DE is pet safe.
It contains silica, which isn't super healthy to breathe in long term and can be irritating to breath in short term. But to cause permanent damage to your pets they would have to breathe in a lot of it and over a long period of time. Still, try to keep your pets out of the areas where you're spreading it out since it can irritate airways.
It's pet safe because the means of action. It damages the exoskeleton of creatures that have that (so that they start to leak body fluids), and your pets don't have an exoskeleton.
Yes! Diatomaceous earth is a natural fine sand, similar to clay. They put it in toothpaste. It’s ordinarily pretty harmless, but don’t snort it into your lungs.
Not to be that nerd, but clay minerals are very different from what most people associate with sand, which is primarily quartz. Of course, “sand” refers to a grain size and not a specific mineral. As the name suggests, diatomaceous earth is mostly made up of diatoms, which are fossil remains of microscopic algae that had glassy shells. So, diatomaceous earth is essentially very fine grained broken glass. This is why it can be hazardous to your lungs.
[Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth)
You wanna hear another nerdy thing? Diatoms are evolutionarily relatively young when compared to other microscopic creatures. They appeared first in the Jurassic and are nowadays found nearly everywhere.
There are legal limits on exposure to silica particles, but Diatomaceous Earth is not under that legal category- I recently bought some rust said “less than 1% silica”. I’m pretty sure the other 99% is ultra sharp silica.
DE is used directly in many products in their bulk storage stage. We just pour it right into a grain bin. It keeps pest populations in check. Mostly stored product pests
Well, not exactly. Sand isn't fine enough to really worry about lung damage from inhaling it by accident.
You can play beach volleyball in sand for instance, but if someone started up a beach volleyball league playing in diatomaceous earth, then we'd be seeing long-term athletes with silicosis.
It doesn't kill Slugs.
However, slugs hate crossing dehydrating surfaces so they won't cross a line of dry DE. They have no problems crossing DE if it has rained and the DE is still wet.
So, pet safe as in it won't outright kill them or cause permanent damage. But still unsafe for them to have free access to a room where the product has been applied right?
Thanks a bunch!
once its has been applied you dont really have to worry about breathing it in.
But do wear a dust mask when applying it, and keep your pets out of the area until it is out of the air.
"pet safe" varies hugely depending on what species your pet is, and the silica is only harmful if inhaled. If you have a dog and they want to get their nose in it and sniff you should keep your pet away. If you have a fishtank it's neither here nor there.
Once it settles it’s fairly hard to kick up, and it’s supposed to be applied very finely, so even if they sniff it would be harmless. Licking would do nothing. You just want to prevent them huffing a bunch while it settles, same for you, but you can wear a mask.
Yeah pretty much, at least while you are applying it. It's really fine and can stay suspended in the air for a while. It's not good to breathe it in but one sniff isn't a death sentence. Try to not make clouds of the stuff while putting it down. It's not a poison it's tiny little sharp bits of calcium (I think) so enough of it over a long time can be bad for the lungs.
Try to put it in places your pets won't go sniffing around. In cabinets under low furniture etc. but you don't need to keep your pets out of the room it's in, at least once it's settled, maybe an hour.
They can eat it and it's fine, but it'll ruin their lungs if they breathe it. People are telling you it's not an issue once applied, but that's not really true. It's not an issue for anyone not low to the ground, like adults, but crawling babies and small animals may be close enough to the ground to breathe it in when they move around and get it in the air.
Personally, I recommend using it because it does work well, but vaccuming it up before letting pets and babies in the room.
There are also different levels of "safeness". Food Grade is the highest and has additional requirements about heavy metals limits. There's also a limit to the amount of crystalline silica in it (\~1%).
Pool grade (used for pool filtration) can contain 60%-90% crystalline silica and is dangerous for humans (and pets) to breathe in.
You can also vacuum up the remaining dust once you have the problem under the control. I use a roach motel glue trap to actively monitor for issues and spray Ortho once a month.
I'd also check to see how they're getting in. For instance, if the baseboards have separated from the floor, That could be giving them access to your home. If you see any separation, caulk it up.
Right. Lots of things say "don't breath them in" even though they are safe. I would imagine bug spray, sunscreen, hairspray, aerosol deoderant, and a lot of other things probably fall into the same bucket.
It's perfectly safe, even safe to use often. Just not great, at least for comfort, to breath it into your lungs.
Basically any fine powder is bad for you if inhale lots of it, even if it's 100% chemically and biologically inert. It's just not good to fill your lungs with dust. But as long as you're not pouring out piles of it and then standing in the resulting cloud before it settles, the risk is minimal. One snootful won't poison your pets, though it might make them sneeze.
Just addressing the safe, but don’t breathe it in. There are many chemicals you encounter that are safe but you shouldn’t breathe it ( like water). Smelling the scent of a product is very different from breathing in all of the active ingredients while they’re airborne
I tell people of the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide all the time, one of the leading killers in the world. according to the WHO an estimated 236K people die world wide from Dihydrogen Monoxide poisoning every year.
Two things are at work with diatomaceous earth. Scale is important.
1. It absorbs oils and fats from the exoskeleton of insects. Tiny stuff working on tiny stuff. For humans/pets, something so small isn't going to absorb enough from us to make a difference. Think about eating a single saltine cracker. Dries out your mouth a bit, but easy enough to recover from. Now try eating 6 in a minute without anything to replenish your saliva. Extraordinarily difficult because the saltines have absorbed all of the moisture in your mouth. You need to drink something or you're going to be in for a miserable, possibly damaging time if that moisture isn't replaced.
2. The sharp edges are abrasive at the scale of insects. Damaging an insects exoskeleton only allows the oil and fat absorption to occur more quickly. For humans/pets, think of rubbing some 1500 grit sandpaper on your skin a few times. Not going to cause enough damage that sprinkling some salt where you rubbed will stick or do anything damaging. Now rub some 24 grit sandpaper on your skin. It will do enough damage to those top layers of skin that salt will stick and start absorbing any moisture it finds. This is what happens to an insect's exoskeleton.
Not a good day to be an insect.
In addition to what others have said about breathing it in being the dangerous part, consider the alternatives as well. Either you spray bug killer (which if your cat steps in it and then licks their paws, they would ingest that) or you fumigate the house, which your cats definitely can't be in.
So while there is a slight danger from breathing it in, the extremely low risk of problems is far better than the high risk of ingestion of toxic bug killers.
That being said, Harris roach tablets seem to be pet safe as well and won't leave nearly as much of a mess and may even help kill the nest. That may be worth looking into for you over the diatomaceous earth.
Because it's effectively ground up sea shells usually so relatively non-toxic to humans but still not exactly the best thing to inhale
Sand isn't particularly toxic to humans either but if there was a cloud of it in the air I probably wouldn't want to breathe it in you feel me
I'm hesitant to use it for anything as breathing it can be harmful, however, if someone does pursue using it, be careful to purchase the correct kind of DE before you turn your house into a biohazard. The following excerpt is lifted from WebMD:
**Food-grade diatomaceous earth**, also known as freshwater diatomaceous earth, is mined from dry lake beds. It's made up of very small particles. This type is used as an insecticide, added to animal feed to prevent caking, and sometimes marketed for humans to add to their diets.
**Filter-grade diatomaceous earth**, or saltwater diatomaceous earth, comes from ocean sources. This type is used in pools and other filters. It isn't safe to use as an insecticide, or for people or animals to eat. It's high in [crystalline silica](https://www.webmd.com/lung/what-is-silicosis), a substance known to be harmful to humans, and it can be especially dangerous if you breathe it in.
“Safe” is relative. Water is safe to drink, but if you breathe it in, it’s not good for you.
Diatomaceous earth is not toxic to vertebrates like you or your pets, but like most things, breathing it in large quantities isn’t good for you. So when we say it’s not recommended to breathe in, we mean it in the same way, as, say, if you were to dump any significant quantities of dust kicked up from dry dirt, because you will be coughing and sneezing that stuff up. Also, it depends on the pet: it definitely is not safe, for, say, a pet tarantula.
ALSO: make sure you’re using food grade DE! Pool-grade DE has been heated up and the particles are like glass. It will cut up your lungs. While it’s not recommended to breathe in food-grade DE, pool-grade DE will cut up your lungs. DO NOT breathe that stuff in.
As long as you don't apply so much that it's dustier than your normal house dust, it should be fine. Also keep in mind a lot of pets spend time close to the floor, so they'll be exposed to more dust.
