Flea killer asked 8 years ago
In an effort to not use pesticides, we are using a combination of borax, salt, and diatomaceous earth. We have treated our cat with flea drops and are vacuuming at least every other day. Is there any research to show that our method will be successful?
Adam Retzer Staff answered 8 years ago
Hi there! I apologize for the late response. I’ve been redesigning the website and am running into issues.
Your method should work well. The flea drops alone will be enough to end the infestation. Environmental treatments will just make the extermination process more rapid.
Vacuuming
Vacuuming every other day is the most effective thing you’re doing with the environment. Eggs drop constantly from infested pets. The eggs hatch in around 2 days. By vacuuming every other day, you are removing the eggs from the carpets before they hatch into larvae. And eggs are much easier to remove from carpets than larvae.
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth (DE) may help the eradication process by killing emerging adults and possibly larvae. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much research done with fleas and diatomaceous earth. However, there has been a wealth of research done with other insects. DE works through its powerful absorptive properties. It removes the outer layer of cuticle wax/oil from insects, and causes them to desiccate.
Borax
Borax is effective at killing larvae. I haven’t researched this in-depth as of yet. However, here’s a snippet from the journal article Biorational Approaches to Flea Suppression: Present and Future:
Borates and stomach toxicants. Borate products also have been demonstrated to be effective larvicides at low rates (Hinkle et al. 1995b). They have additional benefits of long residual efficacy and low mammalian toxicity. Applicantions of 5% and 10% disodium octaborate solutions with a standard rental carpet cleaning machine to carpets provided >90% kill of larvae for at least 56 d (Rust & Reierson, unpublished data). Applied in such a way as to contaminate the flea larval food, borates serve as a type of poison bait; formulated in a food matrix, the rate of toxicant could probably be decreased (Klotz et al. 1994).
Salt
Applying salt to the carpets doesn’t have much effect. Though often suggested as a natural flea control method, I haven’t found any credible sources saying that it has a noticeable effect when applied to carpets.
I’ve answered the salt question before, and in more depth. You can find it here:
Will salt act the same as DE on a flea?
Hope this helps!
Adam
