Fleas!

A very large dog and an outbreak of fleas is a major pain.

Have you seen the price of Frontline? It works, but for the price it ought to come with people to apply it and make the problem go away.

The fleas fed well on me last night....

Permethrin...comes to mind.

The house now smells of it. And various other products designed to kill larvae and eggs.

Why have they banned all the useful insecticides?

Endosulfan was wonderful stuff - even if it did make cyanide look like kid's drink. The stuff will even kill roaches - slightly slower than it kills people.

Ok use this instead!

AFAIK Raid has never been sold in the UK - I've never seen it here anyway.

I recommend hydrogen cyanide or sodium azide for roach killing. There isn't much that sodium azide won't kill.

You can get it from the bit that inflates the airbags in cars - a quick visit to a scrapyard should get you enough to kill 10,000 people let alone roaches. Just don't get rough with the stuff, like all azides it tends to go bang. Violently.

A solution of sodium azide in sugary water will see off most things - just don't leave it where anything you might wish to continue living can get to it.

And don't try to vacuum it up unless you enjoy highly toxic dust explosions.

Sodium fluoride works nearly as well in a strong solution but is harder to get.

Hey Don you can get raid in the UK

here's a website that sales it.

http://www.natcol.co.uk/product-details/Raid_ant_and_cockroach_killer_300ml/

Also Robert Dyas stock it

http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~146400~Raid+Ant+++Cockroach+Killer

Use sheep shears. :bigsmile:

No flea will survive contact with her for a month or two now. Frontline is good, but horribly expensive stuff. As for the shears...

Could do, but I think she looks better with ears...

I have shorn sheep when I was a kid - poor sheep! :(

You're right Don, she does look better with ears. ;)

Which is why I usually ended up sharpening the shears for the shearers, less damage to the livestock....

.

FLEA CONTROL without dangerous chemicals

Google

(Food grade) Diatomaceous earth

Diatomaceous Earth are the remains of diatoms prehistoric microscopic phytoplankton (single celled plants) that lived in the ocean millions of years ago. Large deposits of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) can be found throughout the world.


Food grade diatomaceous earth is processed in such as way to make it safe for animals both externally and if eaten. In fact it is used to control mealworm (the larvae of mealworm beetle) and other insects that can be present in animal feed (grains). It is also used as a wormer for livestock.

It is EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) approved for use in grains and for the control of insects inside and outside the home. It is also FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) approved for internal (inside the body) and external (outside the body) use. Its quality is also controlled by FCC (Food Chemical Codex), a method of ensuring standards in food ingredients.

It works in a purely "physical" manner (i.e. in contrast to chemical insecticides which can cause environmental damage). This also means that the parasites can't adapt to it as they can in respect of chemical insecticides.

The sharp edges of the very fine particles cut (the external skeleton) and desiccate (drys out) the parasite. Some scientists think that Food grade diatomaceous earth de-ionizes or de-energizes the parasite. One thing is for sure, it is well established that it effective controls parasites and insects and this is borne out by the experiences of animal breeders who use it to control fleas.


Food grade diatomaceous earth will control fleas that jump on an off a cat /dog (cat fleas don't just stay on the cat but jump off for laying of eggs) and kill them when they are on the ground. It will also control other insect pests such as cockroaches.

It can be bought over the counter or on the internet.

****

Don't have the links I was thinking of right now but Diatomaceous Earth from what I've read is pet safe.


How can that be with sharp razor edges? Simple it has to be used in a dry enviroment, when it gets wet (ingested or inhaled) it gets "wet"= wet... no sharp edges.

.

When I've gotten fleas in the house I will bomb all the major rooms of the house with foggers. If you really want to be sure to get all of the fleas, you probably need to do it again in about a week after any remaining eggs hatch. It doesn't smell as bad as Raid.

One of my dogs is fairly allergic to flea bites, so I have used Frontline on her in the past with mixed results (generally it works, but not always). Now I'm using Advantix which I got at budgetpetcare.com for about $7.50 a tube for 80 lb. dogs. That gets ticks and supposedly repels mosquitos, but it leaves a tacky strip on their back for a week or two.

