I think it is a good idea to read about anything you are going to use on yourself or your animals so that you understand exactly how it works and why and you can decide how you want to use it based on that info.
Diatomaceous earth is a natural occurring rock that is basically ground up fossils of algae. All it really does is pull moisture out of things. It works as a natural pesticide by pulling the moisture out of insects and killing them. That's it.
From what I have read it works the best on insects with exoskeletons but in general is effective on any land bugs -- slugs, earth worms, etc. It doesn't work when wet and is not effective on internal parasites. Medical grade not food grade is sometimes used to de-worm but even that is considered questionable by most scientists. External bugs yes. Internal bugs no.
There are several different grades and you want to make sure you are buying food grade -- not the pool stuff.
It is non toxic so feeding it to your birds or ingesting some yourself will not hurt the animal but because it sucks moisture it can cause dehydration.
As the post above says, breathing in a little isn't going to kill you but as I said before I would mix it into something else because I would not want my birds sitting in a tub of it on a regular basis flipping it up in clouds in the air while they dust bathe. It is a fine powder and any fine powder is not good in lungs. I generally wear a mask when handle it just in case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth#Pest_control
Diatomaceous earth is a natural occurring rock that is basically ground up fossils of algae. All it really does is pull moisture out of things. It works as a natural pesticide by pulling the moisture out of insects and killing them. That's it.
From what I have read it works the best on insects with exoskeletons but in general is effective on any land bugs -- slugs, earth worms, etc. It doesn't work when wet and is not effective on internal parasites. Medical grade not food grade is sometimes used to de-worm but even that is considered questionable by most scientists. External bugs yes. Internal bugs no.
There are several different grades and you want to make sure you are buying food grade -- not the pool stuff.
It is non toxic so feeding it to your birds or ingesting some yourself will not hurt the animal but because it sucks moisture it can cause dehydration.
As the post above says, breathing in a little isn't going to kill you but as I said before I would mix it into something else because I would not want my birds sitting in a tub of it on a regular basis flipping it up in clouds in the air while they dust bathe. It is a fine powder and any fine powder is not good in lungs. I generally wear a mask when handle it just in case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth#Pest_control
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