On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:25:16 GMT, wrote:

yeah. they do live in carpets, also in the cracks. it is good to put a few moth
balls in the vacuum cleaners to kill the fleas that are sucked up. otherwise they
will crawl back out of the vacuum. but getting them all will take time, and those
fleas are getting hungrier and hungrier and will bite more.
in the olden days when people moved back and forth from their city to their summer
homes they would send a dog thru the house and the fleas would eagerly jump onto the
moving animal.
BTW, dog fleas can only reproduce on dogs. cat fleas on cats, etc.
Ingrid

Oh my gawd.. fleas.. I HATE FLEAS.. I had NEVER seen a flea until some
people moved in next door to me in 76 with a mangy flea ridden bitch
that was pregnant. She had 7 pups, and they let the run the
neighborhood.

Not long after that I was laying on the bed, basset hound I had .. a
"blue" tan and white, so his hair was short. This was before the new
"dump it on the back of the dog/cat" stuff was available. I saw this
reddish brown thing crawl out of the dogs hair on his haunch and then
back in. I thought they were lice. Oh if only it had been. I spent
years with flea powder, flea shampoo, and there was NO winning. I had
inside cats, and in/out dogs, and there was no way at that time that I
could rid the animals of fleas for more than the short time that the
flea powder (aka sevin dust carbyryl) was on the dogs or cats and they
drooled and were miserable from it. Or until the flea shampoo was
rinsed off and they were dried off and let loose.

You can kill the adult fleas, you can vacuum them up the pupae up, the
eggs can be vacuumed up, but you never get them all, and if you have
critters which go in and out of the house, they will always bring new
fleas in with them. The fleas feed on the animal, hang around feeding
until they're large enough to lay eggs, and they hop off and do so, in
your carpet, furniture.. down deep in the couches and chairs where all
the goodies are as the larvae feed on your shed skin, cookie/cracker
crumbs, anything that is in there they eat, and then they pupate in
the edges of your floors where the walls and floors meet, in the
cracks of your furniture. All kinds of places.

Yes, when you vacuum for flea eradication, don't keep that bag in the
vacuum! Toss it. Burn it if you live somewhere you can, because
otherwise you're just populating another area with fleas, and once
fleas are present they NEVER leave as they live outside on the
squirrels, mice, other people's dogs and cats, and the feral dogs and
cats.

I moved from that place and of course I brought the fleas with me. I
fought them for years, and finally, I had to get rid of anything that
went in and out of the house. I made sure that the dog was freshly
shampooed and dusted so when he left, he shouldn't have taken any
fleas with him. I had to flea bomb the house every 10 to 14 days for
2 times at least, but I did 3 because eggs don't die, short of burning
them...so you have to kill the adults and then wait for the eggs to
hatch and kill the larvae. And then make sure any animals are rid of
their fleas. It was a horrible process.

Years later, I thought I could get a dog again. Bad move, it brought
in fleas which killed my cats as I didn't notice the fleas in their
long hair, and the dog I swear could poop on the run and wouldn't ever
do it anywhere but IN the house, so I got rid of him, and when the
cats died, the fleas which do prefer cats of dogs, would crawl out of
the carpet and up onto my feet 20 or 30 at a time when I came home and
sat down .. and believe me.. they had no qualms about biting me.. I
still have the scars. I bombed and bombed and bombed again.

That was 15 years ago and I've never had another cat or dog that goes
outside and comes inside. However, this past fall, a neighbor who had
cats and dogs and fleas had borrowed a backgammon set and finally
brought it back, complete with fleas again. I was soooo sick when I
saw a flea on my cat! I am home bound, nearly bed bound, and my house
is a mess from hell, and there is no way I could fix it.

Thankfully there is revolution! I got some and put it on the cat, and
while it's bad that the cat has to be bitten to kill 'em but die they
did, and yes more reappeared as the eggs hatched and larvae pupated,
and they hatched,.. and they too died, and I put the stuff on the cat
for 4 months, and there are no more fleas as it killed all of them.
It also kills ear mites, and round worms and protects against heart
worms.

I know that there are lots of things that people tout as something
that will kill fleas, but .. there are always more. Sure lights will
attract them, they will drown in water, I don't know that mothballs
will kill fleas in vacuum cleaner bags.. throw them away burn them I
say!! There's no way unless you have no more animals.. and you
diligently daily vacuum every crevice, pull out the carpet, toss out
the fabric couches.. or you have a very light infestation.. and if a
light is catching them.. you don't have a light infestation. Treating
the animals with revolution will kill anything that bites them and in
that way, you will eventually get rid of them.

I was going to say I never saw the original post.. but just scrolled
down and saw.. after all that typing. LOL Well if this is in
Louisiana where there is no winter, good luck getting rid of them with
no chemicals. If he never gets another pet inside, and he has no
carpet/soft furniture, and washes EVERYTHING in hot water and dries in
HOT dryer, maybe he'll reduce it if he's a real tidy housekeeper.. and
at least sprays the piers on the house with oil or something to keep
them from crawling up or at least smothers any there. Course that
could make for a fire hazard if those are wood piers. But .. if the
person is not wiling to put in the long term effort to trap, vacuum,
wash, clean and do so over and over and over so long as he or anyone
in there gets bit.

If he is bringing these fleas to work.. well then he's putting you at
risk and anyone coming in there at risk as fleas carry diseases if any
are present and there are a few cases of bubonic plague which kill
folk around the country every year. One in florida a year or two ago.
Think hers was related to a prairie dog an fleas.. bubonic plague
wipes out colonies of prairie dogs regularly.. they go out and dump
flea powder into their colonies often. .. and I do ramble on.. but
I'd tell him.. Bomb the house a couple times 10 days apart..or ..quit,
If I had to work with him and management wasn't aware I'd make them
so, and I'd complain because he can infest the office, then each
employee's home.. causing so much hassle at the VERY least. And far
worse is possible.

Janice




"Laura B." wrote:

Perry Templeton wrote:
I have an employee that is anti chemicals. He has an infestation of fleas
in his house. We are in South Louisiana, way south. Below New Orleans.
Sultry and hot. He had a cat. Said cat has expired. Fleas now are feeding
on humans, etc. My guy doesn't want to do anything chemical to get rid of
the fleas. What solutions? Besides moving? The house is up off the
ground, built on pillars.
Perry
I will post this in several different forums so I apologize in advance for
any redundance.



I read someplace that flees generally live in the carpet of houses.
Tell your friend to vacuum his floors, furniture, and wash his bedding
on a regular basis. He'll eventually get the upper hand.

Laura B.



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