# diatomaceous earth



## KIPPY (Dec 18, 2003)

I was curious to know, does anyone know if local store chains carry diatomaceous earth?
I think I checked Walmart before and they did not have it. I checked Home Depot online and they did not have it.
I have creepy crawlys and they are driving me crazy. Mainly those little guys that roll up into a ball. Not sure if they are dangerous to the birds but there seems to be more then usual. I'm not into killing anything but this is out of hand.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Kippy, call your local Health Food Stores, they will probably have food grade
on hand. Another source would be the Pigeon Supply Houses in the Resource
Section, many of them carry this product as well.

fp


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

I think you are describing pill bugs or sow bugs - http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/sow_bugs.htm. That page mentions that, "...A perimeter pesticide spray may help break the cycle for a short time but will not eliminate the problem permanently. Remember, if you don't solve the moisture problem, the bugs will return no matter what chemicals you use, or how much you use them..."

Since damp conditions are bad for pigeons, resolving the moisture problem will help on both counts.


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## KIPPY (Dec 18, 2003)

Looks like the pill bug.

The only problem I have is I'm always hosing off the concrete because the ferals are pooping all over the place (concrete, patio funiture, whatever can be hit will be hit). Then I have my sprinklers that go on at night so the whatever can get into the ground before it evaporates. It doesn't saturate the concrete but does hit it slightly.

I recently hosed down the patio and the only part that is damp on the cage is the four corners, the sides are off the concrete. I wonder if I saturated the corners with vinegar/ACV, not sure if the bugs would like that. It's an open cage not a loft style cage.

I know Foy's carries it, I know I saw it some where around here awhile back. Where? I don't remember.

I guess they serve purpose but I would perfer they do it out in the back yard some where.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Kippy, a friend told me that many garden centers and stores like Home Depot and Lowes carry this.

There was a recent thread about this.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=19998


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Flitsnowzooms was mentioning that it was probably better to use the food grade DE, and assuming this is correct which it probably is, I think your best
source would be a health food store for that unless specifically stated on the
package. I know about the food grade quality, and to tell you the truth,
I'm not sure which it is that the Pigeon Supply Houses carry.

fp


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Kippy, 



The Pill Bugs will not harm the Birds in any way, nor carry anything which would harm them...and are in fact an asset for healthy Detritis and Soils and so on.


But as others have mentioned, your Bird's accomidations need to be dry and well aired, and even Sunny sometimes if possible, conditions which in themselves will cause the Pill Bugs to seek other shadowy and damp places to forrage or gambol and pass their time.

And if a few amble around to munch on poops, that is just fine, and is merely how things are in Nature, and is not a problem for anyone in any way.


Good luck..!


Pill
Las Vehas


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## Cricket (Sep 1, 2005)

I bought D.Earth from either Jedds or Foys.


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## KIPPY (Dec 18, 2003)

I think I may just leave those little guys alone since they don't cause any health issues. I have geckos that hang out on my patio also and I wouldn't want to lose any of those guys. There was not alot of pill bugs I just noticed a couple here and there and on some poop. It was the only time I notice it and it kinda freaked me out I guess.

The cage gets sun on the side during part of the day and sun on the back side later in the day. I live in Arizona things dry pretty quick here. My house faces east so I get alot of sun back there at the hottest part of the day.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

*Sow bugs and pill bugs*

Kippy,

I use diatomaceous earth (food grade) which I bought at a pharmacy here in Germany, to control cockroaches inside the house (along with boric acid mixed with corn starch). Haven't had the little pests for a long time. I do have some silverfish recycling some old paperbacks from the 1960s and 1970s. 

Diatomaceous earth can damage insects perceived as useful, along with the perceived pests. 

I feel less and less inclined to interfere with natural processes by using insecticides and biocides, other than to use medications on myself and the pigeons I encounter who need help. 

If you remove one type of waste material reprocessor (such as pill bugs) you may wind up with a less desirable type. Get rid of spiders, and have something worse. When I had small ants go after spilled soda water and bits of hamburger on my drainboard in Texas back in the 1970s, I had no cockroaches. I knew that if I got rid of the ants, I would have cockroaches. I lived in an old wooden duplex, and conditions were generally subtropic at the time. Had exotic flowers growing at the kitchen doorstep. 

So, no pill bugs, then maybe some species of undesirable fungi, molds. Aspergillosis, and whatever. (Maybe not. I'm not an expert. Just speculating).

I used to spend a lot of time studying insects in nature. Ants, pill bugs, wasps, worms, doodle-bugs, scorpions, spiders, tarantulas, cockroaches, everything. Used to pull the legs off pill bugs, or rolly-polys. No more. They are very fascinating creatures.

Now I study pigeon poop, and what makes it. 

Larry


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

Larry_Cologne said:


> .
> 
> I used to spend a lot of time studying insects in nature. Ants, pill bugs, wasps, worms, doodle-bugs, scorpions, spiders, tarantulas, cockroaches, everything. Used to pull the legs off pill bugs, or rolly-polys. No more. They are very fascinating creatures.
> 
> ...


I've always loved roly-poleys. They remind me of trilobites, one of my favorite fossil tribes of animals. We didn't get them much in my part of Texas (Amarillo) because it was too dry and they weren't fond of caliche which is what passed for dirt around our house  but we used to play a form of croquet with them _ala_ the _Alice in Wonderland _croquet game with the hedgehogs except we'd just ping roly-poleys along with our fingernails. We used toothpicks for the end stakes. They (roly-poleys) always tired of the game very quickly and would sneak off as fast as they could. When you're 10, the dirt world is so full of wonder  .


Kippy, if you do go w/the diatomaceous earth, it won't harm the geckos as the siliceous skeletons of the diatoms are so tiny, but it will affect the invertebrates that do ingest it. I wouldn't put it down unless your loft is being visited by unsavory characters like cockroaches that are real disease vectors.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

oh dear, Larry I do wish you hadn't mentioned about the legs!  Thank goodness you have seen the evil of your ways...

BTW, those ants in Texas, were they light red, what we called "sugar" ants?? Those red ants had a very strong ant "acid" smell that reminds me of Bleu Cheese, which I can't stand to this day. No one believes me and thinks I'm nuts!  

Have not seen pill bugs in AGES...we called 'em "doodle bugs." 

Good heavens, FSZ...sure am glad those bugs were well "protected."

I always thought that Armadillos were quite fascinating.

AND, we have LOTS of Caliche here in AZ! I think the whole state is one big mass!

Shi
also a "Texan"...originally


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## KIPPY (Dec 18, 2003)

*I will let them live!*

but I may put that stuff around the door jambs. They do find there way in the house at times and end up dead anyway. They are kinda cute but annoying when they get in the way. I try to avoid stepping on them but if I do they make a creepy popping sound. 

I thought maybe they may cause problems for the pijes but since they don't I won't worry about it. I just don't really care for them around the pijes or my dog. Kinda like when my dog is laying in the grass I worry about he ants, they get pretty bad in the summertime.


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