FLEA BITES !!!
This article is about FLEA control.
It will explain why they are a pest and what
needs to be done for controlling infestations.
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If summer is here, so are the fleas! And if it's
winter and you have them - you're not alone! If you
have wondered why this creature is so persistent, then
read on. If you've wondered how any could survive
after all the spraying, cleaning and aerosol
"bombing" you did, read this article. I will explain
the flea in great detail and only then will you
understand why they are so hard to rid a structure of
them once infested. More importantly, I hope you
will understand the benefit of early treatment. This
is key to enjoying a flea free summer.
Like most insect control, successful flea
control must stop the "cycle". This cycle I am
referring to includes the eggs, larva, pupa and
adult. Here is a brief description of the cycle from
start to finish. 1) An adult flea jumps onto you, your
pet, your child, etc. and gets a meal. Fleas feed on
blood and although their mouth is small, a flea bite
can hurt and most certainly can become inflamed,
itchy and swollen. Many people, myself included,
and many pets are allergic to flea bites. If you have
flea bites and want to get some relief as well as
promote healing, use some BITE OINTMENT. This product
will take away the itch and discomfort. Furthermore,
if you are in some line of work which constantly
puts you in some environment with fleas, consider
using a flea repellent. We have three formulations
which work very well at keeping them off you and
your clothes. For the skin, treat with either our
CITRONELLA LOTION or our DEET. Citronella has long
been used as a general insect repellent. The Deet
is definitely the "stronger" of the two and will
only have to applied once or twice a day, depending
on the type you get. We have unique "scents"
which are not offensive and our super strong
100% Deet is the only "low odor" formulation on
the market. For your clothing, use our PERMETHRIN
which is completely odorless when applied. This
concentrate form is excellent for anyone that will
be needing to spray as well as make up some for
treating cloths. If you don't need this much, get
some of the ready to spray DROP DEAD FLEA SPRAY.
It comes in this small 5 oz size, uses the same
odorless Permethrin as the active and makes an excellent
travel size. Great for anyone that needs to go into
environments with active fleas like homes, yards or
other areas and needs protection on the spot. 2) Once fed,
the flea will look to mate and immediately lay eggs.
This can occur in the yard, the house, and on the
pet. 3) In the next two to three weeks, the average
life of a flea, hundreds and hundreds of eggs will be
laid. Some of these may fall in the yard, some in the
house and some will remain on the pet. 4) When
the eggs hatch, a small caterpillar like creature
comes out to feed on anything organic. This
includes dried blood, flea feces, animal hair and a
variety of otherwise disgusting organic matter in the
yard, the carpet and on your pet. 5) The flea larva
will feed for days after which it will spin a cocoon
and undergo metamorphosis. This stage is called the
flea pupa. This is the worst stage of all because we
can't kill it !! That's right! No spray will kill flea
pupa consistently or completely. This is why you
still have fleas following the most thorough
treatment. And this is why you should know the flea
cycle and how to break it. 6) The cycle is then
completed when the flea pupa hatches out. This
hatching occurs when a hot blooded meal is close at
hand. Only then will the flea risk coming out of its
protective cocoon. And when it does, it will bite
and the cycle will start all over again.
Now that you understand the flea cycle, let's
talk about where this flea cycle can occur. The flea
cycle can occur almost anywhere. It will occur on
the animal, in the yard, in a carpet, in a litter box, in
a bed, in a garage, in a basement, in a crawl space, in
an attic, in a doghouse, etc. The rule is simple; any
place where a warm blooded animal spends time can
become a flea infested site. And it is important to
understand that different fleas will infest almost any
animal. For example, the most common flea found
on dogs is actually a cat flea! Yet there are dog
fleas, rat fleas, and squirrel fleas. The point is that
fleas do not discriminate. If you have warm blood,
they can feed on you. This means they will readily
feed on people which is why so many of our clients
are people without pets! They prefer dogs, cats,
squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, rats, mice, and birds.
If none are present, you had better watch out!!
