Help!!! Ants are eating my soap!

[soap_ph]

help!!! ants are eating my soap! they first started eating after 4 days when i start to cure my soap. is it normal? the ingredients that i used are...

calamansi juice (lime) 1.25oz
aloe vera 1.40 oz
coconut oil 7.2oz
olive oil 8.8oz
water 6.8oz
lye 2.28oz
tea tree essential oil 0.50 oz

this my very first batch of soap that i made. and actually theres a lot more to learn in making it. have you guys ever experienced red ants eating your soaps? i dont think theres something sweet in the soap that i made. what i do to keep the ants away is that i put the soaps in a grill and then i placed a cup of water on the legs of the grill to elevate it and keep the ants away. but they're smart they still wonder around the soaps and make away to get it. help pls :---(

 

[Susie]

Why would you store your soaps in a grill?

 

[lenarenee]

A barbecue grill or wire rack.....like you use to cool cookies? Can you move the soap to a very different location?

 

[not_ally]

I am guessing - although probably wrongly - that the OP is somewhere tropical/warm where insect issues are a pain. Keeping it in the house is more likely to bring the ants in there, so the grill is a good way to keep them away but still protect the soap some. If that is the case, keeping them in the grill w/water at the base is a pretty good idea.

 

[Seawolfe]

Ayup - I lived in the Philippines and it can be buggy. The legs of the grill in water is a great idea - but you need to be very sure that the soap isnt touching any metal, though stainless steel is ok. Perhaps moving your curing rack to a new location? You might be near an ant hill. If you have boric acid you can put that in circles around the legs as well.

 

[soap_ph]

im living in a farm. first my soaps are inside the house then i change it to a shed behind our house but still ants are eating it. we have lots of trees in here. and ants is our number 1 problem. why are ants eating it? we have soaps here which we bought from the groceries but the ants dont seem to mind it. they just kept on coming back for my soaps. it is placed in a wire rack, should i put wax paper in it, so its not directly touching the metal? and what will happen if it does?

 

[Seawolfe]

Soap should not touch any metal but stainless steel, or it can discolor. I would at least put some sheets of paper between the soap and rack.

I cant say why the ants are eating your soap other than I can say why one soapers dog ate her soap - probably because it tastes and smells good There is quite a bit if sugar in calamansi so maybe thats it?

 

[soap_ph]

ohh thank you seawolfe! i will put a sheet of paper. thanks for the advice! i appreciate it!

is there a way that i can do to prevent ants from eating it? i want to make it a business.

 

[Susie]

If you could get some boric acid and mix it with honey or syrup to form a paste. Then fill bottle caps or very small, very flat saucers with it. You could place those where the trail for the ants crosses to see if you could pull them off the soap and let them eat the poison. DO NOT try this if you have children or pets around that could get into it.

We used to have to do this down at my grandmother's house. Ants were an ongoing issue. And ants like to eat oils also.

 

[snappyllama]

Ants won't cross a line of cream of tartar. Actually, it holds back pretty much all crawling bugs... Hurts their many little feet. I used to put it down as a barrier in my daughters room that had a high window we could never seem to spackle enough. Fire ants are just the worst.

 

[tarkus]

I am wondering whats going to happen when ants drink water? are they going to survive ?
this might be a new ant killing formula you discovered. you can sell to home depot or something
let them eat your soap and see what happens if they start disappearing it means they are
slowly dying.

 

[nsmar4211]

Boric acid and sugar syrup is already sold.... called Terro. They make outdoor stakes, indoor drops (messy) and indoor little plastic feeder things. First few days you get tons of ants as they feed, then they dissapate.

You probaly have grease ants going after your soap, Terro/boric acid will help with those for sure.

 

[rainmanp7]

Don't add anything sweet past 128 grams per kilo.

Another way is sorta crazy

You take a plate fill it with water
Take a bowl and put it Straight in the middle.
Next you place your soap on the bowl
Ants don't swim.

"Stop SniFFiN ma SoAP"

 

[SunRiseArts]

I hate ants, why would they be attracted to soaps of all things? The fragrance?

Great advice here, always learning something new!

 

[NsMar42111]

Can't help with the ants other than to second the Terro (or homemade version) suggestion.

I can tell you I had mice eating the bar of pine tar soap I made (half lard, 1/4 coconut, 1/4 olive oil) and left on the back porch for washing up purposes. Not just once, but almost the whole bar over a period of a month! Apparently it didn't hurt them at all.

 

[cherrycoke216]

We have two identical id nsmar4211 & nsmat42111... Cool!

Never had ant eating my soap, but mice ate my neroli, bitter orange & lavender soap & l'occitane lemon verbena soap. They did not finish handmade neroli one, but ate the whole l'occitane thing!!!!!!!
I hate rodent...yuck!

 

[NsMar42111]

LOL there's two because the original nsmar4211 account is corrupted somehow (just shows a blank white page)...mods tried to fix it and it's still corrupted so I gave up and made a new one. Then again, somedays maybe I ammm someone else :shark::bunny:

 

[rainmanp7]

Yes the insects and animals leave everything else alone. They only went after that one soap... Because it was heavy with natural sugars.

Now the chickens are seriously stupid. I tossed some shaving's and they munch it up like it's good for there tummy?

Don't do this... They keep coming back!

That's why am afraid to make the chocolate..

"Stop SniFFiN ma SoAP"

 

[anidna.arim]

Wow... It also happens to my melt and pour honey and oat soap.. But the ants eating it in my bathroom. Its very good soap and i want to sell it but how explain to customer if ants eating their soap

 

[Mistrael]

<-- my face when I read this post.

It never occurred to me that critters would eat soap. My dogs will eat anything & they've barely sniffed the stuff. I have some oatmeal, coconut milk, & honey soap for my mom curing right now. Perhaps I should hide it somewhere!

Another thing that will kill most insects w/out resorting to poison is diatomaceous earth. Sprinkle it wherever you have insects but be careful not to inhale it.