Fleas

[BillB800si]

Now here's an idea!!!
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Homemade Flea Trap Using Soap and Light:

Some of the most effective “traps” for killing insects are made with ingredients already in your home. Since fleas are attracted to light, this trap is simple and inexpensive enough so you can make as many as you need.

To make a homemade flea trap, you will need.

Several pie plates or similar (large bowl with low sides)
Dish soap
A candle, tealight, nightlight or other light source

Fill the pie plates with water and about 2 tablespoons of dish soap. Depending on what light source you are using, place the candle in the center of the plate or shine the light directly above the plate (but be careful when using water and electricity in close proximity.) The idea is to force the fleas to enter the bowl of soapy water (which renders them unable to jump, then they drown) as they quest towards the bright light oasis.

When used in conjunction with other methods, this flea trap is very effective at killing adult fleas before they can reproduce.

If you want to purchase a trap, a couple of different types to check out are:

My Flea Trap: Ecological Pet Protector:

Same idea as the homemade trap but uses LED light and sticky pads.

Victor M230 Ultimate Flea Trap:

Uses color, heat, light, scent and sticky pads to trap and kill fleas. Attracts fleas up to 30 feet away.

[Redsky]

I tried everything and finally started using flea and tick killer on my dogs. I have the neighbors cats passing through my property as well as deer, skunks, ground squirrels, and field mice. I could wipe out every flea in my house and on the dogs and as soon as they go back outside they are going to pick up fleas and adult ticks.

I could wipe out every flea and tick on the property by having a crop duster do a dump of poison and within days the ticks and fleas will be back in force.

In my area heart worms are passed along by fleas and about 32 types of bacteria that infect and damage humans are known to be carried by the ticks in the state so I am not about to take a chance with some home remedy.

[Caveman_Charlie]

camperforlife wrote:
Caveman we are all talking about the same critter. Since fleas find hosts like birds, cats, dogs, mice,rabbits, squirrels etc. when we built the house we disrupted the habitat for all the above. The fleas then hitched a ride on all the construction workers and moved indoors. We became the hosts and had to treat the house. Once the yard became established the natural hosts returned to live in the yard and the fleas left us alone.

Oh, well I guess I've just been lucky. Maybe we have less of them up here because of the cold. The flea problem I had on my dog was 20 year and 2 dogs ago. Haven't had a recurring problem since. I suppose I just jinxed myself and my dogs will get them now.

[bsinmich]

The world's shortest poem was called "FLEAS"
Adam
Hadem

[Sez_Hoo_]

We've been fulltimig for 5 yrs now and never had flrr issues. we treat our dog with K-9 Advantix II. We've been all over the country in all kinds of terraine.

[down_home]

We use the flea repellant that you put on the base, of their neck. Works well. Sometimes it can cause a reaction, on some animals. Straay dogs, and perhaps cats, can cause big problems. They will find a patch of damp dirt and lay and wallow in it and a bunch of fleas will fall off or leave or something. I've watched foxes go into freshly sprayed fields and just turned fields and lay out as long as they can stretch. Never understood it until Dad told me they got rid, of fleas or some fleas, that way. The fields may have all had poisons applied to them.
Handle one of these critters,loaded with fleas and you are fresh meat.
Go near an infested building or home and you'll take a bunch with you, many times. I guess it depends on the number of them.

[camperforlife]

Caveman we are all talking about the same critter. Since fleas find hosts like birds, cats, dogs, mice,rabbits, squirrels etc. when we built the house we disrupted the habitat for all the above. The fleas then hitched a ride on all the construction workers and moved indoors. We became the hosts and had to treat the house. Once the yard became established the natural hosts returned to live in the yard and the fleas left us alone.

[dayakster]

For indoor fleas buy some powder flea killer designed to sprinkle around on the carpets. Dump the whole thing out in a pile then vacuum up the pile. The flea killer is now in your bag. Now vacuum your house a few times a day at first and then every few days until all of the fleas are dead in your bag.

I had a horrible flea infestation one year in an apartment I lived in in California. The grass in the courtyard was infested.

[toedtoes]

Fleas can live a few days to several weeks without a host. Eggs, while normally laid on the host animal, usually roll off the host and incubate in bedding, upholstery, grass, etc. Once the larvae has coccooned itself, it can survive several months before emerging as an adult.

For outdoor treatment, you can use Zodiac Yard and Kennel spray. You connect it to your hose and can use it on lawn, decking, cement, etc. Repeat in 2 weeks (eggs will hatch within 2 weeks). Zodiac also has an upholstery spray that you can use on pet bedding, furniture, carpet, etc.

The days of suffering with fleas is really over. The products available these days really work.

[Caveman_Charlie]

OK, I think we need to get a definition of flees here. Where I am all the flees we get are animal flees. This type of insect can not survive without a host for more then a few hours. So, the type of flee I'm used to only lives on dogs and cats. In fact the can't even live on humans for more then a few hours. If you get one on you it will try to get away and find another dog. I've had dogs with flees and this is how it works. (At least around here). Now, there may be another type of flee, or another small insect that some people call a flee. We just don't have them around here.

If your dog has flees you can treat it with a chemical where you just put a little spot of this on the dogs back. If gets into the dogs blood steam and all the flees die. I'm not really happy with the fact that I feal like I'm poisoning my dog with this stuff. The only dog I had with flees lived for 14 years so this stuff must not be so bad.

[down_home]

When it got really dry or long periods without rain we've seen fleas come out of the fields and woods. All the animals have some, of them.
I'm behind schedule. I've got to spray the yard around the house.
We've had to use one of those traps with a light and stick pad a couple times. They work well. If you get an infestation, it'll have to be sprayed.
I've seen some places that no one should be living in.
We sprayed good with a product called Home Defense and haven't had any problems in garage, basement or home, this year. Can't use it on the grass, even if you could use a wide enough spray pattern. It kills the grass.
Not sure which product, I'll get tomorrow but hose end sprayer application does good right around house.
Don't really want to use anything. We have many of those very small gray brownish/grayish, some pink and cream, on bottom snakes, in the grass.
They have tiny bullet shaped heads and beady little black eyes. They eat crickets and worms and such. I hope they eat those little black scorpions, we've had.

[camperforlife]

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Interesting. I didn't know that.

We didn't know it either. It sure was a awful way to find out. It was fun telling people who wanted to see our new home "you may want to wait until we get rid of the fleas". We didn't get many invites to other peoples house for a while either.:B

[6_7_tow_rig]

Interesting. I didn't know that.

[camperforlife]

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Whats with the fleas? Ive never seen or heard of anyone encountering them unless they had a dirty house and lots of animals. Maybe a regional thing?

It can have nothing to do with hygiene or animals. We built a new home in '81 and had to have it fumigated for fleas before we could move in. The exterminator said it was because the grass was removed and the dirt was disturbed during construction causing them to move indoors. You would get flea bites just walking through. We battled them until we had a good stand of grass.

[6_7_tow_rig]

Whats with the fleas? Ive never seen or heard of anyone encountering them unless they had a dirty house and lots of animals. Maybe a regional thing?