Now that you know where the flea cycle can occur,
I will get into the details of how to treat for it. Before
I do, it is important to understand that fleas will
persist if you only address one or two locations where they
are breeding. Don't think that treating the pet will
keep your home or yard from getting fleas. The same is true
about the yard. Although treating the yard before flea
season starts is a good practice, I have many customers
who treat their yard and pet but fail to maintain their
homes. They wonder how their house could get infested because
they fail to realize how many fleas they bring inside themselves!
Follow this general rule: If the pet is an inside animal, you
must treat the home and the pet to insure no fleas. If the
pet is an outside animal, you will need to treat the pet
as well as the yard area the pet has access to. If the
pet spends a lot of time both inside and out, than consider
treating the pet, yard and home. And if you are doing two of
the three areas but fleas are still persisting, then chances
are that you need to address the location where you are
not treating. Always remember that "FLEA CONTROL IS EGG
CONTROL. IF YOU STOP THE EGGS FROM DEVELOPING
ON THE PET, IN THE YARD AND IN THE HOME - YOU
CAN'T HAVE FLEAS!" It really is that simple. Yet many
homeowners will take the risk that it's "coming from my
neighbor's dogs and if I treat my yard that will stop them"
or "the fleas came with my Mother-in-law when she
visited with her pet and all of them stayed after she left!"
We hear all the reasons but the bottom line is simple - treat
all areas which are subject to having flea eggs and you
won't have to worry about the eggs being able to develop.
As much as we preach it, most customers come to us after
they are infested. If that is the case with you, then read on -
there is hope!
Once infested, a proper treatment will take a
few weeks to rid any structure of fleas. If done
correctly, the cycle would be interrupted with the
first treatment and once the flea pupae have all
hatched out, the flea infestation will cease. When
customers ask me how long it will take to get rid of
their fleas, I tell them I don't know. It depends on
how many flea pupae are in your home. It could be
resolved with one treatment; it could take three to
six weeks of spraying once a week.
What products should you use to break this
cycle? They vary depending on where you are
treating. Remember the cycle can be completed on
the pet, in the house or apartment, and in the yard.
This means we must treat each area and strive for
egg control. In the home, there are many materials
available. Carpets can be sprayed using an
adulticide and a growth regulator. A good
adulticide could be ESFENVALERATE, SUSPEND or
PERMETHRIN. They will provide a good knockdown
of adult fleas. PRECOR or FLEA FIX are two growth
regulators which must be used with the adulticide for
long-term control. These products will effectively
break the cycle. Although Precor will work, Flea
Fix is the latest technology and works on many other
pests as well. If you have been using Precor for some
time, it is a good idea to change. You will need to
use one of our SPRAYERS to do the treatment and
though our smaller ones will work for apartment
dwellers, the one gallon is the best investment for
the long run.
As good as these products are, you may have to
retreat within a few days. This will depend on how
many flea pupae are left in the cycle following the
initial treatment. One or two pupae hatching in the
days following the first treatment will usually go
unnoticed, but a mass hatching will be uncomfortable
for those inhabiting the home and re-treatments
at that point are suggested. Remember these important
facts about flea pupae for a thorough understanding
of what is happening in your home following a treatment.
1) NO chemical will kill the pupae consistently. When
you do a liquid treatment with an adulticide and a growth
regulator, the adulticide kills the adult fleas which
are out and about. It will also kill any larva crawling
around. The growth regulator acts on the existing eggs
and once they are exposed to the regulator, they will
not be able to develop normally into adults. However,
there remains all the pupae which are still developing.
These could take another 4-8 weeks to hatch out. This
all depends are temperature, the species of flea and
humidity.
2) Since pupae are motivated to hatch out when there
is activity around them, be sure and keep people and
pets active in the rooms where the flea problem is the
worst. Typically, people do the all the wrong things
when dealing with a flea problem. An old wives tale
says that fleas are "coming from the pets". Although
the eggs may be falling from cats and dogs, the adult
fleas are more than happy to live their whole life
on the pet. They have no interest in people. The new
fleas you are seeing are the pupae cocoons hatching.
