Destroy Pests with Borax
By Ann Cathey
Photo: © Cynthi Kovach / Dreamstime
 Boric acid, or borax powder, is a simple and clean solution to many bug problems around the house. Boric acid is often used to dry flowers for keepsakes. This same dehydration process can also work to your advantage with fleas and ants.
Flea eggs are tiny, and will fall from any infected animals into your carpets and into the cracks on hardwood or linoleum floors. Dusting your carpets and floors with borax, allowing it to stand in place for a couple of hours, then sweeping and vacuuming, can help to prevent those eggs from hatching.
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In most cases with carpet, the powder will sink into the fibers and below into the foam pad beneath. This allows the dehydration to become even more effective on eggs that have slipped through the weave. It will not harm your carpet, either. When you have your carpets cleaned, the borax will actually help clean them. If you use borax on washable carpets, you may simply throw them into the wash after treatment. The borax will act as an additional cleaning agent.
Sprinkle borax along ant trails in your yard or along your porch and along the entrances and exits to your home. This will retard the growth of ant colonies and generally kill many of the workers.
In any case, be sure to keep small children and pets away from direct contact with borax. Borax that is in your carpet is no more harmful than any carpet refreshing powder (which often contain borax), but direct contact, such as a pet licking it off your porch, would be harmful. |
