Vacuum Cleaners Effective Flea Killers

[bajaespuma]

Greetings poetry lovers...

"The little flea
Has littler fleas
Upon his back to bite him
And so forth, and so on,
Ad infinitum"

--Aldous Huxley

 

[panthera]

Cats

Are easily hurt by many commercial insecticides, especially some of those marketed for dogs.
Please, read the labels before using any around cats.

All three of my cats from the humane society came with fleas. My body temp. is too low for them to be interested in me, but after my roommate got bit in 1986, we started what was to be a two year trip through hell. Since he was/is a super-environmentally-conscious-organic-no-chemicals-Green, everything which might have worked was out of the question.

The good part was, our apartment was so clean, it could have been used as a surgical theater. The bad part is, unless you can kill all the eggs, it is impossible to get rid of the beasts.

Finally, after 18 months of annoyance to him and the cats (I never even saw one, much less got bit) we got a feline-safe insecticide from the vet. Collars for the cats.

And that was the end of that.

 

[sudsmaster]

I would think that your roomie would have been ok with Precor/S-Methoprene, which is a very specific growth regulator, but who knows what people imagine is possible...

The worst flea infestation I've ever seen was a neighbor's garage. His cat had a litter in there, and the place was literally hopping with fleas. It was impossible to stand in there for more a a few seconds without getting bit multiple times. The poor kittens were covered with the fleas. I "rescued" one and spent the first night picking fleas off the poor thing. He turned out to be a great cat - not aloof at all, very friendly, and unafraid of most everything. He'd start purring if you just walked into the room. Unfortunately he caught feline aids and we finally had to euthanize him at age 13.

 

[tomturbomatic]

One summer in the mid 70s, there was some kind of flea population explosion and the dogs brought fleas into my parents' house. Mom is alergic to life in general so I researched non-toxic ways of getting rid of them. Oil of Wintergreen in warm water sprayed around the baseboards and on carpet will get rid of them. We settled for dried eucalyptus branches which we were able to buy from the wholesale florist. They were placed along the baseboards, a few in each room, and within days there were no more fleas and they never had any more of them.

 

[sudsmaster]

About once a year the Argentine ants from the garden invade the master bed/bath. I use a combination of diatomaceous earth and boric acid to reduce their numbers around the foundation vents (they like to nest there). When that fails, I'll use a plant based insecticide on the vents. Inside the house, I have found the Safer brand cedar oil spray to be effective and least offensive to the nose. I would imagine the cedar oil spray would also repel if not kill fleas.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Cedar oil is what I spray on my doormats and around my doors to keep crickets from entering the house in the fall. It stops ants and everything else from entering houses when sprayed on the outside in Florida. Doesn't it work outside in California? I also put a few moth balls in a small plastic bag, poke a few holes in it and put it by the door to have a second line of defense. I heard a fly in a window this afternoon so I plugged in the central vac hose and treated the fly to a one way flight.

 

[sudsmaster]

The foundation vents the ants come in on are exposed to sun for most of the day (south facing). I think the cedar oil must be deactivated by sunlight. In any case, I haven't found it to be as effective at keeping the ants away as the boric acid/diatomaceous earth remedy.

It does work indoors for dealing with spot incursions. But outside, those ants can be very persistent about getting into those vents. I think they like to nest in the space between the stucco and the sheathing.

 

[beadsobleach]

DDT

DDT is still made in China and India. Maybe if you bought some toys there would be some...? Sorry...

 

[sudsmaster]

DDT issues

I am unaware of any "proof" that DDT is safe for bird populations. Most evidence seems to be pretty clear that DDT and its breakdown/metabolite DDE are responsible for egg shell thinning and decreased bird populations.

DDT is pernicious in that it is fat-soluble and lingers a long time in the environment. Interestingly, after some 30 years of DDT being banned for use in the United States, 65% of human breast milk samples contain detectable levels of DDT/DDE.

Another problem with DDT is that mosquites become resistant to it after about seven years. This resistance was encouraged by widespread agricultural use of the chemical. Currently DDT is still used in some tropical countries; its main usefulness is that mosquitoes find surfaces that have been sprayed with DDT to be repellent, and they avoid homes so sprayed. However, it stains walls and smells bad, so people may be resistant to such spraying, or may recoat their walls to eliminate the staining and odor, defeating the purpose. There are safer and more acceptable alternatives to DDT which cost about the same per treated residence.

DDT has been positively linked to a number of problems in humans, including diabetes. I wonder if the the so-called diabetes epidemic now afflicting older populations in the western world is in part linked to widespread use of DDT in the 40's through the 60's.

DDT - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org