If you decide to remove a pet from the home or rooms
where the flea problem was most prevalent, you will
leave the pupae cocoons no choice but to seek the next
available blood meal - YOU! My advice is simple; leave
the pet to roam just as you always have. Don't keep him
outside. It is much more comfortable for the people
living in the home if the pet is absorbing the flea
cocoons which are hatching. And most people agree that
dipping and treating the pet is easier than treating
anyone living there!
3) Do NOT leave any room empty for any length of
time hoping to "starve" the fleas. Flea pupae are
motivated by movement and body heat. They will not
hatch out if a room is void of activity. In fact, one
way of getting them to hatch out quicker than they
are inclined is the use of a vacuum. Daily vacuuming
will excite them. A vacuum with a beater-bar does
a great job of getting them to come out. An ordinary
vacuum will do well too. In bad cases, customers have
sped the hatching process up by walking around in white
socks. The white will reflect light and appears
hot to a flea. Hot means blood and this will cause
the cocoons to hatch. Immediately after walking around
for awhile, vacuum. The effect of vacuuming and the
spray in the carpet will knockdown that many more fleas
which will not be able to bite. Do this everyday until
you can do so without seeing any fleas. Although this
step may sound like a lot of work, maybe this will
motivate you. FLEA COCOONS CAN LIVE OVER A FULL YEAR
WAITING FOR A TARGET. Yes, a full year. This is
why vacation homes that have been left vacant for 8-12
months have been found to have hundreds of fleas
hatching out of the carpet when vacationers open the
doors and get themselves settled. The pupae have been
doing nothing but lying in wait for a target. This can
happen in your home if you close a room up for a month
or two expecting the fleas to simply die off. Don't
waste your time waiting.
4) Another way of getting the flea cocoons to hatch
is the use of a HEATED FLEA TRAP. This trap is unique
in that it uses heat to lure adult and pupae fleas. When
placed in the middle of the infested room, it will attract
fleas up to 25 feet away. To the flea, the trap appears
as a kitten or puppy sleeping. Although fleas do not
like to hop, they will readily move toward the trap in
hope of getting a meal. Once they reach the trap, they
will fall through a grid and land on a glue board which
will catch them. I have a sample of a glueboard which a
customer brought to us that caught over 10,000 FLEAS in
less than a month! This was a bad infestation, but it
did exist in the home and the people living there were
unaware that it was so bad. Such an infestation confirms
that fleas can breed to such levels if left untreated.
Since spraying for fleas needs to be done every 3
months, some people have found the FLEA GRANULES easier
to use. These granules are raked into the carpet and
provide control for the whole flea season. I have had
wonderful results with this material for several reasons.
1) The product is very safe; side by side safer than
table salt. 2) The product is applied to the nap of the
carpet which is where all the flea action is. Unlike aerosols
which spew their chemical all over the room, the granules
seem to go where they are needed the most. 3) A good
quality flea granule will last a whole year. It bonds with
the carpet and ordinary vacuuming does not pick it up.
Only one treatment is necessary. I like the idea of
not having to spray over and over all summer long. Keep
in mind, however, that the granules are a slower method
of flea control. They work by dehydrating the flea eggs
and larva. They generally will not kill adult fleas. If
there is a large adult flea population, you may choose to
put the granules out and spray with any of the adulticides
listed above. You would not need to use the growth regulator
in the spray since the granules would be working for you
this way. The adulticide will kill off any adults immediately
but you still would expect to have cocoons hatching for
several weeks. In general, you should expect to see fleas
for up to 8 weeks if you use our flea granules only. If you
use the granules and spray with an adulticide, expect
the cycle to last 4-6 weeks. The same would be expected if
you use the granules and the heated flea trap. As opposed
to spraying after the cocoons have hatched, many customers
choose the flea trap as a way to get the cocoons to hatch
out quicker. The use of the trap will motivate cocoons to
hatch and get caught so there are less flea bites experienced
by those living in the structure.
