Flea-ridden apartment dwellers and pet owners in an unsuccessful fight against parasites sometimes begin to forget that fleas, generally speaking, are the same insects as butterflies, cockroaches, or, say, mosquitoes. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that fleas are afraid of many substances, odors, cold, loud sounds and much more, which can be used in practice to fight small bloodsuckers.
About what exactly fleas are afraid of and how it can be applied to fight them, we will go on and talk in more detail.
Insecticides as the main fear of parasites
The greatest fear and, if I may say so, horror for fleas are substances that have a detrimental effect on their body and lead to destabilization of the nervous system. Fleas feel these compounds well and are afraid of their smell alone.
In practice, in most cases, insects can no longer leave the room in which such smells appeared - they simply do not have time, dying from the action of the insecticide.But having smelled such a smell on a treated animal (for example, if drops were used on the withers or an insecticide-acaricidal spray), the parasites no longer consider the pet as their next victim and do not jump on it.
It is interesting
The impact on fleas of contact insecticides usually begins with peripheral nerve endings. After that, the parasite begins to develop paralysis of individual parts of the nervous system up to the central nerve ganglions. Finally, the flea loses the ability to move, its internal muscles come into a strong tone (spasm), and it dies from stopping the movement of blood in the body. With a sufficient concentration of insecticide, all this happens very quickly, literally within a few tens of seconds. Even having received a very small dose of poison by the standards of an insect, fleas experience very unpleasant sensations, and therefore it is not surprising that they are afraid of such substances (it is more correct, of course, to say that they avoid such substances, since it is unlikely that insects are able to experience fear in the usual sense of the word) .
Substances that pose a serious threat to fleas include:
- Some compounds that are part of the well-known Dichlorvos, Karbofos and a number of other drugs for insect control. They are also toxic to a certain extent for animals and humans, and therefore are usually used only for the treatment of premises, while substances of a different chemical nature are used to treat cats and dogs. Fleas are afraid of their smell alone, and therefore, even smelling a remedy from a neighboring room, they literally retreat.
- Pyrethrins and pyrethroids are insecticides with low toxicity to warm-blooded animals, but very toxic to fleas and insects in general.Among them, pyrethrins are natural components of plants, and pyrethroids are their synthetic counterparts. These substances include, for example, Permethrin, Fenotrin, Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin, Etofenprox. They are part of Raptor, Klopomor, FAS, Medilis-Ziper and others, and from animal treatment products they are part of some anti-flea collars, drops of Tsipam, Sentry, Bars, as well as various sprays.
- Fipronil and Imidacloprid are new generation insecticides with low toxicity to animals and humans. They have the same effect on fleas as the previous substances. It is they who are most often used in the most effective and safe means for ridding animals of fleas - in drops of Frontline, Hartz and others.
Important
Although pyrethroids are considered to be of low toxicity, some animals may react acutely to their ingestion. Cats are especially sensitive to them. However, these substances are part of many products for ridding animals of fleas - when used correctly, the risk of poisoning the animal is minimal.
There are a number of other insecticides that fleas are also afraid of - many insect repellents in everyday life or agriculture have not only destructive, but also repellent properties. In the case of such agents, the effect usually depends on the distance and concentration - they destroy insects near them, and from afar they mostly scare them away.
Extreme temperatures, sun and water
Fleas can live and develop normally only within certain limits of physical environmental conditions, beyond which they carefully avoid.
For example, fleas are afraid of the cold.For most types of fleas found in apartments (this primarily includes cat, dog, rat and human fleas), temperatures around -15 ° C are already uncomfortable, at -10 ° they stop multiplying.
Accordingly, fleas are afraid of frost and, in general, cold no less than toxic substances. Therefore, it is useful to regularly freeze out flea-infested rooms in winter. This is especially true for chicken coops and barns.
Fleas are also afraid of too high temperatures. At +45°C, cat and rat fleas begin to die. Therefore, for example, when bugs are destroyed with the help of industrial fan heaters, fleas also die.
It is also useful to consider that fleas are afraid of water. When bathing flea-infested cats and dogs, most of the parasites try to get out of the fur and not get into the water.therefore, if emergency flea baiting is not possible, regular bathing can significantly alleviate the suffering of an infected pet.
On a note
For all the dislike of fleas for water, it cannot be used as a deterrent against these parasites in the apartment: even if you regularly wash the room and spray it with water, the fleas will not leave it. We can say that fleas are afraid of water only when they are threatened with oxygen starvation due to complete immersion under water.
Also, fleas do not like direct sunlight and, once in a well-lit place, they try to get out of it as quickly as possible.
Effects of chemical odors on fleas
Fleas are very sensitive to odors. This is largely a consequence of their parasitic lifestyle - almost all blood-sucking insects have a strong sense of smell, and sharp chemical aromas frighten them.
For example, the following odors are among the most unpleasant for fleas:
- kerosene
- gasoline
- turpentine
- vinegar
- alcohol
- chloroform.
In general, fleas are afraid of the smell of many harsh chemicals. So, insects quickly disappear from the room in which walls are painted or other works with paints and varnishes on organic solvents, they do not like the smell of putty and cement.
The disadvantage of such strong-smelling repellents is that it is difficult for a person with pets to live next to such aromas.
Strong natural odors
But the natural smells of plants that fleas do not like are an excellent way to scare them out of the apartment. Here, each owner of the premises can choose a fragrance that suits him, but which can make the parasites get out of the room.
The most famous include:
- tansy
- sagebrush
- eucalyptus
- geranium
- carnation
- lavender
- juniper, pine and other conifers
- thyme
- essential oils of walnut, camphor, aloe
- mint.
It is important to remember that these fragrances must be strong enough to be effective in repelling them - just spraying air freshener in the room will not be enough. Ideally, the same wormwood, tansy or other flea herb should be laid out in the corners of the apartment in the form of brooms of their fresh bushes, and lavender or eucalyptus should be used as fumigators.
However, the smells of herbs and plants will not help to completely get rid of fleas in the room. They can only scare away parasites from the dog’s bed or bedding for a short time, but when the insect faces the problem of choosing whether to endure hunger or smell, it, as practice shows, will be able to overcome its fear of the same wormwood.Thus, such funds are good only as a preventive measure - they should be kept where they can scare away fleas even before they appear and multiply.
Natural enemies of fleas
There is also a certain set of species of living beings that themselves parasitize on fleas or simply pose a danger to them. Accordingly, in their natural habitat, fleas are also feared and avoided.
On a note
Parasites that parasitize other parasites are called superparasites. And this is not just a pun, but a definition from a textbook on entomology. There are a lot of examples of superparasitism in nature - in the class of insects there is even a whole detachment of ichneumons with many thousands of insect species that can parasitize on most other insects, including parasites of animals and humans.
So, ants, including ordinary domestic pharaoh ants, actively attack fleas and their larvae.
It is not known which of these opponents is less desirable indoors for the owner, but if there is a colony of ants in the apartment, fleas are unlikely to be able to reproduce normally in it (their larvae will be especially vulnerable).
Fleas also suffer from fungal infections and nematodes, but it is impossible to use this with any practical results in practice.
What fleas are not afraid of: do not be fooled!
There are also persistent myths about influences and devices that fleas are not afraid of, no matter how advertisers shout about it. For example, it is almost impossible to scare away fleas from a room with various ultrasonic devices or means that generate electromagnetic waves.Advertising of such devices today is massively served through all means of communication, but the practical experience of using these tools does not confirm their effectiveness.
Fleas are also indifferent to all kinds of prayers and conspiracies that are still popular with the older generation. Perhaps, somewhere in the outback today, using such methods, they are trying to remove parasites, but in practice it has been verified: they all do not work.
An example of how residents of a multi-storey building suffer from an invasion of fleas
An interesting video: how not to make a mistake when choosing a flea remedy
Here are drops from fleas - yes, they really help, but everything else, in my opinion, is just nonsense.
Thank you very much for a great educational site! Special thanks to the author of the articles! The fact is that my friend accidentally got fleas in the house, or rather, they were left after a stray cat, which her mother brought to catch a mouse.As a result, the cat, of course, did not catch any mouse, but lived safely for 4 days under the bath, leaving only at night to have a bite of sausage and milk. The cat was miraculously escorted out, but the fleas did not want to leave and decided to stay, because it is definitely warmer under the bathroom than in the most comfortable basement. Naturally, few people will be satisfied with such a neighborhood, and now, thanks to you, we have managed to learn almost everything about the habits and preferences of fleas and how to exterminate them. Particularly impressive was the “freezing”. Thank you!
Poor cat... He was only glad that he had found good people and a home.
In general, only his domestic cat will catch mice at home, just to please the owners. And vagrants - from hunger in basements or in nature.
Fresh mint in large quantities has always helped me (in pillows and wherever my pets sleep). Plus, rub their fur with palms rubbed with mint. Plus I comb out with a flea comb moistened with a little baby shampoo and a little bit of vinegar. Cats bite the remaining fleas perfectly. I don't want to poison them with chemicals.
Anti-flea collars are excellent help against fleas and ticks - 100% tested. We live in the forest with a bunch of cats and dogs. Every summer we put on collars for 150 rubles, and no problems!
Natalia, hello! This is how you save yourself from red fleas that live on pets. But what to do with basement fleas, black ones? Remedies for red fleas do not work on them ((Violent, bastards!
Thanks, it helped me.
Are repellers, even expensive ones, ineffective? But what about when it is impossible to treat the area affected by fleas for many reasons?
The article is really helpful! I went to collect mint and wormwood))
Thanks, helped a lot
Wash the floor with vanilla.
Neither collars nor shampoos helped my cat! All hope for drops!
We, too, are only saved by drops, the collar does not help.
I am trying to get fleas out by all means, the last thing I use is Bi-58.
How did the drug help? We have fleas in our house, they just didn’t fight. How has this drug helped you?
We bought drops and a collar, and not cheap. There is no result. What to do?
Thanks a lot! I bought drops, and after a while there were no fleas, and I bought a collar so that the cat would not pick up fleas again.
What drops?
I have been fighting fleas for a year after the appearance of a small kitten in the apartment, which infected the cleanest five-year-old cat. She treated Kotov with “leopard”, and “leopard”, and “super-barrier”, and “insect stop”, and “advantage”, and “four-plus” - poor cats. For a week and a half they are cleaned, then in a new way. The apartment was treated with “neostomazan”, “neo-dichlorvos”, poured wormwood. I removed the rugs for six months - it seems, nothing. By winter brought back - the same thing. I processed everything and everyone again, the result is zero. Can someone suggest something radical? Moreover, all his life the “barsik” helped the kitten from the first time.
It is better to call the SES, they will treat the entire room with their special poison. This is how we brought them out.
Treat the apartment with Butox. There is in the vet.
The apartment and clothes can be steamed (with an iron or a steam cleaner), clothes can be put in the freezer overnight.
Thank you for the article!
After the appearance of fleas on small kittens with calcivirosis for 7 years, I use Frontline Spray, but at a dosage 3-4 times less than indicated. I don’t process the apartment, maybe a little in the corners with him. The principle of action is absorption into the hair, and not into the blood, which means there is less harm. Always helps. But this dosage helps if there are a few fleas. I have not tried it in large quantities, but it probably helps too. I read about it - that one girl just sprays three times instead of 30 to a nursing cat and does not process kittens. And now my kitties are sick - the kidneys, they can’t be poisoned, so 5 times today I puffed each one.
When my mother was little, her parents just finished building the house, fleas also appeared there (I don’t know which ones: black or red). Mom said that they just washed the floor with bleach and six months later there was no one left. Grandfather hunted all his life, and there were many dogs, and they spent a long time in the forest, but there were still no and never were fleas in the house. More than 40 years have passed, fleas are only on cats, but there are no fleas in the hut.
She moved, and recently found one flea on her dog, dripped drops. I began to worry that more genital fleas would start up (first floor), so my mother advised bleach. Now I only wash the floor with her, from time to time my husband bathes the dog with tar soap and bought a collar.
Fleas die from washing powder if they wash floors periodically, even in low concentrations. But for some reason they are not afraid of shampoos for carpets and liquid floor products.
What remedy should be applied to human skin to repel cat fleas from oneself?
What and how to get rid of fleas? Drops, spray and collar do not help!
Whatever I tried, nothing takes them.The vet says he knows a couple of these cats that nothing works on. Tell me, is this possible??? I have a Scottish Fold. Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm looking forward to it.
That's it, the same picture, and there was no birth, and then they attacked - and the scribe! Takes nothing. Also Scottish. If you did it, tell me how and why?
We have a dominance of fleas on the street. Neither ants (of which there are also many around), nothing helps, even when the temperature is above +45 they still live. I bathe a cat with tar soap. Moreover, fleas die only if I bathe her in a basin: I rub the soap on a grater, dissolve it well in the basin, add a little anti-flea shampoo and then put the cat in it so that it sits in the water for 10 minutes (so that only the head is visible from the water. Those which climb on the muzzle - I clean it with my hands. Press them only between the nails, so that they click (otherwise they survive). No carpets! Wash the floors daily, and wash all surfaces daily too (to get rid of flea eggs). And wash everything with the addition of anti-flea shampoo containing Permethrin. Good luck in the fight against these parasites!
The flea is afraid of strong foam. I bathe with ordinary laundry soap, lather the cat and maintain a strong foam for 5-6 minutes, then rinse. The fleas are dying. