|
Fleas
Aug 31, 2023 15:20:20 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by redvsblue on Aug 31, 2023 15:20:20 GMT -5
We discovered our boys have fleas yesterday, no idea how they got them (though we suspect our neighbors dogs) but we got the ferret Advantage today and we are trying to figure out what we should do. Should we bathe them (just using oatmeal) and comb them with a flea brush and then apply the Advantage ? Should we not do a bath at all ? Should we do the flea comb before applying the Advantage ?
|
|
|
Post by Corvidophile on Aug 31, 2023 17:22:53 GMT -5
The Advantage will begin killing them within hours, no need to bathe first unless there’s a really heavy load of them. You’ll need to keep it up every month for some time, as long as the suspected dogs have fleas and two months after that point. Vacuum everything really deep at least once a week to keep eggs at bay and wash their bedding at least once a week too, getting into corners of cages with a wet toothbrush.
|
|
|
Fleas
Aug 31, 2023 17:26:18 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by redvsblue on Aug 31, 2023 17:26:18 GMT -5
The Advantage will begin killing them within hours, no need to bathe first unless there’s a really heavy load of them. You’ll need to keep it up every month for some time, as long as the suspected dogs have fleas and two months after that point. Vacuum everything really deep at least once a week to keep eggs at bay and wash their bedding at least once a week too, getting into corners of cages with a wet toothbrush. That we can do. The only reason we wanted to give them a bath was because one in particular has these small black specks on him. There's not a lot, at least it doesn't look like it, but I just didn't want that stuff on him. So we don't need to use the flea comb ? And what should we clean the floors and stuff with ? I already do their laundry once a week with baking soda too so hopefully that helps.
|
|
|
Fleas
Sept 1, 2023 11:49:39 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Corvidophile on Sept 1, 2023 11:49:39 GMT -5
Vacuum first, then if you have hard floors you can mop with either half water half vinegar, or 90% water and 10% bleach to disinfect, but mostly the important thing is physical agitation of eggs that may be on the floor to grab them with the mop and then rinse them down the drain. No need for the comb, but you can bathe first if it’s to clean flea dirt off. If you want to wait until after it’s been applied and the ones on the ferrets have either run off or died, you can bathe them I think it’s three days after application of the med. By then their skin has absorbed all the medication it’s capable of.
|
|
|
Fleas
Sept 4, 2023 18:50:54 GMT -5
Post by unclejoe on Sept 4, 2023 18:50:54 GMT -5
any shampoo will kill fleas in about 3 minutes. you can use a conditioning shampoo even.
|
|
|
Fleas
Mar 28, 2024 10:57:18 GMT -5
Post by dookskywalker on Mar 28, 2024 10:57:18 GMT -5
Since everyone already told you about the Advantage, let me just add that it's not the fleas that are the real problem but their eggs. Those things can survive fumigation and they don't need a lot to be sustained. They can cling to carpet and some can survive vacuuming. A few random eggs can be on a nearby clothing or couch. One female survivor and one male can have like 50 babies in a month. The only way to stop flea eggs is to break their life cycle, chemically.
In the past, I either bought a flea powder for carpets, or used 20 Mule Team Borax that you can buy from Walmart and use to wash clothes even. Some say they won't risk Borax for pet safety. I've read sites that dispel those ideas. As long as the Borax is sprinkled lightly and not in pools or clumped together, it's safe. If you're uncertain, use the flea powder for pets. You sprinkle it on a carpet and you leave it for 24 hours. DO NOT LET YOUR FERRETS ON IT EVEN IF IT IS ONLY SPRINKLES. KEEP THEM OUT. Vacuum it and then clean out your vacuum. Then, vacuum again. The point is to let the fleas and eggs get the tiny particles on them. They will when they move around and they lick themselves and each others bodies and they become sterile. It also poisons them. For like 6 months or more, there are very sparse and trace amounts still on the bottom of the carpet. Any future fleas that come in will eventually touch one and be sterile and die.
They'll keep biting you for like a week or two and then they die. Fleas will always be on the most fibrous area in your house which is the carpet. You don't have to sprinkle furniture or your bed unless you have tile or hardwood floors in which case they're probably on a couch and bed mattress.
I want to add that even if you use the Advantage you can optionally check your ferrets every day for a few days. If they have black base hairs, you will have a tough time doing this. If they're white, white base hairs, or a light cinnamon, etc., you can do this no problem. You need another person, isopropyl rubbing alcohol 70% preferably and not 91% which stings more (you can find at Walmart), tweezers, toilet paper roll, a plastic bag Walmart bag. Put a little bit of rubbing alcohol in the cap and leave it like that. Person #2 scruff ferret and lay them on their side or back so Person #1 can examine them. Person #1 fold some toilet paper like a napkin. Make it thick enough but not super thick and place a circle of rubbing alcohol on it. Person #1 also hold tweezers and look around. Gently comb the ferret's hair with the tweezers and black specks will move. Pat the flea with that circle of rubbing alcohol and it stuns it. Squeeze it with the tweezers and put it in the cap of alcohol. It's not as hard as it sounds, I've even grabbed fleas using my thumb and index finger nails to squeeze them.
|
|
|
Fleas
Mar 28, 2024 15:09:55 GMT -5
Post by unclejoe on Mar 28, 2024 15:09:55 GMT -5
this is an older post, but I have used borax onthe carpets myself. I put the ferrets in the cage, broom in the borax (which contains boric acid) let it sit a coupe hours and vacuum as you said. When I left my last house with wall to wall carpet, I swore I would never have carpet again.
|
|