General Care Discussion :: I hate summer

[Swaypippin]

Summer time really annoys me at times! So here's the rub. As many of you know summer means warmer weather, fun in the sun right? Ugh! Sure, that means the dogs and cats get to spend plenty of time outside playing... and bring fleas in the house! I can't tell you why but for some reason here in Tennessee we seem to have bionic fleas! I mean really they're just unkillable! Its not like I'm an irresponsible animal owner! For the love of Pete! I keep flea medication on all four of the furries! And that stuff, as most of you well know, is way expensive! I have a 90 pound Doberman for crying outloud, do you know how expensive Frontline Plus is for him alone?! Sheesh! Not to mention little 12 pound shih Tzu/Chihuahua and the 9 pound Snowshoe siamese and the Monster 15 pount Flam Point Siamese, who is the devil here.

Case in point. That monster cat of mine... jerk... He's the problem! It's all his fault really. HE is the one that just has to go outside, no matter how many times I toss his rearend back in the house, after chasing him around the house, outside mind you, for a half an hour trying to catch him. He has brought the fleas in the house, and ever so nicely dropped them off inside the box turtle enclosure...

So finally I ask my question, does anyone know any way to get rid of these pesky (insert many derogitory terms here) fleas without having to completely teardown my enclosure and redo the whole thing, and also keep from harming the two babies inside? I don't think Varuka and Linka would like harmful chemicals inside their home, and I'm rather fond of the two of them as well.

Thanks in advace for listening to my rant. Hope you at least got a few laughs out of it.

[Kemul]

Interesting subject, although I don't have flea problem where I live.

I searched Google and found these two interesting articles about getting rid of
fleas organically:
http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp ... 1247207280
http://www.ehow.com/how_2048004_rid-fle ... house.html

I like the lightbulb one for your box turtle enclosure. Perhaps it'll work.

[Swaypippin]

thanks for the reply, I'm still kinda afraid the second option will harm the turtles. The first one seems more reasonable but I'm stuck on where to put the flea trap... I think it would take up a little too much room in the enclosure.

I did try to use a sticky sheet off a lint roller for clothing... it didn't work out so well.

I'm brain storming, its just not working so well.

[theartbook35]

What if you put peat moss in the box turtle's enclosure? I know peat moss gets rid of flies, maybe it works on other bugs, too.

[Kemul]

Swaypippin, I imagined your box turtle enclosure to be bigger. I figured putting
anything other than a trap would be eaten by the turtle, hence I put the trap
option as a first.

Perhaps you can try the borax option for your furry pets? Could be cheaper than
the chemicals.

[bover907]

I'll let the turtle experts handle the turtle advice. I'm new to the turtle world.

But as far as your dogs and cats.... I've never had luck with frontline plus. Dogs still got fleas. K9-Advantix, on the otherhand has worked great for me. I haven't seen a single flea in the house this year, and it's already mid July. The K9-Advantix (not to be confused with Advantage, which doesn't work either) is just about as expensive as Frontline Plus, but you won't feel like you're getting ripped off when it works.

That'll at least get rid of the source problem so that when the you and the rest of this great community figure out how to rid your turtles of the pests, You won't have to worry aobut reinfestation.