I was never able to control them in the yard, but Frontline on your pets will work. I sprinkled Diatomaceous Earth on the carpets and washed everything that I could. I think it's all the rain!

Pam

I agree, it's the rain. We don't have flea problems with a dry spring - here.

My MIL put out some flea nematodes last week. I don't know if they really work or not. I'll have to ask her. I was just looking at GardensAlive for something else when I saw that they carry them.

I've known a few people who swear by D Earth but it's kind of pricey they said...

I've never heard the sulfur thing before. Please check back and let us know how that works! I'll have my hubby check with MIL also.

Are you all sure about the rain & fleas? I've read that fleas like it dry and it's the mosquitoes that thrive when it's been rainy. Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong, though.

My cats started scratching early this year. I need to treat them again this weekend. I've never tried to treat my yard, since what I use (Advantage) works fine.

It sounds wrong that fleas like wet weather, but here's my experience. 2007 was really wet and we tried all sorts of things to control the fleas, nothing worked. Finally, consulted an entomologist that told me to give up treating the yard if we could not control the flea carrying animals that visit the yard overnight (raccoons, opossums, cats). He suggested treating our pets with Frontline or Advantix. That got things under control. Last year was dry and the pets weren't getting fleas even when I stretched the Frontline application to 6-8 weeks rather than the 4 weeks that is recommended. This year we've had lots of rain and fleas are everywhere again. My 2 + 2 tells me that it's the wetter weather.

Pam

Did any of you see the national news about the "drop" flea control and how it's killing pets and making them really sick? I'm assuming they were talking about the Advantage & Frontline as they showed people applying drops to the back of the dog's neck. They didn't use the brand names.

Gardener, I saw that news item about the once-a-month drop on the back of the neck flea controls also. I read on down and I'm pretty sure it was the kind you can buy on the aisles at chain stores that was causing the problems, not any of the brands you have to get by prescription from a vet.

Using something for heartworms, which are carried by mosquitos, is a must for us because they are a dog killer in my part of the country. I use Advantage Multi, a once-a-month drop that controls fleas, hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms as well.

Before Advantage and the like I battled fleas in the yard and while nothing was a sure fire cure the application of nematodes several times a year did help. There was also a flea hormone I sprayed in the house on the carpet and furniture that kept the flea larva from maturing.

With Advantage there is no flea problem at all! What a relief.

Interesting info from the wiki...

"Using dehumidifiers with air conditioning and vacuuming all may interrupt the flea life cycle. Humidity is critical to flea survival. Eggs need relative humidity of at least 70-75 percent to hatch, and larvae need at least 50 percent humidity to survive. In humid areas, about 20 percent of the eggs survive to adulthood; in arid areas, less than five percent complete the cycle.[11] Fleas thrive at higher temperatures, but need 70° to 90°F(21° to 32°C) to survive. Lower temperatures slow down or completely interrupt the flea life-cycle. A laboratory study done at the University of California showed that vacuuming catches about 96 percent of adult fleas. A combination of controlled humidity, temperature, and vacuuming should eliminate fleas from an environment, and altering even one of these environmental factors may be enough to drastically lower and eliminate an infestation."

Here is a link that might be useful: fleas - wiki

Get Over in Out pesticide. Exactly same stuff used on pets for fleas in Advantage products. I think it's 20 dollars that covers 5000 sqft. Not only that, it's very effective against fire ant all year long for only one application.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1356529}}

the drops gardener972 is talking about is called promeris i think.i used it on my dogs for fleas and my schaunzer started having siezures. my step-daughter is a vet tech in ohio and her boss pulled it from his shelf. i went back to frontline and have had no problems.i looked on-line and found lots of people that had a problem with promeris.

Our vet has told us that the last two years have been horrific for fleas because there have not been enough frosts in these warm droughty winters to bring the flea population down--i.e., they haven't gone dormant or died in some numbers so they've multiplied like crazy. Sounds like a reasonable explanation... We had our worst flea explosion almost two months ago--so they were early and they were back with a vengeance.

We have finally started using the prescription Advantix, which you apply once a month and it works--woohoo. I stay on top of vacuuming while we are doing this and also started feeding the dogs a wee bit of garlic daily and spraying the dog run with cedar oil occasionally. Don't know if the latter does too much but at least it smells nice ;)

I did try spraying beneficial nematodes in their run last year but I didn't notice a difference in flea problems.

Austinwildfloer,

Over n Out is same stuff you gave yo your pets. They are sold everywhere. use it.

I'm an organic gardener and don't want to use the poisons in our yard, besides we have a puppy and don't want her to walk in it. We also have a LOT of anole lizzards that are good at keeping the bug population down and I enjoy seeing them. If we spray the yard, it will destroy the food source for those little guys as well as kill the earthworms that are aerating this rock hard ground and leaving fertilizer behind.

