10 Fleas: Spraying Inside
Description
This article is from the Fleas, Ticks, and Your Pet FAQ, by tittle@zmall.com (Cindy Tittle Moore) with numerous contributions by others.
10 Fleas: Spraying Inside
There are a number of companies that will spray your house and
typically they have guarantees such as "flea free for a year" (or they
will reapply free of charge). The best known one is probably
FleaBuster. FleaBusters applies a product to your carpet that kills
all the fleas and eggs. Many people report that the results last for
longer than the guaranteed year. Other people have pointed out that
the product FleaBusters uses is Terminator (see below), and applying
it yourself can be a significant savings over what FleaBusters
charges.
You can spray your house. There are a number of commercial foggers and
other devices which you set off in your home. Generally, you and
anything live will have to vacate for a period of time. This can be
effective; it depends on if the chemicals involved will kill fleas,
flea larvae, or both. Your vet will be a good source of information on
effective brands, or you can have this done professionally.
Remember that a hand-held sprayer will be more effective than a
fogger-type application simply because you can make sure all the
hard-to-reach areas are properly treated.
In general, pyrethrins are "low intensity", relatively safe, and break
down quickly (some on contact with sunlight). They can normally be
used safely with puppies, kittens and in sensitive conditions.
Pyrethrins are from chyrsanthemums, and manage to be highly toxic to
fleas but not to people or dogs. It's very safe. Permethrins are
synthetic pyrethrins and have the additional benefit of a residual
effect for several days.
Organo-phosphates are "heavy duty" and last longer. They should be
used with caution as they are usually toxic to people and animals.
The Insect growth regulators do not kill adult fleas, but they have
little or no toxicity to non-insects as they very specifically target
the flea larvae, preventing its transition to adult stage.
Precor: (methoprene)
This is an insect hormone that interrupts the life cycle of
fleas by preventing flea larvae from maturing. It is not a
poison, even to fleas, but they cannot reproduce. It's used as
an environmental spray either by itself (in which case it will
take several weeks to show much effect) or combined with adult
pesticides (like pyrethrins) for a quick wipeout.
Because it's a hormone, it's thought that fleas can't become
resistant to it. However, methoprene resistance has been
reported in experimental population of fleas. If you're getting
poor results with Precor (=methoprene), you might try
Fenoxycarb.
You can buy the stuff at your local hardware/gardening store,
and spray the diluted (according to directions) liquid
everywhere in the house. This will not kill fleas by itself
unless you combine it with something immediately lethal, but it
will break the lifecycle and the fleas will go away in a few
weeks as the mature ones die and the immature ones fail to
develop. Such an application lasts about 4-5 months. Precor
cannot be used outside because it breaks down rapidly in
sunlight, but there are new formulations, such as Fenoxycarb,
that show promise for outdoor use.
Precor is most often combined with other agents, like
pyrmethrins. Currently available are powders, sprays, and
foggers all containing the ingredient. It can be difficult to
find a source of pure methoprene. One mail-order source is
Gardens Alive! It's called Vigren and is $9.25 per oz
concentrate (mix with 1 gallon of water, covers 1500 sq. ft) or
$7.95 for three or more. Address below.
Torus:
This is a pure form of fenoxycarb, an IGR. It can be used
outdoors since it doesn't react to UV like methoprene does. It
is available through Kristull Products, 8708 Grelle Lane,
Autin, TX 78744; 800-658-6699. Many products now contain
fenoxycarb, but Torus seems to be the only undiluted form
available. Due to company buyouts, Torus has been discontinued
from the market, though there is still some stock available
from distributors.
Archer:
This is a Torus like product against fleas (and fire ants).
Check:
+ http://www.fleasmart.com
+ http://www.dawwn.com/flea/archer.htm
+ http://www.fleas.kristull.com/
Sectrol:
This is microencapsulated pyrethrins (low toxicity to mammals).
This works well in conjunction with methoprene. Spraying your
home with this combination should be good for about 5-6 months
before reapplication is needed. Use the Sectrol Pet and
Household Flea Spray #1495 for the pure micro encapsulated
pyrethrin product (3M has a variety of "sectrol" products).
Expensive.
Duratrol:
This comes in both a spray (for the house) and a dip for the
immediate problem on your pet. The smell is reported to be
minimal and the effectiveness high. You only need to leave the
house for 1/2 hour to allow the spray to dry (rather than up to
four hours for other sprays and foggers, for example). Duratrol
consists of micro- encapsulated chlorpyrifos -- essentially
Dursban in "tiny time pills."
Foggers:
When choosing a fogger, note that the directions call for one
can per X no. of UNOBSTRUCTED square feet. In practice, that
means one can per major room. You can increase the
effectiveness of the spread of the fogger by setting up fans to
move the air around before you trigger the foggers. If you have
a forced-air furnace, set the fan to on and thermostat to off
(turning the thermostat off ensures that the heaters do not
kick in; most fogging sprays are flammable or explosive).
Foggers have a real problem in penetrating enough to do any
good, though. They just don't reach under furniture and other
inaccessible places.
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