The uninvited flea guest continues from last week.
Professional pest managers will always do a great job at
controlling fleas because they are professionals, and they do this for a
living. Since fleas are in so many
different life cycles, give the exterminator at least two weeks for their
product to work. As mentioned last week,
the flea population are in several different life cycles at any given
time. Adult biting fleas only account
for about 2% of the population, the rest are in the egg, larva and pupae stage.
When treating fleas, it is good to treat your animal, your
house and your yard. This three-prong
attack gives you the best results.
If you are a “do it yourselfer” there are a few products
that can make a difficult job easy.
Fleas can be controlled by starting with your animal. There are two very safe products that cost
less than 13.00 dollars that you can apply directly to you animal. Flea and
Tick Spray with growth regulator and Bio Spot kill adult fleas and have a
growth regulator to prevent young fleas from becoming adults.
There are a few new products (Prefurred Plus) that are
similar (generics) of old products (Frontline Plus) that are now cheap enough
for me to use. Frontline Plus according to a quick internet search runs between
38.50 and 74.99 for a 45 to 88 pound dog. At Possum’s Prefurred Plus sells for
only 29.99 for the same size dog. Frontline Plus costs over 28% more than
Prefurred Plus!
Flee is similar (generic) to Frontline Spray. The 8.5 oz.
bottle of Frontline spray is about 4.58 per oz. Flee in the 6.5 oz. bottle is
3.08 per oz. and the 12.3 oz. bottle is about 2.44 per oz. Frontline spray
costs more than 85% more than the 12.3 oz. bottle of Flee!
Ultracide should be sprayed inside your house. As mentioned last week, it is important to
vacuum your house daily when you are trying to control fleas. If your vacuum has a bag, you want to remove
it and put it in a plastic bag, and put it in the trash can outside after each
vacuum. Ultracide will kill the biting
fleas and has a growth regulator that will prevent the treated population from
maturing into reproducing, biting adult fleas.
Since I am cheap, I usually limit my spraying of the house
to a few key areas where my dog hangs out.
Remember from last week, when a dog gets up from a nap and shakes, he is
shaking eggs off of his body. I
concentrate my spraying in and around those areas where he usually naps. A can of Ultracide can last several seasons
with this method.
Outside use Lebanon Insect Control in the yard. Be sure to treat mulched areas because the
larvae live in moist wet areas. This
product will knock down the adult flea population. Lebanon Insect Control will also control
chiggers, ticks, chinch bugs, grubs, mole crickets, fire ants and many other
pests.
Nylar is a growth regulator that will prevent the fleas from
becoming reproducing adults. Be sure to
spray the Nylar in your beds. Nylar is a great product outside because the sun
doesn’t break it down like some growth regulators (Precor). Nylar can be used
indoors as well. Nylar is an insect
hormone that can be sprayed around mammals, reptiles, birds, you, your pets and
children. Nylar also controls roaches
and mosquitoes as a bonus.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