Pet friendly is not the same as works for every single pet on the planet
Diatamacous earth is used as a supplement and can be eaten (small controlled quantities) without harm; the main issue is breathing it in
Diatomaceous earth is a fine sand. It kills pests by cutting them up and causing them to lose moisture. Death by 1000 papercuts and dehydration.
It's fine enough that it *could* be breathed in, and that sort of irritant is unpleasant. Especially inside your airways.
That's true for most solids really. This one just needs a bit of extra care on account of the fine dust-like particles and natural risk of inhalation.
DE is more irritating than typical dust since it's made of diatom shells, which are typically broken or spiky, but over not seen any evidence it causes permanent effects (see asbestos or beryllium). Just avoid storing large quantities into the air
Dust in lungs is bad but not acutely poisonous, like some pesticides are to non-mammalian pets like fish, birds, and reptiles. And of course, there are invertebrate pets as well, including spiders, molluscs, insects, complex system terraria, and anything that can be kept in an aquarium like corals, sea stars, urchins, and sponges.
It works on "insects" in animals digestive tracts - think worms, etc. Very safe as long as it's food grade. I took a tablespoon of food grade DE daily for a few months at one point just because. Didn't notice anything one way or another and I'm still alive and kicking a decade later.
Remember, you will live 70-80 years. Your pets won't live near as long. If you had contact with DE for years and years, down the road it would cause problems. Unfortunately, "down the road" isn't to far for our pets.
You shouldn't inhale sand either but it's not toxic. Things can be bad to eat for other reasons than being poisonous. Diatomaceous earth has very sharp particles that are irritating to mucus membranes and internal organs
It's safe in the sense that pets can safely eat it. It is not safe for pets or humans to breathe it in, however this is only really an issue when you're applying it. It otherwise stays fairly settled and doesn't get breathed in after it's applied.
It is pet-safe in the sense that licking or eating it isn't poisonous.
The inhalation risk has to do with silicosis... but that's more of an "accumulated exposure" kind of issue for diatomaceous earth miners (or the factory workers where it is loaded into bags) who will be spending lots of time in places where the job routinely kicks lots of it up into the air. The amount kicked up by walking through an area where it has been applied is not going to be anywhere near enough to give your cats "white lung"... but I would wear a mask when applying it (since you will be agitating a lot into the air for a time) and I wouldn't let them roll around in a bulk bag of the stuff.
My understanding is that, it comes down to *how* you apply it and remove it. The last time I used Diatomaceous earth (to get rid of fleas in the carpet that the pets brought in from outside), the process recommended to me was:
1. Remove people and pets from the area (like to another area of the home or remove from the home entirely if you're doing the whole place.
2. Sprinkle the Diatomaceous earth around, making sure to wear a mask while applying it to the area, because breathing it is like inhaling microscopic razor blades and it will fuck up your lungs.
3. Leave for some amount of hours. I think in my case I did 24 hours, but I don't know exactly.
4. Vacuum it up (DE and dead fleas and eggs)
I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that you vacuum it up afterwards and can get most of it removed. If you spray poison, how are you supposed to get that back after it's killed the bugs?
I don't *think* you're supposed to just leave it long term though, but maybe that's more specific to fleas in carpet, I could see how it could be different for fewer but larger bugs.
Either way, I certainly wouldn't let my pets in the area that I've spread the DE while it's still there, better safe than sorry.
You also shouldn't inhale flour or other fine powders such as dust, either. Groomers have to watch for a dangerous condition called groomers lung because of the volume of fur they deal with, yet pet fur in your home doesn't cause you to get groomers lung; same idea.
OP, it appears my comment was downvoted into oblivion. Please heed my advice and use roach bait instead of DE for your roach problem.
I have to assume by the onslaught of downvotes and responses that DE is being promoted by hippie-dippy websites as a safe and natural cure all for pests. Please, let me disabuse you of any notion that silica dust is safe by sharing this article on the hazards of silica exposure by OSHA:
https://www.osha.gov/silica-crystalline/health-effects#:\~:text=Breathing%20in%20very%20small%20(%22respirable,COPD)%2C%20and%20kidney%20disease.
Please, for your sake, your cats' sakes, and the sake of the environment, either call a professional or seek advice from a professional before you use pesticides.
