Question by godofthesnes:
Can I really kill bed bugs with Diatomaceous Earth?
I moved into an apartment with a serious bed bug problem, left by the previous owners. now I’ve heard of Diatomaceous Earth and how it can kill all sorts of bugs, but people are praising it with a little too much enthusiasm. It’s making me nervous. I need to know, does Diatomaceous Earth really kill bed bugs. is it safe around my cat? Is it harmful if inhaled? if it’s safe, where can I get it and how do I apply it? the sooner the answer, the better off I’ll be.
Best answer:
Answer by moosbego
Check out this site for more info.
www.zetatalk.com/food/tfoox041.htm
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Yes. It looks just like flour and is harmless. I have feral cats outside I care for and I’ve even used it around their dry kibble to keep the ants off the kibble. They won’t cross over the powder because it’s like shards of glass to them and will cut through their exoskeletons, drying them out and killing them. It’s got no chemical properties that will harm you or your animals, although like talcum powder I wouldn’t sit around and inhale the dust. Farmers also give it to their cattle because it flushes their animals of parasites. People also ingest it regularly (I tried it!) for keeping their colons clean, but it’s gotta be the food grade. I got mine off amazon.com.
You’re going to have to go and get some sort of zippered shut vinyl mattress covers, then zip the mattresses within the covers, toss a bunch of that powder inside as much as you can, then that should take care of everything. Make sure the zippered cover won’t allow the bedbugs to get out so they’ll be inside where the DE is and that should kill them.