Another product worth mentioning is PRECOR 2000. This
product is good to use on hardwood floors, tiled floors,
cement or linoleum. It is applied from a can which directs
a fine mist much like hair spray. It goes on dry, is
odorless and does not smell. It works well on surfaces
other than carpet and allows for a clean application without
mess. I like to use it inside where a liquid treatment
would be too messy and the granules are not an option.
It's also much better to use on cement in basements
or garages since liquid treatments are water based and
tend to get absorbed. This leads to less of residual
which leaves you vulnerable to re-infestation. If you
have ever dealt with fleas in a garage or basement then
you know how hard they can be to kill! Well, Precor 2000
will prevent them from ever getting established there but
if you do get them on cement, expect to spray every few
days. A more permanent treatment for cement is DRIONE DUST.
This dehydrating dust looks like baby powder but works
great on dry cement, crawl spaces and other areas where
liquid applications are not effective. Drione is a solid
dust and unlike Precor, won't break down in a week or two.
Instead, a good application of Drione in a crawl space
or cement floor can last up to 6 months! Of course,
you will have to deal with some light powdery residue,
but it won't hurt people or pets and can be deactivated
at any time by just mopping it up. When wet, the Drione
is completely deactivated and is easy to clean up. It
can also be removed with a good vacuum. If you don't
want to contend with the slight dust factor of the
Drione, stick with the Precor 2000. However, if you
want the strongest material for hard to treat areas
like basements, garages and crawl spaces, apply the
Drione Dust. Either will work a lot better then a
liquid spray and is really the best way to go when
you get fleas in these areas. Of course, making sure
you get a pet or person into these areas following
the treatments will help break the cycle that much
faster since the pupae need need movement and heat
to come out of hibernation. If no one will be in
these areas, be sure to set out some Flea Traps to
get pupae activated and hatched. They will really
help for such problematic locations and make much
better targets then people or pets anyway.
Since the flea cycle can be completed on the
pet, it is important to gain egg control on their fur.
To maintain the pet, shampoo will kill some adult fleas,
but do nothing for flea eggs. What a good shampoo will
do is remove the stuff on which flea larva feed. I like
TRIPLE PYRETHRUM SHAMPOO. It cleans the pet well,
has a fresh smell and is concentrated. Following the
shampoo, it is suggested that you brush the animal and
then go over them carefully with a FLEA COMB. This fine
tooth comb will remove hundreds if not thousands of
eggs and pupae which will really help in the process
of getting the problem under control. If the pet
is really loaded with fleas, dip them first with
a strong product like FLEA DIP. This product uses
permethrin as the active, works on Ticks, Fleas
and the Mange and has no odor. In addition to the dip and
shampoo, use a spray which sterilizes or kills flea eggs.
It must clearly state on the label that it
"kills fleas and prevents further infestations". PETCOR
not only kills adult fleas, but it also kills the eggs!
For this reason you should accept no substitute.
There are thousands of sprays which only kill adult
fleas. These products must be sprayed on the pet
over and over. This is not good for your pet nor is it
convenient for you. If you have a pet which is sensitive
to the Pet Spray which does have some alcohol in it, use
WATER BASED PET SPRAY. Though this product does not have
any flea egg killing material, it is gentle enough to
use as frequently as needed since it is water based.
It also has conditioners which will help to ease the
discomfort of the pets fur and skin. Water Based Spray
will do a good job of killing adults and larva
but will need to be applied more frequently than
the Poetcor. The key factor which makes it different
from other sprays that don't have the egg killing material
in them is that the Water Based Spray does have an
active which lasts for a week or more. This means you
won't have to spray quite as much as sprays which
only have Pyrethrin in them. And don't think any of
the dusts will work better then the sprays; dusts just
don't impact eggs or pupae like the sprays so they just
don't work as well. In fact, Sevin dust is being phased
out since it doesn't work that well and isn't as safe as
everyone once thought it was. At this time, the only
dust that will help at all is PERMETHRIN DUST and you'll
need to apply it weekly to keep fleas in check. And
remember, treating the pet resting areas and bedding
is very important as well. Just treating the pet won't
work. Using one of the sprays mentioned above is
imperative to breaking the flea cycle. If your pet
is continuing to bring in fleas from other sources,
keep some spray on hand ready to apply as needed to
their bedding and other rest areas. The Permethrin
based DROP DEAD FLEA SPRAY is handy for this need
since it's ready to go, is odorless and can be
sprayed on the pet as well as their sleeping areas.
