Fleas And Ticks
Fleas and ticks often live on your pet and ultimately on you, however not by choice I’m sure. What’s the down side to all this? Let’s start with fleas. Fleas can cause medical problems such as flea allergy dermatitis, tapeworms and secondary skin irritations. Flea season comes when it warms up. The spring and summer months are when the fleas kick into high gear. The good news is the cooler weather slows or completely interrupts the flea’s life cycle. The University of California performed a study that showed vacuuming got rid of 96 percent of adult fleas. After you vacuum be sure to get rid of the vacuum bag or completely empty a bagless vacuum. Remember, vacuuming doesn’t kill the fleas it just moves them from one place to another.
Here are some factors that play a roll in the development of fleas. Using dehumidifiers with air conditioning and vacuuming dramatically reduce the flea population. Flea eggs need a relative humidity of 70 – 75 percent to hatch. The flea larvae need at least a 50 percent humidity to live and flourish at higher temperatures. If you want to kill the fleas put them in soapy water. The soap in the water will make the fleas sink to the bottom of the bowl and drown. Put at least two inches of water in the bowl. Here’s a little trick I learned; put a bowl of soapy water on the floor and at night shine a light on the bowl. You can put it somewhere out of the way. The heat from the light will attract the fleas and they will jump in the soapy water, then it’s over for the flea! It works, I tried it. You won’t get rid of all your fleas in a day doing this, it will take some time. It’s a low cost non chemical method that doesn’t hurt your pets.