We're starting with the sulfur and will let you know how that works. In addition, we're going to try spraying BT in the yard. It can't hurt (may not help either). Next, we'll spread DE. Will keep you posted.

Oh and the dogs are getting their daily dose of garlic oil. We're going to start up the daily vacuuming too.

I'm in the Highland Lakes area. Last month it was fleas indoors... and I don't even have a pet.

This month it's mosquitoes in and outdoors. :(

But the garden is doing great! :)

Fleas are year round here on the island. I tried treating the yard one year but all that did was cost $, leave granules everywhere-which the fire ants seemed to love and used as food, and the fleas were everywhere.

I put drops on the dogs and cats every two weeks in the summer. Sevin dust the dogs every couple of weeks. The big dog gets Sentinel-heart worms, fleas, ticks & skeeters, she still has fleas so she also gets Advantix or frontline or one of those, I alternate them to keep the fleas from becoming so resistant. Plus they get regular flea baths, well, usually regular baths our schedule is a little off. I do spray the house, Bengal or something else, again, alternate them.

Tally HO!

I'm a beekeeper and I hate spraying insecticides. I fought a losing battle with fleas two years ago until I found this....

Archer Insect Growth Regulator

At last, we have an Insect Growth Regulator
that stops larval insects in their tracks!

And it is non-toxic!

And it doesn't break down in sunlight!

ARCHER comes in a convenient "tip and measure" 16 ounce
bottle.

You simply mix one ounce with a gallon of water in a pump sprayer.
This will easily cover 1,500 square feet indoors and in kennels and
runs.

Outdoors, it doesn't break down in sunlight --
we have found that it takes eight to ten ounces to do a typical back
yard.

Concentrate where the dogs spend their time and you can break
your flea cycle, too!

By keeping the dogs innoculated against fleas with garlic and B12 and keeping the house clean, even though we live out in the country I believe it is possible to control fleas and all the other annoying pests out there without using poisons in the house and on the soil. FYI, Over'n'Out is a broad-spectrum insecticide that kills everything in the soil including fireflies who nest in the soil. If you treat fire ant mounds with orange oil, water, molasses and soap you won't hurt the fireflies. Cheryl

Before Advantage and the others, we had to wash the cats.

I wish I knew why I don't have a flea issue. I have many animals (inside and out) and only treat one of them, my dog, once a month with the flea/heartworm topical treatment.

Other things I've thought may help are -

* hardwood floors with rugs (rather than wall-to-wall carpeting)

* vacuum regularly

* fairly dry climate

* I feed a high quality pet food and add a little turmeric and seaweed powder supplements to it daily.

* Bathe the dog once a month prior to applying the flea/heartworm treatment.

Don't know if it might be one or several of those things combined. However some of my neighbors have flea issues so doubt the climate/environment point makes much difference.

This article suggests Neem Oil Shampoo. And Neem can also be easily sprayed onto the yard. Might try googling natural flea treatments and neem oil to find out more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Doggy Does and Don'ts.

There is always coffee the caffine rattles their nerves system so they can't reproduce, but doen't kill them.

wally, I bbbelieve it wwwwworks the ssssame on humans!

If you have cats you can purchase large dog sized Advantage and divide it up for cats.

Here is a link that might be useful: Advantage for Multi Cat Homes

When I lived in Midland Texas (desert) we had an infestation of ticks. Could not control them. Tried everything. Our friend lived in another part of town was going though the same thing with fleas. Our groomer told us to spray our privacy fence first starting about a third of the way up and spraying to the ground. Do the same with any out door structures then apply sulfur granules. Ticks will climb to save themselves. I don't know if fleas will do the same. Worked great, not only for me, but also, for our friend with the flea problem. We did reapply 10 days or so later.
When I say infestation, I mean you most likely have never seen anything like this. Now we live in northeast Texas and with all the rain I am fighting fleas and have a puppy. We are buying Sulfur this weekend. I know fleas will hop about 7 inches so I don't know if I need to treat the trees or not.
Hope this helps--I highly recommend it. You may want to know that when Sulfur gets wet it smells like rotten eggs!

Fleas can certainly hop, and they can climb very well. Also, the adults can live for a fairly long period of time without any blood meal. Just FYI, products like Advantage and Capstar are NEONICOTINOIDS. If you want that, it's up to you, but just be aware what that is. Even some vets and pet store employees don't know what is in the flea products. I'm having problems because I have 3 cats that are very allergic to flea bites. And wet weather does make fleas hatch faster. I might try the sulfur granules out on the property now that it's not raining constantly.