is diatomaceous earth safe?

experto

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Im using diatomaceous earth to prevent ants in my tarantula room. I was wondering if diatomaceous earth safe for tarantula? is there any alternative i can use to prevent ants?
 

DaveM

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Im using diatomaceous earth to prevent ants in my tarantula room. I was wondering if diatomaceous earth safe for tarantula? is there any alternative i can use to prevent ants?
Absolutely not. Do not use it with your spiders.

Maintain decent cage hygiene, removing dead prey items, food boluses, etc.
Keep ants out with myriad methods, all of them applied well outside of your spider cages (e.g. baits in corners of your room, borax / sodium borate and/or ant gels if they are kept far away from your spiders, etc.).
What kills ants usually kills spiders too. For example, do not use ant spray anywhere near your spider room.
 
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Dr Kevin W

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i am not sure about the safety of diatomaceous earth for tarantulas. It’s inert but I wouldn’t use it en actual enclosures or if ants enter the enclosures. I had issues with concrete ants this summer in my invert room. These have multiple queens so they can be hard to eradicate. I used Terro indoor ant traps which are basically just sugar water with Boric acid or Borax. It worked really well. You can get them at Lowe’s, Home Dept, Walmart and Amazon. the ants carry it back to the nest and it kills the queens nd colony but seems pretty safe as far as options.
 

l4nsky

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Absolutely not! Diatomaceous earth will kill your tarantulas and it doesn't even have to be eaten, it just has to get on them. IMHO, you need to CAREFULLY remove it from your tarantula room (ie don't vigorously sweep and make it go airborne) before any other step is taken. You've unintentionally went from the frying pan to the fire here.
 

kingshockey

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Im using diatomaceous earth to prevent ants in my tarantula room. I was wondering if diatomaceous earth safe for tarantula? is there any alternative i can use to prevent ants?
find where they are getting in from then use vaseline or caulking to seal the access point up. if they are getting in from like a wall outlet i have used food grade de powder amazon sells bags with a dispener thing to spray into the wall(vacuum the excess) of my living room kitchen area.with summer heat though its best to get the ants outside since they are always looking for food and water along with a way in to share your food and water
 

ladyratri

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We use diatomaceous earth OUTSIDE the house, to create a barrier around the foundation especially near the garage apron where there are lots of cracks and sneaky ant hiding places. This has cut back dramatically on the number of ants that make it inside our house, to the point where we no longer need to put ant baits all over, and honestly keeps my T room much safer than using anything indoors probably would.

As always, having anything that kills any invertebrate on your property anywhere...it's wise to wash hands thoroughly before doing any feeding or enclosure maintenance.
 

IntermittentSygnal

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I seal all food not in the fridge in plastic baggies and only ever have scouts. For the T’s and feeders, I put the legs of their shelves in mini moats. If you search “Ants” on this forum, there are many, many threads on methods.
 

Kada

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No.

If your spiders are too big to eat ants, boric acid traps are very effective for ants and kill them at their source (within thebcolony), unlike DE.
 

darkness975

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Im using diatomaceous earth to prevent ants in my tarantula room. I was wondering if diatomaceous earth safe for tarantula? is there any alternative i can use to prevent ants?
It is not safe for you, nevermind the tarantulas. If it gets in your eyes or nose you are going to be in dire straits.

For ants I use Terro liquid ant bait.
 

viper69

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Im using diatomaceous earth to prevent ants in my tarantula room. I was wondering if diatomaceous earth safe for tarantula? is there any alternative i can use to prevent ants?
You can’t use it in contact with Ts!!

DE isn’t that effective generally speaking.

Your best bet is to identify why they are coming around, and eliminate the source if that’s possible.
 

Ultum4Spiderz

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Ant traps and powder /spray outside my house did nothing to kill ants . Keeping sweets hidden is our way of defeating ants. And keeping feeders in spots they won’t invade. Never use toxins in your t room.
 

Gevo

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TheraMygale

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Its not safe in your enclosures or near them, aka the shelves.

if ants are going in your enclosure and they have the dust on them, thats not safe either.

i use ant poison and traps in the house but i am aware of risks and have a system. I spary outside the doors and windows too.

the ants dont make it to enclosure. But when spring arrives, the ants make it close to the walls of the tarantulas.

i dont spray there.
 
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