Diatomaceous Earth & Ants & Cats

goonie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 1, 2007
Messages
588
Purraise
24
Location
riverside, ca
living in SoCal is like living on an anthill. when the temp hit a 100 they all moved inside my house. i did a search for a non-poison way to get rid of them and came across Diatomaceous Earth. i knew that it was used to get rid of certain pests on plants and on slugs & snails (got a possum that takes care of them) but i had never used it. but DE also gets rid of bedbugs, fleas, ticks, ants...you can sprinkle it on your carpet to get rid of fleas and ants. if cats get it on their fur, no problem or even if they ingest it. some people use it to de-flea and de-worm their animals. i didn't know either that there is a food-grade DE. 1-3 tsp a day and it cleans out your intestines and de-toxes your body. haven't tried that yet. anyway, the stuff from nurseries etc usually is only about 76% DE and the rest filler. and your not supposed to use the kind for poolfilters because of added chemicals. so i ordered 10 pounds of the food-grade DE from amazon and sprinkled around the edges of the rooms where there were ants and also outside. within 2 days they were gone. there's still some stragglers here and there but i can deal with that.
i took some with me to the parking lot where i feed my strays and sprinkled it around their food dishes too and the ants disappeared from around their food. usually i have their food in a moat.
now i was thinking if the strays have to pretty much sit where i sprinkled the DE it should help a little at least to get some of the fleas etc they have and maybe make them itch a little less. the ones that are there now we've TNR'ed but they're still 'untouchable'. maybe keep the DE around all the time. the 10lbs from amazon cost me $23 and the stuff goes a long way.
 

gloriajh

FERAl born “Pepper”
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 17, 2006
Messages
2,027
Purraise
66
Location
CA - Desert
I guess you've read all the "cautions" - like - don't breathe the stuff?


Just one link I Googled: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14882008


... However, I wanted to pass on some very pertinent information that I just discovered after visiting my holistic veterinarian. DE is actually NOT safe to use on pets without extreme caution. When rubbed on pets' coats, it can severely dry out their skin (which can cause health problems that do far beyond dull coats!). Even more important to note is that dry DE can be very harmful to the lungs, both for pets and humans. Because of the structure of DE (tiny fossilized oceanic micro-organs with sharp edges...obviously a lay-person's description!), if DE is accidentally inhaled while applying it can be harmful to lung tissue, etc. The vet recommended combining DE with water in a sprayer, spraying the yard, and then watering it in before allowing pets to spend time out there. Bummer! It's still a viable option for some uses in organic pest control, but should always be used with caution. (I wonder if watering in is all that safe with all of the wind we've been having...what happens when it dries out?) ...
I hope you find some success in your battle with the ants.
 

ldg

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
41,310
Purraise
842
Location
Fighting for ferals in NW NJ!
Yup, we've had to use Food Grade DE to help with ants. The problem we have is not so much they move inside with the heat, they move inside when it's excessively wet.


Sadly, DE just washes away, so in a rainy place, it doesn't help outside at all. We were hoping it would help stop the slugs getting into the cat food.


We've had to find where they get into our home, and put the DE down there, from inside, not out. I don't bother putting it in the carpet, just the access points. But we live in a small home.
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
DE can irritate your lungs if inhaled but it won't hurt you. For the feral population I can only imagine the DE would be a wonderful way to help them with fleas and parasites. Excellent idea.
 

ducman69

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
3,232
Purraise
47
Location
Texas
I have no problem with people putting DE in their feed and the like to treat parasites, but to dust the carpets with it that is going to get mostly vacuumed and the rest kicked up and inhaled (its basically tiny very sharp shards) is just not a good idea IMO. So I much rather stick with insect neurotoxins around the house that shouldn't expose people or pets to issues. Besides spot-treating, you can create a circular barrier around your home or property. You can also spray possible entry points, and obvious don't leave any food sources available for them.
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Dusting the carpets is an excellent idea if you have fleas or ants in the house. Just make sure not to vacuum for a few days and to also brush (sweep) it down into the fibers. DE is such a fine dust to mammals that it is not going to do anything but irritate the lungs if inhaled so just be careful not to inhale any when sprinkling it around. Heavens, you could just hold a tissue over your nose and mouth until it settles. No biggie.


We used it on our tomatoes one year. The only issue is if it rains you have to re-do it. I know from the farmers' market that the "green" farmers use it on their crops.
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
I've not had an ant problem (knock on wood) but my sister used it to get rid of the ants on her patio. When her husband brought home bedbugs from a business trip, she used it to kill the bedbugs. Yes, she used the food grade version. She has serious asthma and the dust didn't bother her (she was careful with it).

