Fleas!

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FLEA CONTROL without dangerous chemicals

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(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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

Borax? Never had to deal with them myself fortunately, but I’ve heard this is a potential solution.

So slightly relevant to flashlights. If you get a bowl of water, add some dish soap, and point a flashlight/light source at the bowl at night, it makes a flea trap. You can use Dawn but also Jet Dry but obviously be cautious of animals drinking the water. They can live up to 24 hours in water so make sure you flush it. You can also rinse fleas combs off in a bucket with Dawn water instead of putting them in the trash.

The dogs use an oral 180 day flea medicine these days and don’t have the negatives of flea medicine on their backs.

Boric acid is in pesticides, but Borax doesn’t kill fleas

Well then! Puts that to rest.

diatomaceous earth (DE); not poison, but don’t breathe it, I rub it into my cats fur and sprinkle it around out of the way places; you can also mix it into your pet’s food for internal pests. I buy mine at Walmart; it’s also used in some swimming pool filters.

I will second DE, but it needs to be paired with one of the decent sprays or bombs. I our part of the midwest, fleas are a way of life. For a month or so in the summer, depending upon rain amounts, you cannot walk across the yard without your feet getting covered. Our cats are indoors and never, I repeat never go outside. But, they have them every summer thanks to human foot traffic.

Well i tried the dawn soapy water trap and put out 2 bowls; after 24 hrs one bowl had 2 fleas and there was 1 flea in the other.

i had 3 fleas jump my ankles as i was making the check, so i think the dawn trick is just an internet fable that doesn’t really have much use.

Any soap in water will reduce the surface tension such that insects that could normally “walk” on the surface will sink, e.g. mosquito, flea, etc.

Running the vacuum cleaner seems to have diminished them to a great extent. It was like a swarm attack before, just covered my ankles.

i have read about the DE trick and will investigate, but i’m leaning more toward some boric acid or maybe mix BA and DE.

I have 4 neighbors cats around all the time, one of them is sleeping on the sofa right now.

For infestation sprinkle food grade Diatomaceous earth but also use flea killer spray (I got mine cheap off eBay). Spray generously just before leaving the house for a few hours. Air your house afterwards properly.

I only had one infestation and after doing above started using 24/7 water tray flea trap with S21A flashlight at the end(I tried several including cheap zoomies and S2+).
Water tray is excellent because if any fleas come off an animal, rather than you being target they will most likely go for the light. I only had a flea a few times where there is at least 1 or 2 fleas in the traps per day. You will probably need to spray more than once.

For water tray flea trap I found this to be the best combination after trying water only, water with white light and water with green and blue light:

  • Bright green tray (any color will do but green tray reflects green light the best)
  • Water with washing up liquid (to brake surface tension, I tend to put loads to deter cats from drinking it, not that they tried)
  • Convoy S21A (smallest Convoy 21700 and perfect size head to match throat for 750 ml and 1 L bottles. 4800 mAh Convoy battery, 1 x 71350 driver, Osram flat green on 20% setting. Lasts just under 2 days.
  • Small bottle to diffuse the light (I use cone shaped 750 ml “Harrogate Spa Sparkling water” bottle, it has some square pattern on the glass which diffuses light nicely and throat opening will seat S21A ok. It is maybe a couple of mm narrower that I would like)
    Fill the bottle with water for light diffusion and anchor but empty and clean periodically to avoid Legionares.
  • Gaffa tape to stick S21A on the top of the bottle pointing downwards. I leave the tape on and bounce battery off the driver spring when replacing battery.

Once, one of the cats brought in some fleas, which grew like gangbangers.

I sprinkled DE all over inside that it looked as if Mt Vesuvius erupted in the living-room, and dosed all the cats with Frontline at least 2 cycles.

The FL works best, ironically, by letting the fleas land on and biting the cats, to get sick and die. And FL is ostensibly effective against all stages of fleas, not just when adults.