Ants do truly hate the smell of peppermint.  One good way to deter them is
to pick up a product in your pharmacy called "Peppermint Spirits".  (Your
pharmacist might need to special order it for you).  It comes in a little
bottle about the size of a small bottle of cough syrup, and it costs about
$3 or $4 in my area.
 
It's meant to be added to children's medicines to make them more palatable,
so it's essentially non-toxic, and meant for internal consumption (should
your fuzzbutts decide to sample it ...)  I just dab a little around the
area where I've seen the ants and ... voila!  ... no more ants!  It smells
great, too (assuming that you like the scent of peppermint ....)  ;->
 
- Ela
[Posted in FML issue 2560]