After a month or so of combating the fleas on
the pet, pay particular attention to your pets skin.
With all the spraying, you might start to notice
they have developed "hot spots" where a lot
of bites have occurred. These are where the pet
might be continuously scratching and/or biting.
It is not uncommon for these areas to become inflamed
and sometimes infected if the biting and scratching
won't stop. If the pet has any such areas or just
some nasty bites which are irritating it, use some
of the MELALEUCA SHAMPOO and MELALEUCA SPRAY. The
shampoo will help to clean off contaminates in
the fur and on the skin at the same time providing
relief from the itching and the Spray will provide
immediate relief from the itch. Keep the spray close
by so that you can use it as needed. Generally you
will see immediate results and within a week or
so all the biting and itching will stop. The Melaluca
provides both relief from the discomfort the pet
feels as well as promote healthy healing.
If you have a yard area outside where your pets
spend a lot of time, you should definitely treat it.
Over time, fleas will breed in these areas. Remember
that your yard is vulnerable to every animal that walks
through it. This includes animals like squirrels,
raccoons, opossum, deer, dogs, cats, mice, rats, birds,
chipmunks and people. Anyone of these passer byers could
have fleas on them which are laying eggs. These eggs
will be landing in your yard as these animals move about.
To keep fleas out before they have a chance to start
reproducing, apply some FLEA REPELLENT. This granule
will release odors fleas don't like and though it won't
kill fleas, its good to apply some before the season starts.
To properly treat the outside, use a granule for long term
control. Although PERMETHRIN G will work, its not
the strongest or the longest lasting available.
Products like DIATOMACEOUS EARTH aren't really practical
to use either. Though it may have a good impact when
first applied, one light rain or watering of the yard
and all the material applied will be washed away. The
bottom line is if you are going to take the time to treat
around the home, it makes the most sense to use
the strongest and longest lasting product available.
Right now, we have found that product to be BIFEN G.
Since Bifen uses a relatively new active ingredient,
it is very active on fleas and many other insects
as well. Furthermore, it's always a good idea to
rotate or change out the materials used around the
home from season to season and if you have been
applying Diazinon for several years, the use of
Bifen will be your best bet. Expect to get 2-3
months of protection per application so most areas
will need 2-3 treatments per year. Furthermore, like
other granules, Bifen needs to be activated with
water to start working. They are designed to be time
released so that they break down slowly. This
enables them to withstand the rain and sun. The
tradeoff is that they are slow to kill adult insects.
For a quick knockdown of adult fleas, use a liquid
concentrate and spray over the top of the granules.
TEMPO works well for this application. It will
control a bunch of pests and works particularly well
for ticks, chiggers and fleas. Tempo is concentrated
so you need to apply it with a bunch of water. The best
way to do this application is with a GILMOUR SPRAYER.
Simply pour the concentrate into the sprayer, hook it
to your hose, set the dial and spray away. This sprayer
does a good job of applying the product properly and it's
easy to use. It doesn't get any better than applying
a good amount of granules and spraying over the top with
Tempo for flea control!
Remember the flea season will be a long one
if you don't do any preventive maintenance before
the season starts. With fleas, an ounce of prevention
goes a long way. Treat your yard with granules before
fleas start. If you already have some outside, apply
granules and then liquid treat with some Tempo for
quick knockdown. Use the same approach inside.
Apply the carpet granules before you get fleas. If you
have a healthy population inside that you want to
knock out, you will need to spray an adulticide with
a growth regulator for complete control. Several
treatments may be necessary to break the cycle. If
you want the best there is then apply the granules and
spray an adulticide. This one - two combination will
control even the toughest flea infestation. And since
we know the flea cycle can be completed on the pet
itself, make sure to treat cats or dogs with a material
that will get the adults, the eggs and the pupae..
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problems!
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