I have never seen a real person make such a horrified "o.@" face as my teacher made today when I asked her after class about diatomaceous earth. We talked about diatoms in class discussion, so I went up to her afterward to poke her brain.
I mentioned to her that our landlord had wanted to bugbomb the apartment, and she completely agreed with us that it would never ever come out completely from the carpet or furniture. (The landlord had said it wasn't a big deal - just don't leave food sitting out and wipe down the counter before cooking on it again. HAH!) So I asked her about this product I had found while researching bug-killing alternatives: freshwater diatomaceous earth, as opposed to the marine variety. It purportedly was pet safe to the point where you could actually rub it on the animals to kill fleas, ticks, etc.
Then she made the great face. And flailed. It was pretty cool. ^_____^
According to her, it would be like feeding your cat shards of glass, and that she had never heard of it being a safe thing. I told her that you can buy boxes of it at the grocery store as a bug killer; it's supposed to break down their exoskeletons. But she didn't think it would work. Said that they would have to WADE through the stuff or eat large quantities of it, but that bugs aren't typically heavy enough to make a difference since they would walk over it rather than through it -- as opposed to people, who weigh more, so it would do more damage to large creatures. Boric acid was her suggested bug killer to avoid spraying.
Also, we had to read three papers last week on how antiseptics are killing the human race by creating superbugs, but the articles didn't provide alternative suggestions for cleaners. She said that instead of antiseptics, use baking soda.
In the name of SCIENCE! we need to do some empirical research. =^.^= Most websites say that the bug which crawls through diatomaceous earth will kick it within an hour or so. I say that we need to go Mythbusters on this and try it out. Professor is a zoologist, but she's also seriously crazy-pants.
I mentioned to her that our landlord had wanted to bugbomb the apartment, and she completely agreed with us that it would never ever come out completely from the carpet or furniture. (The landlord had said it wasn't a big deal - just don't leave food sitting out and wipe down the counter before cooking on it again. HAH!) So I asked her about this product I had found while researching bug-killing alternatives: freshwater diatomaceous earth, as opposed to the marine variety. It purportedly was pet safe to the point where you could actually rub it on the animals to kill fleas, ticks, etc.
Then she made the great face. And flailed. It was pretty cool. ^_____^
According to her, it would be like feeding your cat shards of glass, and that she had never heard of it being a safe thing. I told her that you can buy boxes of it at the grocery store as a bug killer; it's supposed to break down their exoskeletons. But she didn't think it would work. Said that they would have to WADE through the stuff or eat large quantities of it, but that bugs aren't typically heavy enough to make a difference since they would walk over it rather than through it -- as opposed to people, who weigh more, so it would do more damage to large creatures. Boric acid was her suggested bug killer to avoid spraying.
Also, we had to read three papers last week on how antiseptics are killing the human race by creating superbugs, but the articles didn't provide alternative suggestions for cleaners. She said that instead of antiseptics, use baking soda.
In the name of SCIENCE! we need to do some empirical research. =^.^= Most websites say that the bug which crawls through diatomaceous earth will kick it within an hour or so. I say that we need to go Mythbusters on this and try it out. Professor is a zoologist, but she's also seriously crazy-pants.