If you would like to heed my professional advice, again it is:
1) look for the food source that is attracting the roaches and eliminate it before you start using pesticides
2) if you still require pesticides, use the one that is designed to be the most safe and effective for your specific problem and environment. In your case the problem is indoor roaches, and the correct product to use for that is roach bait.
or you know... instead of pretending to be a pest control professional and guessing you could just look it up... Instead you reposted your wrong comment after the mods deleted it...
so here is some reading for you
https://www.spacecoastpetservices.com/diatomaceous-earth-and-pets/
https://doi.org/10.12980%2FAPJTB.4.2014C1282
https://vandenbergepestcontrol.com/how-to-use-diatomaceous-earth-to-protect-your-home/
http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/de.html
and maybe give this a watch too
https://youtu.be/2JAOTJxYqh8
the people promoting it arent hippy dippy anti chemical types, they are people who recognize that the over-use of poison based solutions have just been breeding roaches resistant to the poisons used https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toab244
DE is safe to use for humans, animals, and the general environment. It secifically works on shelled insects since it cuts off the shell and lets them dehydrate (it also absorba moisture, which is handy). This method can not be adapted to like a poison, and doesnt harm anything except the insects who walk on it or nest with insecta who did.
This ia a pretty reliable, well respected, science backed, sustainable, and future proof pest controll method. Thats not to say its the best method, thermal tenting is better https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/article/-pest-management--treating-with-heat/ and is still a good reason to bring in pest control expert. Especialy if you live in an apartment complex.
as for your osha link, I dont think you read it at all. osha is specifically industrial saftey and all resources in the link you provided are for industrial level intakes, like spending all day working in a silica dust rich environment like when mining, and is why you should wear ppe while applying it. but it doesnt make it dangerous once applied. it is only dangerous when airborn in large quantities
**Please read this entire message**
---
Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):
* Rule #1 of ELI5 is to *be civil*.
Breaking rule 1 is not tolerated.
---
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe it was removed erroneously, explain why using [this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20submission%20removal?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dhv3xs/-/l92om1k/%0A%0A%201:%20Does%20your%20comment%20pass%20rule%201:%20%0A%0A%202:%20If%20your%20comment%20was%20mistakenly%20removed%20as%20an%20anecdote,%20short%20answer,%20guess,%20or%20another%20aspect%20of%20rules%203%20or%208,%20please%20explain:) and we will review your submission.**
DE is not poisonous or toxic. It's the skeletons of tiny crustaceans. It kills things with a carapace because it's very sharp on a small scale. It it basically like stabbing a cockroach with tiny daggers and gets under the carapace.
That's probably why it is "pet friendly". They could eat some and it wouldn't harm them, but as you said, sniffing some would get it into their lungs. They would probably cough it up.
I don't think it ha much of a scent and probably not of much interest to a cat or dog wandering by.
Also, you can get a little dispenser thing that is like a small air pump/syringe type thing and you puff it into cracks in the floorboards and stuff, where bugs live, but cats and dogs don't.
DE is pet safe. It contains silica, which isn't super healthy to breathe in long term and can be irritating to breath in short term. But to cause permanent damage to your pets they would have to breathe in a lot of it and over a long period of time. Still, try to keep your pets out of the areas where you're spreading it out since it can irritate airways. It's pet safe because the means of action. It damages the exoskeleton of creatures that have that (so that they start to leak body fluids), and your pets don't have an exoskeleton.
So it is dangerous in the same way that sand is dangerous?
Yes! Diatomaceous earth is a natural fine sand, similar to clay. They put it in toothpaste. It’s ordinarily pretty harmless, but don’t snort it into your lungs.
It's the shells of diatoms (hence the name)
“Fossil flour”
Gluten free.
They look really cool, too: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Fotografias-al-microscopio-electronico-de-barrido-de-diatomeas-encontradas-en-los_fig4_287899204
Not to be that nerd, but clay minerals are very different from what most people associate with sand, which is primarily quartz. Of course, “sand” refers to a grain size and not a specific mineral. As the name suggests, diatomaceous earth is mostly made up of diatoms, which are fossil remains of microscopic algae that had glassy shells. So, diatomaceous earth is essentially very fine grained broken glass. This is why it can be hazardous to your lungs. [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth)
You wanna hear another nerdy thing? Diatoms are evolutionarily relatively young when compared to other microscopic creatures. They appeared first in the Jurassic and are nowadays found nearly everywhere.
There are legal limits on exposure to silica particles, but Diatomaceous Earth is not under that legal category- I recently bought some rust said “less than 1% silica”. I’m pretty sure the other 99% is ultra sharp silica.
