boric acid or diatomaceous earth – which is safer – esp for carpet munchers

[Adam]

I have carpet beetles and need to treat the carpets.  Which is safer to use?  They tend to try to eat my carpet when I let them out in the livingroom, which I stop as soon as I notice it… but it’s going to happen.

I may be okay with not letting them out for a long time, but hopefully not forever.  A lot of places of carpet aren’t heavily trafficked, so I doubt the powder would just go away even if it settles in a little.

So let me know what you guys think.

Thanks

[vanessa]

I assume you meant your bunnies eat the carpet? Yeesh what a predicament. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t use either. Boric acid as bad for your bunnies. Diatomaceous earth is bad for anything that breathes – including you. The tiny particles get trapped in your lungs and could cause serious problems like lung cancer. It might take 20 years for the cancer to develop, but I don’t touch the stuff. I’d focus on keepign the carpets clean. Carpet beetles eat organic matter – fur, feathers, grains, food, seeds, so I’d rather try a good weekly vacuum, and once or twice a year, steam clean the carpets. Carpets are dificult to keep clean. I plan on replacing mine sometime next year with hardwood.

[Adam]

Interesting thoughts, but because both kill a multitude of pests including the dreaded fleas, I don’t think this is the right way to think about these products.  I feel that for various mites, at some point I’m going to need to use them.

I can keep them away from the carpet for a while when needed, heck a long while even, just looking for an informed opinion on which would be less dangerous in the long run.

After more reading, it appears food grade DE should be much safer for buns, especially since mine are as large as a regular cat.  Supposedly they can ingest it without issue.  Weird how much conflicting info there is out there, but I’m pretty confident the 100% food grade is pretty safe.

[Azerane]

I wouldn’t touch boric acid in an area where the buns are going to be. Boric acid is toxic, DE is not. Diatomaceous earth can be used with care, from what I’ve read about it. Ingestion isn’t an issue, but inhalation can cause serious problems down the track. If you’re going to apply it, I would certainly do so carefully (wear a face mask and pop a sheet over the bunnies cage) and then apply to the carpet. I’d give it a couple of days to settle and then vacuum it all up before letting the bunnies out into the area again. Vacuuming will again kick up a lot of the dust so you may need to cover the cage and wear a mask while cleaning it up and perhaps let the room air out for a bit after too.

[Author]

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