A plague of Fleas

[laura_seabrook]

I hate to say it, but my lounge room is full of fleas

Comments

[faffinoodle]

Fleas hate Marigolds - Or so I'm lead to believe.
Plant some in your garden and buy a bunch of them, apparently they HATE the smell.

[faffinoodle]

Also - I know you're having car trouble so you might not have a lot of spare cash - But invest in some Frontline spray for dogs. It really works wonders. The fleas just drop off. You might have to spray it on the lounge or something too because those things are so hard to get out of furniture. Fleas can really make a poor dog sick, we had them in the house once and ergh! I got so many bites it was horrible :(

Actually, I...

[laura_seabrook]

...got Peggy some frontline, but it was probably a little too late.

Marigolds

[laura_seabrook]

Hmmm, seems like a good idea, and even if it doesn't work, it might improve the garden.

[kath_ballantyne]

it's been a particularly bad year for them. They are everywhere. Mum's dog Kara is allergic to them and the poor thing is tearing her hair out becasue of it. We've had to use advantix on Angel as she plays with Kara and if one flea bites her she is itchy for 3 weeks.

We haven't been too sucessful at getting rid of them in the house. I hate bug spray. But since we got the dog on the advantix we haven't had any.

so um, yeah, try the marigolds. Juniper is supposed to be good, as well as cedarwood, eucalyptus, teatree, lemon, rosemary and lavander. Pennyroyal, tansy and fleabane are also flea repelling herbs and garlic too.

I'd mix up a spray with some of those in it and treat your couch and carpet but make sure it doesn't stain and that you can stand the smell.

Flea Spray

[laura_seabrook]

so um, yeah, try the marigolds. Juniper is supposed to be good, as well as cedarwood, eucalyptus, teatree, lemon, rosemary and lavander. Pennyroyal, tansy and fleabane are also flea repelling herbs and garlic too.

I'd mix up a spray with some of those in it and treat your couch and carpet but make sure it doesn't stain and that you can stand the smell.

I'll try chasing these down. A bit difficult just now with the car, but I'm sure I'll find this stuff.

[fiery_ichor]

i find that if you put a dinner plate on the floor in the problem area, some dishwashing liquid and some water on the plate, then place a tealight in the middle, when you turn the light off at night then the fleas cannot resist the candlelight and jump in the water and cannot jump out as the detergent sticks to them. This is quite effective and can kill lots of fleas. Best to do it over successive nights for best results. But also much more effective if you treat the pet with Advantage which affects the larval stage as well as the adults. It has no smell at all to humans and seems very safe (i have never had any problems and the cats get over it pretty quickly if you apply it before they have a chance to get a whiff.) It is expensive but the best you can buy and it does give lots of relief to the pets themselves from skin irritations from bites/etc and it lasts about a month per application. (each application is a little tube of liquid you squirt on the back of their neck). There is about 4 - 6 applications per packet. You can get it

!!!

[laura_seabrook]

Wow, I can try this tonight!

Fleas

[laura_seabrook]

Yeah, it sucks (and bites)!

I tried the candle and the detergent method last night - seemed to catch about two dozen fleas, but that's not nearly enough. Things will probably die down in a couple of months, but that's no help now.