We had a flea problem here and we tried the bombs and powder for the carpet with no results. Then we found out about Ultracide and it worked like magic. We did a thorough cleaning and vacuuming of the entire house then used Ultracide. You are supposed to do a second application in 2 weeks but we never even had to do that.

I don't know if it is available where you are but I highly recommend it.

The bombs seems to work for me, but I only have 1 cat and no dogs.

In terms of flea treatment, I've tended to alternate between different ones because they often have different things. E.g. one kills some kinds of worms, another kills fleas in different part of the lifecycle. Again though this is cats not dogs. Theoretically this may reduce the chance of resistance developing too.

The bombs available here often fail to ignite. And I hate cleaning up after them.

Fizz is lethal to any flea trying to bite her, and will be for the next 6-9 weeks. And in 6 weeks I'll dose her again - at huge expense but it saves a lot of bites on me.

And the whole house smells of flea killers. Since that stuff smells vile, I baked some bread - it smells a whole lot better.

In another country I fumigated a house with hydrogen cyanide. Then left out sodium azide and sugar solution to see off the ants and roaches. The cyanide fumigation was to get rid of the bats (Which in the UK would earn me a prison sentence, they are very protected here).

I blame the flea outbreak on a bat that got into the house early this week. I suspect the little @£$^% left a few unwanted passengers behind. I spent Tuesday night from midnight till 2am trying to get the little @^&^&^ back out of the house.

Likewise, I vary the treatments, but I defy anything to gain immunity to cyanide or azide - but they are a bit hard to buy here. Attempts to buy sodium/potassium cyanide here are likely to be greeted with arrest under the Terrorism Act - as will taking photographs in public places but that's another rant.

It's not that hard to make your own though...

Azides are a bit harder but any scrapyard will get you more than you ever want to be exposed to - that stuff is way more dangerous than cyanide. But they are not good things to have around in the company of a large and very hungry dog.

Doesn't seem to be here in the UK - not that it would be a big deal getting it online. I used Indorex and have had no bites in 36 hours now. That plus Frontine on Fizz and a lot of effort with the vacuum seems to have got it under control. Remember to make sure you have insecticide in the vacuum bag or the fleas will just walk out of it afterwards.

Fizzy has never been scratching so evidently wasn't bothered by any bites she may have had.

Took cortisone to sort out the nasty bites on me. But I am very run down just now (doing 4 people's jobs for 5 months will do that to you) and my immune system appears to be on holiday.

Don,

On the bat problem... How about a Ultrasonic generator to drive them off?

PS: On the other chemicals you are mentioning (LOL).... Remind me to wear my hazmat suit when I come over to your house.... burn it before I get in my car to leave...

Have you tried Diatomaceous Earth, Sevens Dust, Boric Acid?

.

Problem solved, the weather has turned a lot cooler and he bedroom window is now closed. It's the only time I've ever seen a bat indoors here. They are heavily protected by law here so you do have to be a bit careful about discouraging them.

I haven't done alot of research on bats, but a Ultrasonic generator would be a non-lethal way to make them go elsewhere....

Ultrasonic generators are used for non-lethal pest control. Imagine a recording of a song, noise that you really hate playing over, and over, and over... It's sort of like that for the pest, although I could see some kind of laws applying if used OUTSIDE your home as bats hunt by sound.

Description:

An electronic pest-control device which includes a plurality of electrically energizable ultrasonic transducers, each of which is operable within a different range of ultrasonic frequencies. Circuitry is provided for simultaneously energizing the transducers, with each generating ultrasonic waves whose frequencies are continuously randomly varied throughout the transducer's operating range. The ultrasonic waves generated by the device are directed into an area desired to be kept free from infestation by pests, such as rats, which are sensitive and responsive to ultrasonic energy. Through the use of a plurality of different, continually changing frequencies, the pests cannot become acclimated to the ultrasonic waves and thus become immune to their effect.

Howdy Don, are you still lookin in on the BLF?

i had fleas chewing up my legs today and wondered if you had any further recommendations about how to kill the bastages.