Just in case I ever need to know this, how do you use diatomaceous earth to deal with a flea infestation? I’m familiar with the stuff from using it in swimming pool filters back in another lifetime, but I’d never heard of it being used as a flea treatment. But the fact that it’s non-toxic is a huge plus if it works.
I think the home use stuff is different from the pool filter stuff. More coarse, perhaps. Anyway, it’s supposed to be safe to inhale while the pool stuff is a little dodgier.
But the general idea is to cover everything you can vacuum in it. Some people prefer more targeted application to beds and flooring, but I haven’t found it that much harder to clean when I just bomb the whole room. When adult fleas come into contact with it, they die. I think I read that it scratches holes in their carapace and they dehydrate, but I’m not sure if that’s true. People are often reluctant to spread it around so liberally, and it really requires the $10 bellows-style sprayer to disperse well.
It kills adults, but not eggs. So it helps to be washing and drying surfaces that might have eggs. And you have to keep re-applying for many weeks. The times I have used it successfully I applied it once-a-week for six weeks, and then once every two weeks for eight weeks after, each time leaving it in place for 24 hours (except for the bedding which I would change out every couple of days and be sure to dry on hot).
I treated my pets with insecticides, but did not treat myself, and I stopped getting bites or finding (live) adult fleas after the first four weeks. I’ve read that in very humid climates it is less effective, but don’t know anyone personally who has tried it in FL or GA or the like.
It is. I belive it’s called “food grade”.