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Diatomaceous Earth

post #1 of 3
4/23/10 at 11:43am
Thread Starter 
Last summer we had a flea outbreak. Don't ask me how. My cats are so spoiled, they are strictly indoor cats!

But regardless, we had fleas in our house, and I purchased food grade Diatomaceous Earth. I didn't bother spreading in into my carpets over the winter because I know it doesn't kill eggs. (My vet gave us Frontline to treat the cats, and I've been treating them since last year, and I haven't seen any fleas on them, or us since the summer).

But now that it's getting warm, I spread it in 2 rooms that have carpet and kept the doors shut. It's been in the carpet for about 2 weeks, but turns out we had a cold snap, where temps got down into the low 30s.

Do you think it's safe to vacuum up the DE? Or should I leave it in the carpet longer, and long enough for the warm weather to cause the eggs to hatch?

Thanks in advance.
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post #2 of 3
4/23/10 at 12:00pm
Did you use a broom to sweep it into your carpet in the first place? That will help get it into the padding where some of it remains beyond the reach of a vacuum cleaner.

I honestly wait until I see the first signs of fleas before I use DE in my home. I have dogs that bring in fleas from the outside and as long as I treat them with Frontline and use DE early in flea season, I rarely have to repeat the carpet treatment. So I believe that some of it will remain.

I'm just curious - why did you close the door to the treated rooms? Food grade DE won't harm cats.
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post #3 of 3
4/23/10 at 12:32pm
Thread Starter 
Haha! Really I just closed the doors for no other reason than to temp me not to put anything in there. I had de-cluttered the rooms and closing off those two rooms was like a psychological victory for me. Yay, two rooms not destroyed! We don't have any kids, so I can close them off and not have to worry.

Thanks for the tips! This is the first time I've ever used DE, and the first time I've ever had a flea problem as an adult. As a kid, my parents always did flea bombs! Yuck!

We had some really warm days a few weeks ago -- into the high 80s. Odd for the northeast. So that's what made me put it down quicker. I did use a broom to get it deep into the fibers. Hopefully we'll be flea-free this year!
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