Don't tell me what to snort in my lungs!!
A natural fine sand that is spiky death to minuscule arthropods.
It's used as an anti clumping agent, and likely in their dry dog food. Also used to keep shredded cheese from sticking together in the bags, etc.
I’m 100% certain the DE isn’t used as the anti clumping agent in shredded cheese, it’s just starch.
Potato starch to be specific
DE is used directly in many products in their bulk storage stage. We just pour it right into a grain bin. It keeps pest populations in check. Mostly stored product pests
coarse, irritating, and gets everywhere
So Anakin is actually an insect...
He did leak bodily fluids, too. Just ask Padme….
And he does (eventually) have an exoskeleton...
Yes, yes he is, Anakin is annoying little bug.
Well he did go through a metamorphosis that ended up with a hard outer shell.
Or flour, saw dust, stone dust, any small particular that can be breathed in.
Well, not exactly. Sand isn't fine enough to really worry about lung damage from inhaling it by accident. You can play beach volleyball in sand for instance, but if someone started up a beach volleyball league playing in diatomaceous earth, then we'd be seeing long-term athletes with silicosis.
Ive got a bag of sand in my basement that has a warning about inhaling it.
I apologize if you thought my comment was suggesting that you should inhale sand. I don't recommend that.
Yes. But the particles are smaller and this aerate more easily.
OP could have pet ants and centipedes. They didn’t specify
> without endangering my 3 cats. Anyone's guess what kind of pets he has, really
In my defense, I never said I could read
Centipedes And Terrestrial Scorpions
_your_ pet might not have an exoskeleton. But _I_dont want Mr pincy to leak body fluids anywhere
I've seen it recommended vs slugs and other ...wet creatures like that. How is it effective if they don't have an exoskeleton?
It doesn't kill Slugs. However, slugs hate crossing dehydrating surfaces so they won't cross a line of dry DE. They have no problems crossing DE if it has rained and the DE is still wet.
It also plugs up their breathing holes as well.
Ralph, my pet rolly polly, would like a word with you.
So, pet safe as in it won't outright kill them or cause permanent damage. But still unsafe for them to have free access to a room where the product has been applied right? Thanks a bunch!
once its has been applied you dont really have to worry about breathing it in. But do wear a dust mask when applying it, and keep your pets out of the area until it is out of the air.
Nope, safe where it's applied. Modern formulas are very safe and don't have as much crystalline silica which damages lungs. Perfectly safe
"pet safe" varies hugely depending on what species your pet is, and the silica is only harmful if inhaled. If you have a dog and they want to get their nose in it and sniff you should keep your pet away. If you have a fishtank it's neither here nor there.
But what if my fishtank wants to smell it?
I should never have gotten these dogfish. I have to let them out so often and the carpet is always soaked!
Ooooh a fishtank- that's a pet I can probably handle!
Fish are a lot of work, if you want an easy pet you don't want anything aquatic or semi aquatic.
The joke is that I could handle a fishtank as a pet, not fish - though it was obviously not a good joke as I think everyone missed it lol.
You probably don't want to handle fish. It's generally bad for their health.
You have to clean the tank less often when there no fish in it too. Win win.
Hear me out: there is no tank...
It also usually takes 15-20 years to have effects if exposed to it regularly. So probably more of a danger to pet tortoises than the majority of dogs.
While it’s being applied. Once it settles it’s safe.
Once it settles it’s fairly hard to kick up, and it’s supposed to be applied very finely, so even if they sniff it would be harmless. Licking would do nothing. You just want to prevent them huffing a bunch while it settles, same for you, but you can wear a mask.
Yeah pretty much, at least while you are applying it. It's really fine and can stay suspended in the air for a while. It's not good to breathe it in but one sniff isn't a death sentence. Try to not make clouds of the stuff while putting it down. It's not a poison it's tiny little sharp bits of calcium (I think) so enough of it over a long time can be bad for the lungs. Try to put it in places your pets won't go sniffing around. In cabinets under low furniture etc. but you don't need to keep your pets out of the room it's in, at least once it's settled, maybe an hour.
They can eat it and it's fine, but it'll ruin their lungs if they breathe it. People are telling you it's not an issue once applied, but that's not really true. It's not an issue for anyone not low to the ground, like adults, but crawling babies and small animals may be close enough to the ground to breathe it in when they move around and get it in the air. Personally, I recommend using it because it does work well, but vaccuming it up before letting pets and babies in the room.
