I sprayed insecticides but boy oh boy do they multiply. It is very humid and hot (summer in South Africa) and I am fighting off the pests most of the day and they robbed me from my time at the PC and my machine. Can you imagine me embroider and scratching at the same time? Those of you enjoying the snow, spare me a thought.

When I had a serious problem with the cats having fleas, I shaved them naked, gave them a bath in flea shampoo, sprayed them with hartz flea spray and used frontline to protect, then i used a flea powder on all the carpets which made me seriously clean the house so i could get every nook and cranny. I sprayed an aerosol flea stuff I find at the grocery store on the beds and furniture. After 2 baths with the cats, it got rid of them. they have since been banned from the outdoors. Something similar could be used with the pups :-)
Good luck!
Oh outside you can use diazinon if you can get it there or dursban. If you want a natural remedy something with a permethrin or garlic oil and hotpepper together work well too :-)

Thank you so much for all the help and hints. At last my house looks as if a snow storm hits the inside.... salt all over!! The soapy water in the pan under the light, WORKS!! And the good part is that they are not good swimmers. Now we have clean and pickled fleas LOL. Will let you know hen they are tired of my house or at least all DEAD! a*2U all.

2 comments

by boshoff 06 Jan 2009

Hi, the fleas try to take a bath about 30 - 50 of them per day. We are having a new hobby... watching fleas drowning.

by stitchship 06 Jan 2009

That is wonderful! I wish I had known about that way back when.

We use the diluted dish washing detergent in spray bottles to kill hornets, bees, or similar critters, when they become pests. :)

I had a problem last year with fleas in the house (carpet and floor). I managed to have fleas on my pets with Frontline, but for my house I had to use an anti-smoke chips,one for each piece of home. It is the most effective I've found. Prevention, lavender is very good. Good Luck !

I put napthalene flakes on my carpet once a month and then vacuum off to keep them away and have mint geranium planted in dog yards. Doga rub against it and it keeps fleas away

not a flea killer but a repellant
I would assume that every one here can do utility sewing so here is how to create a flea repellant collar, two ways in fact
one is to actually sew out a one inch wide ribbon or cloth collar that has an elasticated strip so that it will stretch to go over the heads but still touch the fur around the neck (Must be cloth) or purchase a cloth collar from a pet store, next you need some pure lavendar oil, now all you do is put two drops of the oil onto the inside of the collar and put it onto your pet.
flease hate lavendar. if you have a dog then you can also put a couple of drops on your hands and stroke them across the back of the dog where it cannot lick at it. this is also good to keep flies away from any wounds,
WARNING do not use lavender in any household where a woman is less than four months pregnant.
lavender oil is often used in pillowes to help you to relaxe but what most folk do not know is that one drop will help you to relax but two will act as a stimulus and can in exteem cases may cause termination. so never use it for massage in these circumstances.
hope this will help at a later date

1 comment

by marietta 06 Jan 2009

Thanks for great advice.I did not know too much lavender oil can cause harm in pregnant (early) women

We have a product in Australia called Advantage, it is, in my humble opinion, far superior to Frontline and I have been using it on my cats and dogs for as long as I can remember. It not only kills fleas and the eggs on the animal but everywhere the animals lay down the fleas will be killed and in no time at all you will be flea free. Use it dab on, once a month.

If you have tiled or hard floors you should add a good dash of kerosene to your wash water, just be careful not to smoke or have any open flame while you are washing the floors and be a bit more careful of 'slipping' after washing shiny tiles.

Fleas are sometimes of plague proportions in hot, dry weather in Australia and even more so along the sandy soils of the coastal strip. Hope this helps.
hugs n roses, Meganne

I have used Borax. After vacuuming the carpet sprinkle Borax all over (I used a salt shaker to do it). Leave the Borax in the carpet it dries out the eggs and you will not see it. A former customer of mine had this one in an old, old book and all of us petowners tried it with great results. Easy on the pocketbook also.

Several years ago, we moved to a home, where the previous family had indoor pets. We ended up having a lot of fleas everywhere. What worked for us, was vacuuming the entire house, and disposing of the bag immediately, (The flees can hop out of the bags if you don't) then I bought a lot of canisters of Table Salt, and literally covered the whole house with it, all the nooks and crannies. This dried up the eggs, and they stopped "hatching" new fleas.

I left the salt in the carpet for a couple of weeks. I then vacuumed the whole house again, and never saw another flea. I know that some people complain about the carpet suffering with the salt. But we tried different things, bombing sprays, and other products, and this finally worked. We were desperate.

Let us know what works for you!

