Yes, the powder cuts their exoskeleton and they perish from dehydration. It sounds like an awful way to go, but I'll do it if that's what it takes to keep them out of my kitchen.
As for diatomaceous earth, it works best in dry places. If it gets wet they can walk right over it without issue, or it will just wash away in the rain. It's also an ingredient in toothpaste and is included in animal feed to allegedly kill parasites. The research on that seems to be propped up by those invested in selling the stuff, though, so take that with a grain of salt.
Nature is really quite incredible. This blew my mind when I saw it, and it unravels a lot of the mystery behind ant locomotion: https://i.imgur.com/7Zh6Im5.gif -- It's so simple, but it works amazingly well.
Re:Let us now praise tiny ants
by ASalazarMX on Tuesday April 13, 2021 @01:12PM
(#26795579)
> mystery behind ant locomotion: https://i.imgur.com/7Zh6Im5.gif
This is awesome. They walk like us, but instead of two legs they use two tripods.
We use DE in our chicken coops as a treatment against mites.
Do you know why they are averse to diatomaceous earth? They are so small I would not have thought they would experience a tactile aversion to a material. Nature is so neat.
Edit: I see now. It's not an aversion. It sticks to them and get into their joints. Interesting.