Silica dusts are especially useful as crack and crevice treatments for bed bugs, in food handling areas for cockroaches and nuisance ants, and as wall void treatments for carpenter ants. While diatomaceous earth is sometimes suggested as a carpet treatment for fleas (flea killer) there are much better materials now available for flea control. The most common amorphous silica-based products used for pest control are the products "Drione" and "Tri-Die".
Boric acid & borates
Borates are the sodium salts of boric acid. Borates are minerals and have a wide variety of industrial uses as additives, wood preservatives, insecticides, plant nutrients, and detergents. Borates act mainly as "stomach poisons" when formulated in baits for ant and cockroach control or used as dry powders or liquids on surfaces. Borate dust remains active as long as it stays dry and undisturbed.
The product Timbor, for example, is very effective for powderpost beetles and dry rot fungi as a surface spray and for carpenter ants as a wall void dust treatment. Borate powder also is used to treat carpets for fleas. However, as with diatomaceous earth, there are better materials now available for flea control.
