Carapace failure materials - for bugs that need a leak. FYI - I have used Boric Acid crystals (needle-like things) for that purpose since I returned to Alpine in 1972 with a refrigerator from Austin, that also brought along a seed population of German Cockroaches. I hauled them in Terry Raines' old stock trailer (overloaded, of course), whose axle fell off shortly after we got to the hill country -- but that is yet another story.
Boric Acid crystals work even better than diatomaceous earth . I still have a pint canister. Bought 25 pounds at some rediculuous low price in Austin. I think from a chemical supply house - that was the smallest quantity they would sell to me. I claimed some sort of University research, if I remember correctly. It used to be sold at 500x the price as "Roach Prufe", which I think you can still buy for about $5 a pound. I think I saw it at Ace Hdwr. That should be cheap enough even for cavers. DirtDoc ----- Original Message ----- From: "Louise Power" <power_lou...@hotmail.com> in your home you can use diatomaceous earth to kill ants among other insects. It's not toxic to humans or pets, but it is to things like ants, weevils (they use it in grain silos), fleas, silverfish, etc. It abrades the carapace and they "bleed" to death. I use it at my doors and window sills along with ground cinnamon. I also stir up ant hills and cover them with DE. Ants won't cross cinnamon and they just flip over in DE turn their legs up to the sky and get little Xs in their eyes." If anyone else is interested, I can recommend a website. Louise