Posted: 6/7/2017 12:07:32 AM EDT
| Anyone have any proven safe and natural ways to kill and control fleas it never seems to fail that I find them in my house, so I'm looking to control the issue both inside and outside. I'm trying to stay away from chemicals because of pets and small children. I use diatamaceous earth currently indoors. Any advice is greatly appreciated. |
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You won't find any "natural" solutions simply because they don't work. We had a huge flea problem our second year after moving into our new home in the country. Turned out the Frontline we had been using for years on the pets that worked just fine in the suburbs (where there probably wasn't many fleas to begin with) just wasn't cutting it anymore, so we switched to Revolution. That helped, but by then then we had the fleas everywhere in the house on carpets, rugs, you name it.
After trying every non-chemical solution it eventually got so bad we called a pest company who came out and sprayed inside and out. We also, per the pest company recommendation, took all our clothing, bedding, towels, etc. to a laundromat and wash/dry them, had to vacuum the entire house every few days for a few weeks, and had to keep furniture away from walls so we could vacuum the floorboards (which is apparently where fleas like to hide and lay eggs). After a few weeks the problem was under control and we haven't seen a flea on a pet or in the house for years. I also recently switched to NexGard for flea and tick since its easier to administer, is [slightly] cheaper than Revolution, and seems to work just as fine. |
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I have a friend who has a flock of guinea fowl and he says they wipe out a large portion of his insect problem.
I couldn't keep the fleas off our shop dog, I just did my once a year, bomb the shit out of everything with neonics and an igr, scorched earth. No fleas on the dog today. It was out of control and had passed our threshold for dealing with it. |
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Quoted:
I have a friend who has a flock of guinea fowl and he says they wipe out a large portion of his insect problem. Mine also take care of snakes and mice as they find them, and after you throw them a mouse or two they follow you all around the yard as you pick up trash or anything else waiting for you to spook anything from cricket to mouse. I'm not sure they hit fleas but they definitely go after bugs smaller than I can see from five feet away so I keep a pretty good flock around. |
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Tagging for everyone else's answers, because I don't have a good one.
We have a lot of animals and we use Advantage II on all of them. I've tried every commonly available pet flea control out there, and as far as I could tell, Frontline never killed so much as ONE flea. Even the vet said she gave up and doesn't carry Frontline anymore. It must work somewhere, for someone. Just not around here, evidently. I like Advantage II because I can buy the large dog packs and treat about five cats out of one dose pack (we have a gazillion cats). Can't do that with other chemicals. (With other chemicals it will harm the cats.) I tried going with natural products for a while, but we have too many animals and it just wasn't working. The effort ended with us having to do a year of heavy treatments on the house, so now I treat like clockwork. It makes the animals feel sluggish for a day, and I hate that. But the alternative is not livable. 
I like guineas for a lot of things, and when we had them, our flea populations were not as high on our outdoor animals, but for us, it's not enough flea control for animals that are in the house even part time. For TICKS, however, the guineas are my #1 solution. |
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Frontline on the dogs, did you mention cats? Malathion for the yard if used correctly is safe for animals and kids. Let it dry as specified. Maybe spray front and backyards at different times. It will also take care of chiggers, ticks and mosquitos. You will need to spray multiple times to catch the hatch. I've also found that soaking my dog with store brand mediciney non mint mouth wash will cause the fleas to flee. Literally jump off. Did this before applying flea dip for better results. I know you don't want to use chemicals, but there is no truly effective way without it.
Edit: I see that several replies are using Revolution, I'm going to check it out. Our current dog doesn't spend as much time outside so fleas aren't much of a problem as they were with our springers, but have fought that battle and prevailed. |
| We live out in the middle of nowhere. I give the dogs Nexguard, recommended by our vet. It works really well on fleas and ticks. A trick I learned from my Dad, was to spray the yard with a mixture of lemon scented ammonia and lemon scented dish soap (cheapest you can find). About an 80/20 mix in a hose end sprayer. Spray really good once a week for about a month, and then once a month or so until cold weather hits. |