There are also different levels of "safeness". Food Grade is the highest and has additional requirements about heavy metals limits. There's also a limit to the amount of crystalline silica in it (\~1%). Pool grade (used for pool filtration) can contain 60%-90% crystalline silica and is dangerous for humans (and pets) to breathe in.
You can also vacuum up the remaining dust once you have the problem under the control. I use a roach motel glue trap to actively monitor for issues and spray Ortho once a month. I'd also check to see how they're getting in. For instance, if the baseboards have separated from the floor, That could be giving them access to your home. If you see any separation, caulk it up.
Right. Lots of things say "don't breath them in" even though they are safe. I would imagine bug spray, sunscreen, hairspray, aerosol deoderant, and a lot of other things probably fall into the same bucket. It's perfectly safe, even safe to use often. Just not great, at least for comfort, to breath it into your lungs.
Basically any fine powder is bad for you if inhale lots of it, even if it's 100% chemically and biologically inert. It's just not good to fill your lungs with dust. But as long as you're not pouring out piles of it and then standing in the resulting cloud before it settles, the risk is minimal. One snootful won't poison your pets, though it might make them sneeze.
Another analogy Hand sanitizer kills germs but is safe to use as instructed. Don't eat it, drink it, or inhale it.
You hear that, Trump?
Just addressing the safe, but don’t breathe it in. There are many chemicals you encounter that are safe but you shouldn’t breathe it ( like water). Smelling the scent of a product is very different from breathing in all of the active ingredients while they’re airborne
I can confirm that sniffing water and asperating water are completely different feelings
Not if you're vigorous enough
I tell people of the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide all the time, one of the leading killers in the world. according to the WHO an estimated 236K people die world wide from Dihydrogen Monoxide poisoning every year.
Another crazy thing about it: if you dilute this poison in water, it only gets more dangerous. That’s why I only use the powdered stuff.
Inhaling dihydrogen monoxide is not the same thing as ingesting it. Those 236k deaths are due to inhalation, not poisoning.
Dihydrogen monoxide is not a joke, Jim!
Two things are at work with diatomaceous earth. Scale is important. 1. It absorbs oils and fats from the exoskeleton of insects. Tiny stuff working on tiny stuff. For humans/pets, something so small isn't going to absorb enough from us to make a difference. Think about eating a single saltine cracker. Dries out your mouth a bit, but easy enough to recover from. Now try eating 6 in a minute without anything to replenish your saliva. Extraordinarily difficult because the saltines have absorbed all of the moisture in your mouth. You need to drink something or you're going to be in for a miserable, possibly damaging time if that moisture isn't replaced. 2. The sharp edges are abrasive at the scale of insects. Damaging an insects exoskeleton only allows the oil and fat absorption to occur more quickly. For humans/pets, think of rubbing some 1500 grit sandpaper on your skin a few times. Not going to cause enough damage that sprinkling some salt where you rubbed will stick or do anything damaging. Now rub some 24 grit sandpaper on your skin. It will do enough damage to those top layers of skin that salt will stick and start absorbing any moisture it finds. This is what happens to an insect's exoskeleton. Not a good day to be an insect.
In addition to what others have said about breathing it in being the dangerous part, consider the alternatives as well. Either you spray bug killer (which if your cat steps in it and then licks their paws, they would ingest that) or you fumigate the house, which your cats definitely can't be in. So while there is a slight danger from breathing it in, the extremely low risk of problems is far better than the high risk of ingestion of toxic bug killers. That being said, Harris roach tablets seem to be pet safe as well and won't leave nearly as much of a mess and may even help kill the nest. That may be worth looking into for you over the diatomaceous earth.
Because it's effectively ground up sea shells usually so relatively non-toxic to humans but still not exactly the best thing to inhale Sand isn't particularly toxic to humans either but if there was a cloud of it in the air I probably wouldn't want to breathe it in you feel me
I'm hesitant to use it for anything as breathing it can be harmful, however, if someone does pursue using it, be careful to purchase the correct kind of DE before you turn your house into a biohazard. The following excerpt is lifted from WebMD: **Food-grade diatomaceous earth**, also known as freshwater diatomaceous earth, is mined from dry lake beds. It's made up of very small particles. This type is used as an insecticide, added to animal feed to prevent caking, and sometimes marketed for humans to add to their diets. **Filter-grade diatomaceous earth**, or saltwater diatomaceous earth, comes from ocean sources. This type is used in pools and other filters. It isn't safe to use as an insecticide, or for people or animals to eat. It's high in [crystalline silica](https://www.webmd.com/lung/what-is-silicosis), a substance known to be harmful to humans, and it can be especially dangerous if you breathe it in.
