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Boric acid works, too. In fact it works well against any insects with a shell exoskeleton, like cockroaches, ants, or termites. The boric crystal punctures thei
by ww520 3y ago
Boric acid works, too. In fact it works well against any insects with a shell exoskeleton, like cockroaches, ants, or termites. The boric crystal punctures their exoskeleton causing them to lose body fluid.
It also works against the colony as it’s a slow acting agent that the insects can bring it back to the colony. The insects communicate by touching so the powder is spread from one to the other when they rub each other’s antenna during meeting.
Boric is really cheap. A large bottle in Home Depot is about $4 to $5.
Edit: story time. My parents used to live in a mixed use condo building where the commercial ground floor had a number of restaurants. They had a bad cockroach problem. I got him a bottle of boric acid and sprayed around the pipes and corners. He never saw another cockroach again.
We had a swarming of termites outside around the house after a raining season. Called the termite guys. They came out and said it’s the subterranean termites under the ground outside and the water disturbed them. They drilled holes around the house and injected liquid solution into them. They sprayed the crawl space underneath. I asked them what the solution was. They said it’s basically boric. Oof. Their service charged $2800 and the material was boric.
- hackernewds 3y agoIsn't inhaling boric acid in indoor settings going to produce the same effect for our lungs?
- ww520 3y agoHuman and pets have soft tissue that don’t seem to be bothered by it. I meant inhaling a large amount of fine powder of any type is a problem. Boric acid seems to be pretty heavy that they’re not airborne easily. Boric acid was used in detergent, pool cleaning, eye wash, mouth rinse, toothpaste, skin treatment, and some food preparation.
- uxp8u61q 3y agoAsbestos was used everywhere, that's not proving that it's safe in any way...
- Zak 3y agoThe acute median lethal dose for boric acid in humans is estimated to be several grams per kilogram body weight, which is not very toxic. Chronic consumption in lower doses may cause kidney problems. As pesticides go, it appears to be pretty safe. It's probably a good idea to wear an N95 mask when applying it, apply it in areas where it won't be easily disturbed, and make sure it doesn't contaminate food or water.
- hackernewds 3y agonot to mention, pets sniffing it up?
- ww520 3y agoPets have soft tissue and not bothered by it. It’s a fine powder causing sanding problem for the thin exoskeleton hard shell of the insect. It might cause scratching on the nails or claws of pets but they are so thick. Edit: research suggests that consuming a large quantity of boric acid causes problems for pets or small animals.
- asvitkine 3y agoInternet suggests that it actually has to be ingested by the insects, not just have contact with their exoskeleton. So for example it doesn't work on bedbugs since they won't eat it.
- ww520 3y agoCould it be the bed bugs don’t communicate much and don’t have a central colony so the boric infection cannot be spread among them?
- joquarky 3y agoDiatomaceous earth is damaging to insect exoskeletons. Don't breathe it in though.
- esperent 3y agoI've found making my own mixtures of boric acid for ants didn't work well. I read there's two basic ant types - sugar lovers and protein lovers. So I tried a mix with peanut butter. And I tried a mix with honey. And I tried a mix with both. The ants would happily eat either peanut butter or honey by itself. But they avoided the mixtures. I did spend a couple of days trying different strengths until I ran out of boric acid. Then I gave up and bought a tiny dropper bottle of ant poison. Put a single drop on each ant trail I could see (around 5 drops total). Two days later, I didn't have an ant issue anymore.
- Projectiboga 3y agoYou're mixing up Boric acid and Diatomaceous earth. Boric acid works by the overloading the roach's weak digestive system, it also kills ants. They key is to get pure, do not get the formula with the 'attractant'. Diatomaceous earth needs to be 'food grade' there is a much more dangerous form for pool filters. But that stuff is more for out doors as a perimeter defense and maybe garages and say exterior basement stairs. Boric acid works well but the true solution to urban roaches is exhaustive sealing all your walls, baseboards, electric recepticals, any entrance of piping and weatherstripping your exterior door. I keep boric acid on my apartment door stoop. Boric acid is great in they cant evolve against it and they eat their dead so one east some and it takes out 5-10 others back in the nest. But the key is the effort to seal your walls, and I've encountered very challenging situations with metal cabinets in a friend's place. I got this experience living upstairs from an South Asian Deli in Manhattan. But I'd say I've been roach free 19 out of 20 years here. Two outbreaks, one I broke down and got an excellent exterminator, which I'd normally move heaven and earth to avoid. But we get less than about 6 per year total. as their hiding spots are death traps and we do keep our kitchen shelves and cabinets cleaned out periodically.