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maratea
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Flea bombing our house
Backstory: Dog and cat have fleas. I'm taking them to the vet Friday night to be boarded and while there, they are getting bathed and flea treatments. I was planning on flea bombing the house and H and I would stay elsewhere for the night.
I was reading the instructions on a flea bomb and it says to turn off any open-flame source (pilot light) or electric items that kick on (furnace, fridge). It makes me nervous to turn the furnace off at this time of year because I don't want our pipes to freeze and burst.
So to my question- is it worth it to bomb the house, or should I just vacuum, spray the stuff the vet gave us (Knockout and it works pretty well) Friday night and vacuum again Saturday morning? I've never had to flea bomb a house, so I'm a newb at this stuff.
ETA: I meant to add people who have had to do this, is it worth the trouble?
I was reading the instructions on a flea bomb and it says to turn off any open-flame source (pilot light) or electric items that kick on (furnace, fridge). It makes me nervous to turn the furnace off at this time of year because I don't want our pipes to freeze and burst.
So to my question- is it worth it to bomb the house, or should I just vacuum, spray the stuff the vet gave us (Knockout and it works pretty well) Friday night and vacuum again Saturday morning? I've never had to flea bomb a house, so I'm a newb at this stuff.
ETA: I meant to add people who have had to do this, is it worth the trouble?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Flea bombing our house
ETA: I've never used a bomb either. I don't think they're necessary unless your house is literally infested. Like, you can see fleas jumping everywhere.
[QUOTE]Yeah I'd start with the spray the vet gave you. Gizmo had fleas a couple of years ago and they weren't terribly difficult to get rid of. Aside from the spray and vacuuming, wash throw blankets, towels and other fabric items around the house. ETA: I've never used a bomb either. I don't think they're necessary unless your house is literally infested. Like, you can see fleas jumping everywhere.
Posted by LessThanZero[/QUOTE]
And wash them on the hottest setting you can. Make sure to vacuum furniture.
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All of my neighbors have cats, and they bomb the apartments a lot. No one ever turns off their furnaces to do so.
[QUOTE]Hot water doesn't kill fleas.Only flea medicine does. You can't even squish them to death. All of my neighbors have cats, and they bomb the apartments a lot. No one ever turns off their furnaces to do so.
Posted by cupcakesfrosting[/QUOTE]
What about hot water, detergent and thrashing around in a washing machine for 30 minutes? How can a flea live through that, haha?
One thing I wanted to add, if you find any fleas on you or the animals, don't just wash them down the drain. They won't drown and will come right back up. Instead, put them in a glass of water mixed with dish detergent. It weighs them down so they sink and finally die.
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Flea bombing our house : What about hot water, detergent and thrashing around in a washing machine for 30 minutes? How can a flea live through that, haha?
Posted by LessThanZero[/QUOTE]
Well my chapstick has lived through that and the dryer, so I'm sure a flea could too. Are fleas like roaches? When the world has ended in nuclear war and zombies, fleas and roaches will be left to repopulate the earth.
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Flea bombing our house : What about hot water, detergent and thrashing around in a washing machine for 30 minutes? How can a flea live through that, haha?
Posted by LessThanZero[/QUOTE]
Haha, hot water doesn't kill them. And I'm sure, if they can live through someone squishing one between their fingers, a little thrashing in a washing machine, isn't going to do anything. It'd be like taking a bath.
[QUOTE]Yeah but chapstick doesn't have to breathe and a flea does. Unless they can breath under water? i don't know much about them though so I apologize if I sound like a moron right now.
Posted by LessThanZero[/QUOTE]
Maybe the fleas get little gulps of air during the spin cycle? That would be like an amusement park ride!
My best advice is spray your carpets with the spray and vacuum (not just once either, keep doing it). Wash all your dog's bedding, you can buy stuff that is safe to spray the bedding with too. Don't know how warm it is outside there, but you also might have to spray around the perimeter of your house if they are getting in there. Pick up some Capstar at the vet and give it now. It starts killing fleas within 20 minutes and as long as there aren't anymore fleas in your house that should get rid of the problem. Also, bathe in Dawn, let the Dawn sit on their coat for 10 minutes and rinse off. Its less toxic than the flea shampoos and works just as well.
I also recommend the flea product Comfortis. Its only for dogs and is a pill instead of the topical stuff like Frontline, but honestly I've found it works A LOT better. We were using Frontline over the summer and still had fleas, put them on the Comfortis and they were gone! Good luck!
When my golden got fleas from a neighbor's dogs, we gave him Capstar (on top of his usual Frontline Plus), bathed him in a neem shampoo and brushed him out every hour with a flea comb, then cleaned the house like crazy. I used diatomaceous earth, a garden pest killer, around the house. You sprinkle it around floor boards, brush it into rugs, then vacuum it up. It's not a chemical...it's tiny crystals that slice the little buggies open and then die from dehydration.
My neighbor bombed her house over and over again. I treated with the distomaceous earth once and it was over for us.
You can buy it at a hardware or garden store, if you're interested. Make sure it's the garden variety, not the kind that is used in pool filters. Wear a painter's mask and glove just in case the dust gets kicked up into the air.
The last time we went through this we ended up bombing the house 3 times and still not getting rid of the fleas. We sealed off the basement door and only bombed the main floor of the house. We turned off the gas going to the stove, but didn't worry about the furnace or water heater because they were in the sealed off basement.
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[QUOTE]Cville- We used DE the first time around and it seemed to help (H is into gardening big time, so he knows all about that stuff). I also like it for the natural factor. I hate to be stinking up our house with chemical spray. Maybe we'll go with that this time (last time we sprayed the house with Knockout).
Posted by maratea[/QUOTE]
A pest control company recommended DE to us this past spring. They gave us stuff to put on the floors, and to "dust" Whisky with. It didn't do a damn thing, and a friend of ours who works with DE for something else said it can actually be harmful to pets. Apparently it isn't as chemical free as some companies claim. So, I was pissed I dusted my cat in something potentially unhealthy.
Take that with a grain of salt, as I haven't done my own research.
Get the pets on a dose or two of frontline since the fleas are in your house they can keep infesting the pets. With the life cycle you have to repeat the insane cleaning in roughly three weeks. The frontline will help break the life cycle so at least two doses to break it, then restart in the spring to prevent.
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We'll just not tell H about this little fact, m'kay?
[QUOTE]I don't have any advice about getting rid of the fleas, but if you're worried about your pipes bursting just shut off the main supply to your house and open the taps. Opening the tap at the lowest point in your house will drain everything above that, but just leaving the taps open will allow the water in the pipes to expand more freely as it freezes and should prevent bursting.
Posted by raynes[/QUOTE]
I knew there was a way to do this yourself. You'd think working for a plumbing company I would know, but I don't.
[QUOTE]I don't have any advice about getting rid of the fleas, but if you're worried about your pipes bursting just shut off the main supply to your house and open the taps. Opening the tap at the lowest point in your house will drain everything above that, but just leaving the taps open will allow the water in the pipes to expand more freely as it freezes and should prevent bursting.
Posted by raynes[/QUOTE]
We've had to do this once to our house before when we lost power for a week during winter. Barf. But since we're only going to be out of the house for a day, I don't really want to go to all this trouble. And I think I'm going to skip the flea bomb and just do DE and lots of cleaning.
Anyway, we did it during the day. If it's above freezing during the day, would it be an option to do it on Saturday?
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