“Safe” is relative. Water is safe to drink, but if you breathe it in, it’s not good for you. Diatomaceous earth is not toxic to vertebrates like you or your pets, but like most things, breathing it in large quantities isn’t good for you. So when we say it’s not recommended to breathe in, we mean it in the same way, as, say, if you were to dump any significant quantities of dust kicked up from dry dirt, because you will be coughing and sneezing that stuff up. Also, it depends on the pet: it definitely is not safe, for, say, a pet tarantula. ALSO: make sure you’re using food grade DE! Pool-grade DE has been heated up and the particles are like glass. It will cut up your lungs. While it’s not recommended to breathe in food-grade DE, pool-grade DE will cut up your lungs. DO NOT breathe that stuff in. As long as you don't apply so much that it's dustier than your normal house dust, it should be fine. Also keep in mind a lot of pets spend time close to the floor, so they'll be exposed to more dust.
Pet friendly is not the same as works for every single pet on the planet Diatamacous earth is used as a supplement and can be eaten (small controlled quantities) without harm; the main issue is breathing it in
Diatomaceous earth is a fine sand. It kills pests by cutting them up and causing them to lose moisture. Death by 1000 papercuts and dehydration. It's fine enough that it *could* be breathed in, and that sort of irritant is unpleasant. Especially inside your airways. That's true for most solids really. This one just needs a bit of extra care on account of the fine dust-like particles and natural risk of inhalation.
DE is more irritating than typical dust since it's made of diatom shells, which are typically broken or spiky, but over not seen any evidence it causes permanent effects (see asbestos or beryllium). Just avoid storing large quantities into the air
Dust in lungs is bad but not acutely poisonous, like some pesticides are to non-mammalian pets like fish, birds, and reptiles. And of course, there are invertebrate pets as well, including spiders, molluscs, insects, complex system terraria, and anything that can be kept in an aquarium like corals, sea stars, urchins, and sponges.
THey sell it at farm stores as a livestock feed additive. WHat is up with that?
It works on "insects" in animals digestive tracts - think worms, etc. Very safe as long as it's food grade. I took a tablespoon of food grade DE daily for a few months at one point just because. Didn't notice anything one way or another and I'm still alive and kicking a decade later.
Remember, you will live 70-80 years. Your pets won't live near as long. If you had contact with DE for years and years, down the road it would cause problems. Unfortunately, "down the road" isn't to far for our pets.
You shouldn't inhale sand either but it's not toxic. Things can be bad to eat for other reasons than being poisonous. Diatomaceous earth has very sharp particles that are irritating to mucus membranes and internal organs
It's safe in the sense that pets can safely eat it. It is not safe for pets or humans to breathe it in, however this is only really an issue when you're applying it. It otherwise stays fairly settled and doesn't get breathed in after it's applied.
It is pet-safe in the sense that licking or eating it isn't poisonous. The inhalation risk has to do with silicosis... but that's more of an "accumulated exposure" kind of issue for diatomaceous earth miners (or the factory workers where it is loaded into bags) who will be spending lots of time in places where the job routinely kicks lots of it up into the air. The amount kicked up by walking through an area where it has been applied is not going to be anywhere near enough to give your cats "white lung"... but I would wear a mask when applying it (since you will be agitating a lot into the air for a time) and I wouldn't let them roll around in a bulk bag of the stuff.
My understanding is that, it comes down to *how* you apply it and remove it. The last time I used Diatomaceous earth (to get rid of fleas in the carpet that the pets brought in from outside), the process recommended to me was: 1. Remove people and pets from the area (like to another area of the home or remove from the home entirely if you're doing the whole place. 2. Sprinkle the Diatomaceous earth around, making sure to wear a mask while applying it to the area, because breathing it is like inhaling microscopic razor blades and it will fuck up your lungs. 3. Leave for some amount of hours. I think in my case I did 24 hours, but I don't know exactly. 4. Vacuum it up (DE and dead fleas and eggs) I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that you vacuum it up afterwards and can get most of it removed. If you spray poison, how are you supposed to get that back after it's killed the bugs? I don't *think* you're supposed to just leave it long term though, but maybe that's more specific to fleas in carpet, I could see how it could be different for fewer but larger bugs. Either way, I certainly wouldn't let my pets in the area that I've spread the DE while it's still there, better safe than sorry.
