All ants hate peppermint. You can dig in mint into the soil or make mint tea and pour it (cooled first) in the worst patches. I have lots of red ants at the allotment and they pose no problem as far as vegetable growth but they do bite. My little girl and her friends have all been had by the ants (they were making mud pies and probably diturbed a nest) and now are very wary. When I get them at the house and they start to crawl in, I mix 5ml peppermint oil with 1 pint veg oil and brush it onto all doorframes and windowframes. This really works as they will not cross the oil.