It's great stuff!
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by Momofmany

I've not had an ant problem (knock on wood) but my sister used it to get rid of the ants on her patio. When her husband brought home bedbugs from a business trip, she used it to kill the bedbugs. Yes, she used the food grade version. She has serious asthma and the dust didn't bother her (she was careful with it).

It's great stuff!
Same here. I have COPD and have difficulty breathing under numerous circumstances and I've never had a problem with DE. Common sense will prevail.
 

arlyn

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
9,306
Purraise
50
Location
Needles, CA
$23 for 10# seems a bit pricey.
If you search locally instead of on the internet, you can save a ton of money on it.
It weighs next to nothing, so 10# is a LOT of DE.

I usually buy at a local feed store, food grade, $2.50 for 5#
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

goonie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 1, 2007
Messages
588
Purraise
24
Location
riverside, ca
so far it has worked very well and i haven't had a breathing problem yet. it's doing a great job on the ants
 

valanhb

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
32,530
Purraise
100
Location
Lakewood (Denver suburb), Colorado
Any idea if it works on beetle-type bugs? For some reason we have a ton of these little beetles in our house. So does our neighbor. Probably from the giant tree out front of our townhomes.
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by valanhb

Any idea if it works on beetle-type bugs? For some reason we have a ton of these little beetles in our house. So does our neighbor. Probably from the giant tree out front of our townhomes.
It should work Heidi. It cuts the exoskeleton so I imagine it would work on beetles as well. It's going to get on their underside as well so it should work.
 

kara_leigh

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
2,325
Purraise
4
Location
Bradleyville, MO
I love DE! There is a feed store near here that sells it in bulk for $.53 a pound. You can get as much or as little as you want. I use it as a flea dust for the stray cats. It isn't completely effective but it does keep the numbers down some. I also use it as a wormer for them. They love yogurt, so I mix some in yogurt and let them go to town.
 

ducman69

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
3,232
Purraise
47
Location
Texas
Originally Posted by Yosemite

Dusting the carpets is an excellent idea if you have fleas or ants in the house.
Don's Pest Control here in Houston recommends against it being used in that fashion (trustworthy nice guy IMO), and it is considered an OSHA health code violation that can close a site down if its found in the air beyond a minimum quantity. Considering a cat's airways are much closer to the carpet where the dust can be kicked up, I would stick to alternatives. Most neurotoxins that affect insects are harmless to mammals when properly applied, and without the concerns over UV, a pest control person can spray the edges of walls that insects prefer to travel along which should last years.


http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/grsc_subi/Te...nert_Dusts.pdf

The safety and regulatory issues relevant to inert dusts, and specifically to DE dusts, were reviewed by Korunic (1998) and Desmarchelier and Allen (2000). Silica risk assessments were presented in detail in 2 special journal issues (Goldsmith et al. 1995, 1997), and pertain primarily to crystalline silica polymorphs (cristobalite, tridymite, and quartz). Although DE and synthetic silicas are amorphous dusts, they contain <1 to 4% crystalline silica. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1996 changed the carcinogenicity classification of crystalline silica from category 2A (probable human carcinogen) to category 1 (confirmed human carcinogen). Therefore, there is concern about worker or consumer exposure
to silica dusts, primarily through inhalation. Silicosis is an irreversible lung disease in which fibrous tissue is formed as a reactive response to inhaling silica dust.

The US Occupational, Safety, and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates silica dusts and establishes permissible exposure limits. Typically, DE dusts should contain <1% crystalline silica. The primary purpose of OSHA standards is to prevent silicosis. OSHA in 1989 set the permissible exposure limit value as a time weighted average for an 8-hour shift for quartz at 100 micrograms per cubic meter, and at 50 micrograms per cubic meter for 368
cristobalite and tridymite.
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by Ducman69

Don's Pest Control here in Houston recommends against it (trustworthy nice guy IMO), and it is considered an OSHA health code violation that can close a site down if its found in the air beyond a minimum quantity. Considering a cat's airways are much closer to the carpet where the dust can be kicked up, I would stick to alternatives. Most neurotoxins that affect insects are harmless to mammals when properly applied, and without the concerns over UV, a pest control person can spray the edges of walls that insects prefer to travel along which should last years.


http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/grsc_subi/Te...nert_Dusts.pdf
I know, I know, you've posted this before but it's not that bad at all.

It's like the difference between saying "be careful crossing the street" and "DO NOT cross the street".


Once it's down in the carpet unless you are jumping up and down on the carpet or beating it with a broom, it's highly unlikely the dust is going to rise up and permeate the air. Again, folks, let's just use some common sense and cover your nose and mouth while sprinkling it around and then relax and let it do it's work.

I'm sure "Don" is a great guy, but he does run a pest control company and would probably prefer persons call him to get rid of their pests than do it themselves so I can certainly understand him advising against a DIY solution.
 
Top