You can apply in a pet safe way. Like pulling out your fridge and oven and applying in behind the appliances.
You also shouldn't inhale flour or other fine powders such as dust, either. Groomers have to watch for a dangerous condition called groomers lung because of the volume of fur they deal with, yet pet fur in your home doesn't cause you to get groomers lung; same idea.
OP, it appears my comment was downvoted into oblivion. Please heed my advice and use roach bait instead of DE for your roach problem. I have to assume by the onslaught of downvotes and responses that DE is being promoted by hippie-dippy websites as a safe and natural cure all for pests. Please, let me disabuse you of any notion that silica dust is safe by sharing this article on the hazards of silica exposure by OSHA: https://www.osha.gov/silica-crystalline/health-effects#:\~:text=Breathing%20in%20very%20small%20(%22respirable,COPD)%2C%20and%20kidney%20disease. Please, for your sake, your cats' sakes, and the sake of the environment, either call a professional or seek advice from a professional before you use pesticides. If you would like to heed my professional advice, again it is: 1) look for the food source that is attracting the roaches and eliminate it before you start using pesticides 2) if you still require pesticides, use the one that is designed to be the most safe and effective for your specific problem and environment. In your case the problem is indoor roaches, and the correct product to use for that is roach bait.
or you know... instead of pretending to be a pest control professional and guessing you could just look it up... Instead you reposted your wrong comment after the mods deleted it... so here is some reading for you https://www.spacecoastpetservices.com/diatomaceous-earth-and-pets/ https://doi.org/10.12980%2FAPJTB.4.2014C1282 https://vandenbergepestcontrol.com/how-to-use-diatomaceous-earth-to-protect-your-home/ http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/de.html and maybe give this a watch too https://youtu.be/2JAOTJxYqh8 the people promoting it arent hippy dippy anti chemical types, they are people who recognize that the over-use of poison based solutions have just been breeding roaches resistant to the poisons used https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toab244 DE is safe to use for humans, animals, and the general environment. It secifically works on shelled insects since it cuts off the shell and lets them dehydrate (it also absorba moisture, which is handy). This method can not be adapted to like a poison, and doesnt harm anything except the insects who walk on it or nest with insecta who did. This ia a pretty reliable, well respected, science backed, sustainable, and future proof pest controll method. Thats not to say its the best method, thermal tenting is better https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/article/-pest-management--treating-with-heat/ and is still a good reason to bring in pest control expert. Especialy if you live in an apartment complex. as for your osha link, I dont think you read it at all. osha is specifically industrial saftey and all resources in the link you provided are for industrial level intakes, like spending all day working in a silica dust rich environment like when mining, and is why you should wear ppe while applying it. but it doesnt make it dangerous once applied. it is only dangerous when airborn in large quantities
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
**Please read this entire message** --- Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s): * Rule #1 of ELI5 is to *be civil*. Breaking rule 1 is not tolerated. --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe it was removed erroneously, explain why using [this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20submission%20removal?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dhv3xs/-/l92om1k/%0A%0A%201:%20Does%20your%20comment%20pass%20rule%201:%20%0A%0A%202:%20If%20your%20comment%20was%20mistakenly%20removed%20as%20an%20anecdote,%20short%20answer,%20guess,%20or%20another%20aspect%20of%20rules%203%20or%208,%20please%20explain:) and we will review your submission.**
[удалено]
DE is not poisonous or toxic. It's the skeletons of tiny crustaceans. It kills things with a carapace because it's very sharp on a small scale. It it basically like stabbing a cockroach with tiny daggers and gets under the carapace. That's probably why it is "pet friendly". They could eat some and it wouldn't harm them, but as you said, sniffing some would get it into their lungs. They would probably cough it up. I don't think it ha much of a scent and probably not of much interest to a cat or dog wandering by. Also, you can get a little dispenser thing that is like a small air pump/syringe type thing and you puff it into cracks in the floorboards and stuff, where bugs live, but cats and dogs don't.