How do I kill the fleas and not the T'S??

[shawno821]

Title says it all,I got a case of fleas after by daughter brought home a cat.We beat them back off the animals in the house,but we can't get rid of the last of them hiding in my daughter's carpet.Her room is located in the basement,the same as the spider room,unfortunately.Are there any spider-safe methods to get rid of them?
I should mention the T room is NOT infested,it has bare floors,and no fleas,it's at the other end of the basement from the affected room.

 

[Keith B]

Title says it all,I got a case of fleas after by daughter brought home a cat.We beat them back off the animals in the house,but we can't get rid of the last of them hiding in my daughter's carpet.Her room is located in the basement,the same as the spider room,unfortunately.Are there any spider-safe methods to get rid of them?

Raid flea killer was the most effective means of eliminating household fleas for me years ago. If you can temporarily move the Ts that would be best, but if you can use it low and gradually and the Ts are elevated, and the enclosures are top ventilated, they should stay free of the vapors. Obviously your best option here is to move them to be on the safe side, but if there's no other way then you'll just have to be very careful not to overload the room with vapors.

 

[viper69]

Unsure how many you have-but this remedy does work, used it myself. Fleas are attracted to light!!

So take a pan, fill it with water, add soap so there's a soap film on top of water.
Place pan under an electrical outlet that has a nighttime light plugged into it. Those pesky buggers will hop towards light into water and die!!! I hate fleas!!!!

 

[ironwood]

if there seperate might i suggest building a barrier? I use to work in the asbestos field and you can make a containment area with just a little plastic and some spray glue and duct tape. in a basment you could probably have the area contained in less than 30 minutes. . then you could bomb the said room and no fumes would reach the T's. after the right amount of time you could vent the room to make sure it airs out then take down the plastic.. of course moving the T's would be easier. but if thats not an option this might work best

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

No need to over complicate this. Move the spiders out of the basement, handle the fleas by whatever means necessary, move the spiders back in after a few days. I have had to deal with fleas and ant infestations many times over the years. My rule of thumb is when you can't smell the pesticide anymore, it's safe to move the spiders back to where they were. Of course, after a treatment with pesticide clean the room to remove pesticide residue, but I think that is included in the instructions of any pesticide... at least I hope so.

 

[Wadew]

Diatomaceous earth .

 

[mmfh]

Capstar. It's expensive but kills fleas fast. Give it to cat. Wait a few days till cat is reinvested and give again. Will take awhile to break the life cycle. Good luck.

 

[Poec54]

Diatomaceous earth .

+1. That should be the first thing to try.

 

[Wildenthusiast]

While moving the T's and bombing the basement is probably a very effective idea, I tend to agree with a coupke of the other solutions done together if the infestation has been mainly reduced to an isolated area of the house. Diatomaceous earth or Borax sprinkled on the floor for a full day and then vacuumed up will put a serious dent in the popluation. Then, treat the cat with her noraml anti-flea meds, and quarantine her to that room for a time. The fleas will all be attracted to the animal, and subsequently die from the pesticide. This allows you to avoid the fumes. It's a more involved solution, but one worth the effort if you don't like to bomb your house with toxic chemicals.

 

[The Snark]

DO NOT USE DIATOMACEOUS EARTH! It will cut your invertebrate to pieces, microscopic style.

Fleas only spend about 15% to 20% of their life cycle on the animal. There is your answer. Moving the animal from one keeper to another, then sterilizing or just completely removing and replacing anything that can harbor the eggs. Keep changing the keeper every 24 hours and the flea population will dwindle to zero after 2 to 4 weeks.

Viewed under a microscope, diatomaceous earth resembles micro-miniature razor sharp particles. These get into the smallest gaps in the exoskeleton of invertebrates, working their way inward and destroying tissue and organs as they go. No invertebrate is safe and the stuff gets everywhere.

Please get real about this. Fleas are much hardier and more resilient that just about any animal you are likely to keep. Anything that could harm the flea is almost certainly lethal to your animal. Flea eggs can survive a few minutes in a microwave or several hours in the freezer. Effective flea killers also target the eggs. That usually means they are latent poisons that remain until the fleas hatch. That isn't the stuff you want anywhere near your animals or their habitats.

 

[CitizenNumber9]

Sprinkle boric acid all over the carpet, leave it for a day or two, then either vacuum or steam clean the carpet.

Edit** I believe you have to repeat this every few days because I'm not sure if it will kill the eggs

 

[oooo35980]

Fleas are a pain to get rid of even when you don't have to worry about Ts. Bug bombs don't always work (Didn't work at all for us). We got rid of ours using a combination of keeping our animals on preventative and flea powder + regular vacuuming. If you have any furniture down there they live in that too so just sprinkling on the carpet won't do it, like mmfh said having a treated animal roaming around is the best way to get the job done, the vacuuming speeds it up. I'd definitely move my Ts, no telling what even a minute amount of any treatment would do to them.

Good Luck

 

[shawno821]

The light/soapy water thing definitely killed a bunch of them,thanks Viper.My animals are all treated,2 dogs and a cat,anything that bites them dies.I think if they persist,I may make the spider room into a safe room,and try some carpet powder for fleas.I'm not even touching the stuff myself,my daughter can do her whole room every week for 4 weeks.I'm hoping just trapping them will work,I'll give that a week or so.

 

[viper69]

Anytime Shawn- it worked for me when I used it.

 

[brianp]

Time to rent a Rug Doctor. There are several different environmentally-friendly insecticides that can be added, which may
augment the lethality of the carpet detergent.

 

[jgod790]

Diatomaceous earth used carefully will be no problem. Right now all my T's are wrapped under a sheet and we put it out. It doesn't have fumes, so as long as it physically does not get in your enclosures your ok.