Yeah. Use the precor stuff and stick with it. I forgot how sleazy pet control places can be. We are lucky to have an independent one here. We used them for the mouse in the house problem last spring. We paid just for the service we needed. Past big-name pest control places were scams. A big up-front fee and $75 every other month or so for a year. All I needed was treatment for in-wall carpenter ants. Nothing else. I refused to let them spray anything in the home or outside in the fenced yard area (half of the perimeter of the house) because of the three dogs. All I wanted was boric acid puffed into the walls. Okay, so I paid for that and I would have to pay for them to come redo it every couple of months. That was the ony way to get it done, and I could not physically do the work myself at the time. One month I got a bill. They had not been out. I called. They said that they had "done the outside" when I was not home. I explained that there was no "outside" to do, since they cannot spray in the back yard. And I knew there were no footprints in the snow in the front yard, so just what was it that they did?! Not to mention that there IS nothing to spray on the outside of a house in Michigan in January. If I remember right, this bill also came after the expiration of the year's contract. It took me six months to get them to stop charging me for services that I was no longer getting. I think I had to complain to the authorities.

I lived in Louisianna for four years and learned about fleas there. Back then, we spread Dursban in the yard every month or so and used the new sprays with Precor in them inside. One company had the precor chemical in a formulation that dried onto the carpet or fabric fibers on the furniture. The dried chemical was actually micro-encapsulated precor that would pop if a flea walked on the dired bubble and it would poison the flea.

This was before the spot-on treatments like Frontline. It did work for us. Just vacuum a lot, throw out the bag (or vacuum up some chemical and hope it stays in the bag?) after each day. We were told to wash everything washable in HOT water and that it would kill the eggs. We never had it so bad that you could see the fleas jumping onto your white socks, but my friend did. She had a cat, too. I had a dog. I wonder if the infestations are worse with cats?

I do wonder about the flea waste that you see everywhere in the basement. It just makes me wonder what the heck is feeding them all. Are you sure no critters can get in the basement?

I was afraid I might have critters in the basement bringing them in, but I see no signs of any droppings. I have field mice in the garage and see droppings. I also see the damgage they do like ripping open bags of grass seed and making a meal. Garage is not attached. I keep glue traps, snap traps, and poison in the garage. It is not eleiminating the problem. The glue traps were working but now word must have gone out through the mouse grapvine and they must dance around them.

I don't want to ask a pest control place to check to see if I have critters because *of course* they will say "yes" and want to treat the mouse 'problem' for more $$$$$$$$$$.

I'm not trusting these pest control places after talking with a bunch of them. They are very pushy like car salesmen and keep trying to upsell. It sounds like they are just reading from a script when they talk to me on the phone. One guy told me that I should remove all my garbage bags every day from my kitchen to help keep the problem under control. I think he was reading from the script for roaches.

They won't get specific on what they use or exactly what they will do and don't seem very knowledgable about their products - either the safety or the effectivness. They won't answer any questions.

I am worried about the safety of the chemicals they use. I have ALWAYS used natural repellants in my home to keep this from ever happening. I sprayed lavender oil (the REAL stuff) around all the rooms and on the furniture every other day. I used DE. I used borax. I sprayed geranium oil and cedar oil around occasionaly. I guess this stuff does not work to prevent fleas. Well, at least my house smells nice. :)

I mentioned to one guy how I had put a flea collar in the vacuum bag and he told me that, that would "Drive the fleas out of the bag". I sprayed the bag with Vet-Kem Siphotrol and he said that won't do anything! I said something about putting the bag in the freezer between uses, like I have read, and he said that "Then I'll have fleas jumping around my freezer all over the food". Either these guys are reaaly dumb or they must think that I am.

And they will tell you that everything they use is "organic." Well, yeah, it is organic. Most everything that can be used to kill a living thing is organic - DIOXIN is organic, DDT is organic.... ANTHRAX is organic....

I suppose that except for heavy metal poisoning, pretty much everything that can poison you is organic.

Below is a link for Diatomaceous earth. The stuff works great for fleas and tics. You can safely use it on the animals, and in the house...just keep a face mask on while applying as when the powder is being applied the tiny particles, although non toxic can effect the lungs.Once it settles in it's place it is completely safe. Read the link it explains. I have been using this for 8 years, and I take it on vacation ALWAYS, never leave home without it!! I do the outside kennel area, the animal, and the home and as much as I camp with my dog he has never had a flea and neither has my home or camper, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: DE fela and tic prevenative and treatment

We have 8 indoor only cats. We've used Orkin pest control for over 12 years. They do a once a month perimeter spraying and it keeps everything out - fleas, roaches, spiders, ants, silverfish. Gone. I still use Advantage on the cats though in the summer, on the off chance we'll bring a flea in on our clothing. But inside the house we're flea free.

We live where it's very hot and very dry and without Orkin we'd be overridden with pests. When it gets really hot we have problems with spiders taking refuge inside the house where it's cooler. Put in a call to Orkin and they come out, free of charge, and go under the house to lay stuff down where they nest. Their website says:

"If pests return between regularly scheduled visits, well retreat at no charge. And if weÂre unable to solve your pest problem satisfactorily, we will refund your last service payment, too."

I couldn't do without these guys. It's worth every penny to us, and I know what they use is safe for pets, both indoors and out. I wouldn't trust the off the shelf self-serve pesticides and flea bombs.

PS...I was surprised to learn that Orkin sponsors an insect zoo at the Smithsonian. Ya learn something new everyday.

You can buy precor at this site.

I would not even start dealing with the hazardous materials you are putting around your home endangering yourself and your pets. First of all the fleas are coming from somewhere, if you have dosed your animals and they still have fleas then either you have a wild animal denning nearby or the neighbors animals are infested. The best least expensive method is to go get yourself a big bag of Diatomaceous Earth. Use a mask when applying it and make sure your furbabies are put away from the powder. Be sure not to use the stuff for pools, it has extra chemicals you dont need. Get an old sifter and sift the powerd around the border of your home, into your basement and you can place it in the corners of your home, be certain the dogs dont go sniffing it, it is not good to inhale more than a minute amount. The DE will cut the bodies of the fleas and any other hard bodied insects, making them dehydrate. It is very effective for infestations since the new population will be exposed and die (hopefully before they can breed) The drawback is that it should be kept down for awhile, and it needs to be reapplied after a rain or if it gets wet. I suggest you apply it to your basement, keep the dogs out of the area for a week or so and apply it to your yard, take your dogs for a walk on a fire road. Your dogs may be picking up fleas at a dog park or if they are in day care. Any flea which bites your dog should be dead within a day if you have properly applied the flea treatment (Frontline or Advantage) to your pets. Most other treatments are not very effective and can cause more problems than they solve. Good Luck...

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