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Flea Plague - Help


shantiah
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Ever since moving into my new house a few years ago I have had problems with fleas every summer. I have kept it pretty much under control but this year they are just terrible and now with the rain and humidity this week they are unbelievable.

I have treated all the dogs and the house but as soon as they go out on the grass they just get covered again.

I need help. I live on 5 acres and the dogs have access to about 2 acres on a daily basis. What can I realistically do which is not going to break the bank.

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we are on acreage and have a huge garden......We have planted lots and I mean lots of lavender, Tansy, geraniums of all type, rosemary and all the herbs that reduce insects. We have found that our dogs lie in the Tansy and flatten it. It does not look good. And especially Tessa always seems to rub herself in the Lavender bushes. We have no visible fleas on the dogs and we do not use any chemical preventative.

I am not sure how you could tackle an infestation, but we have all the preventatives working successfully.

The other thing someone told me ones was to make sure you do not have a lot of sparrows around, as they carry the fleas quite successfully to different areas.

Our dog beds in the outdoor kennel room and run are made from hessian bags filled with dried lavender/Tansy. The dogs love these beds. we only use them in Winter. They have their hammock beds in Summer

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Have been using frontline spray very successfully until now. Had to get spoton yesteday for the big greys as one has a very thick coat. It was scarry to see how many fleas she had. It seems to have worked but they are still getting more when they go outside. The IGs got the spray as always. There are too many of them to do spoton.

The greys have the big juicy fleas but the last 24hrs have had lots of the little ones too. The IGs are mainly the big fleas. And yes we have heaps of wild rabbits also

Cant really plant too much as its a rented house and looks like a grass plainland, not a tree in sight on my side of the fence. The landlord must have hated trees of any sort.

I really like the idea of the dried plants in their beds.

Edited by shantiah
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we are on acreage and have a huge garden......We have planted lots and I mean lots of lavender, Tansy, geraniums of all type, rosemary and all the herbs that reduce insects. We have found that our dogs lie in the Tansy and flatten it. It does not look good. And especially Tessa always seems to rub herself in the Lavender bushes. We have no visible fleas on the dogs and we do not use any chemical preventative.

That's interesting newfsie. My old Labrador used to rub himself on the wormwood bush (I know that repels some insects like moths) and never had flea problems. White/grey leaved plants like wormwood and lavender cope fairly well with dry conditions too once established.

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Have been using frontline spray very successfully until now. Had to get spoton yesteday for the big greys as one has a very thick coat. It was scarry to see how many fleas she had. It seems to have worked but they are still getting more when they go outside. The IGs got the spray as always. There are too many of them to do spoton.

The greys have the big juicy fleas but the last 24hrs have had lots of the little ones too. The IGs are mainly the big fleas. And yes we have heaps of wild rabbits also

Cant really plant too much as its a rented house and looks like a grass plainland, not a tree in sight on my side of the fence. The landlord must have hated trees of any sort.

I really like the idea of the dried plants in their beds.

I had a landlord like that, he removed every tree and plant I put in after I moved out :thumbsup: .

I don't know what to suggest but I sympathise with your situation.

A few thoughts:

- Maybe a back burn of the grass when the weather is cooler.

- Spray with a safe insecticide that will break down?

- Could the landlord be asked to deal with the problem?

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Thanks guys. I have a few suggestions to try. Will report back on how we go with them.

Unfortunately the landlord wont deal with it. When we moved in the fleas here were horrendous (read black legs from walking out to kennels). :cheer: Realestate said they knew :eek: So I threatened to move all dogs into boarding and me into a hotel and send them the bill until it was fixed. They did send someone over to spray pretty quickly but that was a few years back. They said if it needed doing again we had to pay. The landlord is a real tighta**e and everything is a fight so its just not even worth asking them. She only just tollerates the dogs and it would give her a reason to kick us out.

I cant have chooks as I have greyhounds and they wouldnt last 5 mins.

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Thanks guys. I have a few suggestions to try. Will report back on how we go with them.

Unfortunately the landlord wont deal with it. When we moved in the fleas here were horrendous (read black legs from walking out to kennels). :cheers: Realestate said they knew :cheers: So I threatened to move all dogs into boarding and me into a hotel and send them the bill until it was fixed. They did send someone over to spray pretty quickly but that was a few years back. They said if it needed doing again we had to pay. The landlord is a real tighta**e and everything is a fight so its just not even worth asking them. She only just tollerates the dogs and it would give her a reason to kick us out.

I cant have chooks as I have greyhounds and they wouldnt last 5 mins.

What a difficult situation. If chooks do get rid of the fleas, could you consider one of those rolling pens where the pen can be rolled all around the yard?

I would start with a few inconspicuous gardens of lavender. Maybe the perfume will relax the landlord :cheer::eek:

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Coopex from fodder stores. Its a powder you dilute in water & spray on the ground. $10 a packet & it tells you on the packet the area it will cover. Cant remember but it wont cost hundreds or anything near to do 5 acres.

Good stuff, very effective & wont make the dogs ill.

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