U poor dear, My daughter has both of her dogs on the monthly pill so she doesn't have a problem. I remember 50 yrs ago when a neighbor kept 3 dogs n her house, they moved away & all her fleas came to my house & I didn't even have a pet. We had to have an exterminator. I love all the curealls I'm reading I'm going to file them away, they may come n handy one day *

A flea cycle is 21 days and what ever you do repeat it at 21 days that is when they hatch then you are sure to be rid if them

Boy can I relate. We went through about 2 months trying to get rid of the fleas from our two dogs. I sprayed the whole house with a spray for killing eggs as well as the fleas in the carpets, furniture and even the car. We shampooed with flea shampoo and use frontline. It is a job but persistence works. Good luck. Lily

Sevin dust works really well.

Use diatomaceous earth.. it's a natural power used to fight fleas. You can actually pick it up inexpensively from a pool supply store. :-)

1 comment

by stitchship 05 Jan 2009

I tried this years ago, but it did not work for us. :(

I had flees in the house and did not have any animals..The raccoons were sitting on the top of the roof near the fireplace flue and they were dropping down into the house...Had to go to a pest control center and set off 3 bombs to get rid of them. I am the only one they bothered, ate my ankles to the bone. I had heard of the dishsoap that bikermom talked about BUT I needed them gone like yesterday! Good LUCK:)

Hello, here are some others for you. Here in Australia there is tablet called "Capstar" excellent, 1 tablet and its a quick kill for the fleas, if they are still there the next day another one. Also, try rock salt on the ground, floors etc, and the vet here told me that the fleas are now getting used to Frontline. Another good one for dogs is Advantix, but, now good for cats. And another idea, equal parts of Disenfectant and Citronella oil sprayed around can also help. Good luck as they are a pest.

2 comments

by marietta 06 Jan 2009

Here in South Africa the pill "Capstar" is also the thing that works.

by boshoff 06 Jan 2009

I started with this, put on frontline and have to dip afterwards. For now they are OK but will foloow up.

All suggestions sound good! But until you get rid of the fleas, rub your ankles with Avon Skin So Soft and it will REPEL, not kill, the fleas. AND you will smell nice! After they are under control, you can wipe your dogs feet & tummy with a DILUTED mix of SSS...if you use the straight oil they will look like "punk puppies" with the hair sticking up...before they go outside.

We have no animals; but have a grassy area that leads into a dirt-gravel area where we park that leads to our house door.This past summer our house & vehicles got infested with fleas. You have to clean up outside first--(grounds).I sprayed 3 times with a yard-bug spray; and had to spray the inside of vehicles every week. It takes several weeks to get it under control.Then, you work on your house & animals. I sprayed & shampooed--finally! We always need to get good winter freezes to kill all eggs.I'm allergic to fleas--my ankles & feet were full of bites.So, good luck; they are no fun..Diane

Here in the USA we can get a pill from the vet the gets rid of them. You give it to your dog one pill a month.

1 comment

by lenamae 05 Jan 2009

this one I have not heard of.

try washing your dogs in a wool wash the fleas hate eucalyptus so even a diluted oil spray i know it works for hair nits as i saw it in a school newsletter i picked up even though my kids are too old to go to school i still read them hehehe. Be interesting to see if bikermom's trick works :)good luck

1 comment

by lenamae 05 Jan 2009

they don't like ceder either .I have put ceder chips out around the doors

First of all spray your yard really good with a flea killer I used 7 dust. then shampoo your carpet with a flea carpet shampoo . when it drys spray every thing funiture carpet beds and all with front line spray spray your dogs and in a little while there will be bo flees .I had that problem and it fot rid of them after that I just sprayed the yard i used 7 dust and treated my dogs once a month with front line.the front line stops fleas fron breading .
I did this 6 or 7 years ago and now I just spray the yard and spray my carpet once a year treat my dogs once a month. no fleas.

ok here ya go it's absolutely fool proof!!! Take a very low pan (like a pie pan) put a little liquid soap and enough water to mix about 1/4 inch or so, place against the wall and put a nite light above it. In the morning it will be full of your fleas. Repeat in infested areas and poof all gone!! I've got 8 cats and no fleas!!!!!! If any animals happen to lick it no harm done. Let me know, bet it works.

4 comments

by kttyhwk4 05 Jan 2009

WOW...wish I had known this a couple of years ago when dog brought in sand fleas
Will remember this just in case it should happen again.....thanks.

by grammapt 05 Jan 2009

I can vouch for this one working. We used this method all the time when we had pets any time we had a flea problem. Those fleas just jump in and drown!!! Then we started using the monthly pill for the dogs and that helped a lot.

by marietta 06 Jan 2009

Wow ! I also like this idea, as I always worry about kiddies and pets. Will try this too

by persiancatlover 06 Jan 2009

thanks for the tip i will remember that