Hi Everyone!
 
I live in Houston, and believe me, we have all kinds of bugs all year long.
Had our first hard freeze in three years this winter, but the mosquitos are
still bad.  As you can guess, I have become somewhat of an expert on fleas.
I also try to go organic as much as possible, as I am very sensitive to
chemicals.
 
First, fleas spend about 90% of their time *off* the animal.  They only feed
and lay some eggs, but mostly spend their time around the animal.  You must
remember this to get rid of them.  Try these steps:
 
1.  If you have a bad problem and wall to wall carpet, get it steam cleaned.
It will kill any fleas in the rug.  If chemicals bother you, tell them to
leave out the perfume, odor remover etc.
 
2.  Vacuum *everywhere*.  Be sure and vacuum your furniture, coils on the
refrigerator, under the beds, closets, and anywhere else your pet goes.  You
can try a flea collar in the bag, then dispose of the bag immediately.
 
3.  Wash all pet bedding.  Wash in hot water and for good measure, you might
add borax to the wash.  It kills fleas and deoderizes as well.
 
4.  Bath your pet.  Any shampoo and water will break down the shell of the
flea.  I have recently tried and like Dr. Bonner's Peppermint Castile soap.
It smells good, isn't drying, and goes a long way.
 
5.  If you treat your house, a good premise spray that is safe for kittens
should be fine.  I can tolerate Vet Chem Siphotrol Plus Premise Spray.  It
has a residual effect and works well.  It also contains precor, a growth
regulator for fleas.  It prevents the eggs from hatching.
 
6.  You might want to treat your yard if you have outside pets or some
living next door.  Fleas will hitch a ride indoors on your feet and spread
that way.  Diatomasceous earth, Bio Halt and dursban are good for this.
Diatomasceous earth dries out the insects shell, be careful not to breath
the dust as you apply.  Bio Halt is an organism that feeds on fleas.
Dursban degrades in about 24-48 in the enviroment both from water and sun.
Due to this, dursban only lasts until the next rain or a few days, which
ever comes first.
 
7.  Repeat-Repeat-Repeat.  If you do not use a residual in your house ( and
sometimes when you do) you must repeat steps 2-6 every 7-10 days for 3 weeks
or so to break the life cycle of hatching eggs, etc.  Otherwise your work
could be for naught.
 
this is a battle best won with patience. And if all else fails, you might
try a hedgehog!(I will be checking this out!!!)
 
Margaret and the Zick Zoo
[Posted in FML issue 1592]