# fleas at home... need some advice relating to the frogs



## gillenws (Jul 13, 2009)

hey all... apparently fleas are a problem here in richmond in the summer time, and they seem to love my girlfriend's dog because they hitch a ride every time she walks her to my apartment. anyways, the dog gave the fleas to my cat and now we have a relatively large problem on our hands as eggs have apparently been laid and now are hatching in my house. we've treated both animals, vacuumed, done all the laundry, and sprayed mycodex that we got from the vet on all the carpets and upholstered furniture in the house (after having covered the vivs completely with towels even though they're sealed). today we picked many more fleas off of the dog, indicating that although i haven't seen very many live fleas in the house, they are still there. i'm willing to give it a week or so and see if these are just newly hatching adults that will be killed by the residual action of the spray, but my question is this: if it comes down to bombing the condo, is it ok to cover the vivs with plastic sheets? clearly i'd need to move all of my feeding supplies because it'd be a disaster to leave the frogs with no food! again, my vivs are sealed and it seems that covering them completely with a plastic sheet and towels on top should work, but i figured that someone here would have had a similar experience. sorry for the long post, and thanks for any help!

-will


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## jeffdart (May 21, 2008)

I wouldn't risk it. Advantage and frontline work wonders for me. No fleas in days.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I would keep treating the dog with a prescription flea/tick treatment as that is going to be the best method.. 

Ed


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## gillenws (Jul 13, 2009)

both animals are currently treated... each was given a dose of capstar to kill whatever fleas were on them presently and then given frontline/advantix. i also put a flea collar on my cat. the problem now is fleas in the house, and i forgot to mention that the downstairs of my condo is wall-to-wall carpeting, providing a pretty nice place for fleas to live/breed.


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## stingfrog (Apr 1, 2007)

NOOOOOOO DON'T DO IT!!!! You can't control the bomb. I had the same problem years ago and after treating the animals I sprayed the house with a spray I got from the vet also. The trick is do not vacuum for about 6-8 weeks after you spray. The give the apt. a good cleaning an spray again. After doing this I never had fleas again. I can't remember the name of the spray as it was years ago but check with your vet. I remember the spray was about $10 a bottle and it was a white bottle with red lettering on it.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

You do NOT wanna bomb the house. You will lose your frogs for sure.


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## jaree2 (Apr 1, 2008)

Just thought I'd throw in the tidbit that treating your pets is very important, but unfortunately the large majority of the fleas life cycle is spent off your pets in the house. I don't know how persistent you were with cleanings/treatments, but the pupa stage of the fleas life cycle is actually resistant to virtually all flea treatments. So what you are probably seeing is the emergence of the pupae that survived your initial cleaning attempts. Best thing you can probably do is keep treating to nail the newly emerged adults before they start the cycle all over again.


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## ravengritz (Mar 2, 2009)

Vacuuming only helps if you pitch the bags or dump the canister into an outside gargage immediately afterword. I agree with what everyone else has said and would add; treat your yard, vacuum daily (use the crevace tool around all the baseboards) and pitch the bags. It takes a few weeks of the animals having preventative treatment and regular vacuuming to eliminate your problem. The eggs will continue to hatch and die off as they bite your animals. Bombing the house will not speed up this process.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If you steam clean the carpets you can probably kill a lot of the pupal stage of the fleas. 
But if you do that then you will probably have to respray the carpet area. Don't forget to treat any of the fabric areas of the furniture where the cat was sleeping as this is also a venue for fleas to have eggs, larva and possibly pupae. 

If I remember correctly, Advantix doesn't break the life cycle which is what Frontline does do.. 

Ed


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## Shenanigans (Sep 24, 2009)

Being a Vet Tech myself I think I can give you some advice to help control and eliminate your flea problem. I can't really answer your question about the frogs though. This is definitely the worst season for fleas. Here in Cincinnati the 2 worst flea months are Sept. and Oct. Most of the animals that come into my work have fleas... which is sad. Anyway, most of the info that everyone else has said is true. Continue to use capstar and frontline. There is a new drug that your girlfriend might want to get called Comfortis. It's for dogs only, though. It's like a mix between capstar and frontline. It kills all living fleas on the dog within 2 hours but then continues to work for a month. The cat just has to stick to capstar and frontline. What you may want to do is give the cat capstars a couple days in a row and then bathe him. You don't need a flea bath necessarily (they're expensive and don't always work). You can bathe him in Dawn dishwashing liquid. As far as your condo goes. Yes vacuum! You'll have to vacuum several days in a row though. Vacuuming sucks up and kills all the larvae and adults. However, the vibrations can cause the eggs to hatch early. They are usually eggs for 7-10 days before hatching. When you vacuum it can be half that time. So vacuuming for 4-5 days straight will help. Also, ask your vet for Siphotrol. It's not a bomb so the frogs might be ok with it. It's an area spray for your house. It's expensive, but works crazy well. My clinic sells it for $30 a can. If you don't have it in your area let me know and I can probably send you a can. Well worth it IMO. Anyway, sorry about the novel and good luck!


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## Dragonfly (Dec 5, 2007)

Not to hijack a thread, but does anyone know about treating with fleabusters?


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## stingfrog (Apr 1, 2007)

All good advise. The reason you don't want to vacuum after spraying though is according to my vet is that it picks up the spray residue leaving nothing to kill the new hatches. According to him the best way is to vacuum a couple of times then spray and leave it so it kills the new hatches. If you feel the need to clean again then spray again to put down more of the poison. I had fleas so bad that you could put your hands on the carpet and watch them jump on you. I recarpeted and everything burning the old carpet but still got them back. Aftert I trteated per his recomendations I never had them again. One thing to remember though is you need to spray not only the carpets but the furniture and drapery as well.


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## Shenanigans (Sep 24, 2009)

Dragonfly said:


> Not to hijack a thread, but does anyone know about treating with fleabusters?


Never heard of it.


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## divingne1 (Mar 21, 2008)

Dragonfly said:


> Not to hijack a thread, but does anyone know about treating with fleabusters?


Fleabusters was the best thing I ever did when I lived in Jacksonville! Very much worth it and works.


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## divingne1 (Mar 21, 2008)

gillenws said:


> i also put a flea collar on my cat.


Careful with that feal collar. I used to work at the ER animal hospital a long time ago and owners lost many cats because they were strangled by getting the collar hung on something in the house and they could not get loose. That was quite a few years ago..not sure if they have changed the design of them over the years to help this though...I never touched a flea collar again after my first ER assist.


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## gillenws (Jul 13, 2009)

thanks for all the help everyone... i had come to the same conclusion about vacuuming after spraying, so i've been holding off on that for now. there are clearly fewer fleas now, and i agree that eggs hatching is probably where the new ones are coming from. when i was spraying i remembered to hit all of the upholstered furniture, especially the back of the couch where the cat spends most of the day. i will vacuum again in a week or so and then respray. the spray is called mycodex and it was recommended by the vet (plus she just gave it to us). i've also considered steam cleaning and i might go ahead and do that next week. again, thanks for all the help and we'll see how this goes.


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## HappyHippos1 (May 7, 2007)

I'm in the minority but I'd flea bomb the house. I have done that numerous times with my frogs and fish tanks. Just make sure the vivs are sealed (saran wrap works well if you have vent openings) and place a moist towel or blanket over the tops of the vivs/aquariums.

I've done this 6 to 7 times in the past 5 years and never have had a problem.


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## gillenws (Jul 13, 2009)

again, thanks for all the replies everyone. i just wanted to follow up... i ended up deciding to bomb.  i know a lot of people might not like this, but i got some plastic sheeting to put over all of the vivs which i wrapped tight around the bottom and then draped wet bath towels overtop of that. all of the frogs are just fine and the protection method is evidenced by the fact that there were still live FFs in all of the vivs! i'm still finding a few fleas so now i'm vacuuming/disposing of the bag daily and after my renal exam on friday i'll be having the carpets steamcleaned to finish off the eggs/larvae.


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## Shenanigans (Sep 24, 2009)

Awesome! Glad to hear everyone turned out ok!


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## gillenws (Jul 13, 2009)

just an update... we're still all four (me, gf, cat and dog) living at her place. i go back to my house every day to feed the frogs and vacuum. i see an occasional flea, but they're usually on death's doorstep. after this exam tomorrow i'll vacuum again and spray the mycodex and see how long they stay away


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## gillenws (Jul 13, 2009)

so... in my haste to get everything cleaned up to bomb this place i mistakenly tossed all my materials for making new fly cultures!  bummer. welp, time to order new supplies i suppose


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