups of borax powder and mix. Place this mixture on shallow dishes where the ants are crawling, or you can put it into baby food jars that have holes in the lid that are big enough for the ants to enter. Fill the jars full before putting on the lids. If you place this mixture out in the open, it will dry in 24 hours, so keep putting down some more fresh syrup daily for the next 7-10 days until the ants are all gone. If this mix is not attractive to your particular infestation of ants, dilute the original mix in half with more sugar water. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy797