How to get rid of fleas with Diatomaceous Earth

• Posted on 9 August 2021
• By Louises Pet Connection
• 1

House full of fleas? Can’t seem to get rid of them? Food grade diatomaceous earth is the best natural source for ridding your life of fleas! But what is it and how can it help? 

House full of fleas? Can’t seem to get rid of them? Food grade diatomaceous earth is the best natural source for ridding your life of fleas! But what is it and how can it help? 

To start food grade diatomaceous earth, DE for short, has many uses and excellent health benefits for humans, plants, and animals. Food grade diatomaceous earth works in a purely physical/mechanical manner, not "chemical" and thus has no chemical toxicity.

But where does it come from? Diatomaceous earth (DE) is the remains of microscopic one-celled plants (phytoplankton) called diatoms that lived in the oceans and lakes that once covered the western part of the US and other parts of the world. These deposits are mined from underwater beds or from ancient dried lake bottoms thousands of years old. This means, diatomaceous earth has an unlimited shelf life provided you keep it dry.

Our diatomaceous earth is organic OMRI listed Codex Food Chemical Grade. It is a non-treated, non-calcined fresh water Diatomaceous Earth. It is mined, crushed, sifted, bagged and pure white in color. It contains less than .5% silicon. There are food grade diatomaceous earth products that are yellow or tan in color which indicates a higher iron content. Those which are gray in color contain more clay.  Natural food grade diatomaceous earth contains 15 trace minerals: calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, copper, zinc, iron, phosphorous, selenium, etc. Which means it's great for more than just killing fleas!

 But how exactly does it kill fleas? Diatomaceous earth kills anything with an exoskeleton like fleas, ticks, mites, silverfish, roaches, bedbugs, earwigs, carpet beetles, centipedes, crickets, millipedes and ants.  Diatomaceous Earth clings easily to bodies of insects as they walk or crawl over it. So what this means is when a flea walks through the DE the powder will adhere and cut into the exoskeleton of the flea which causes the insect to dehydrate and die! It works like a chemical but it’s NOT, so they cannot become immune/resistant to it like they do to a chemical. To get rid of fleas, application consists of spreading it like pepper all over your home, working it over your entire floor, under baseboards, couches, refrigerators and in all cracks and crevices.  We personally just use our hands to spread it but there are dusters available or you could even use a powdered sugar shaker. 

Because DE is a very fine powder which makes a fine dust in the air you may want to wear a mask so you don't irritate your passageways.  It is a messy product but it works.  Once you have spread it, you just leave it down. It is safe for you and your pets to walk on.  We recommend vacuuming at least every 3-5 days to stay on top of the problem.  When you think that you’ve vacuumed up all the DE put more down and when you think the pests are gone do the treatment again to make sure you get all the egg cycles! Just remember a little bit goes a long way so you don’t need a lot on the floor, one pound covers about 2400 sqft. Trust us we have used too much before and ruined our vacuum. When using DE on the inside of your home you also want to make sure to spread it around the outside as well, especially patios. After spreading the DE we also recommend using a flea comb daily! Grab a bowl of soapy water to dip your comb into to drown any fleas you might find! Also remember that DE is a drying agent so it does dry out skin and fur but as we always say get rid of the pest and deal with dry skin as you go. 

When dealing with fleas we also recommend feeding it to your pets because they will have tapeworms from the fleas and the DE will get rid of them.  Please refer to our page on consuming Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. 

So remember, spread it all over your house and leave it down.  Stay on top of it by continuing to spread it as needed to make sure you get all the egg cycles.  Let the DE do its job and enjoy a flea free home with your furry family members!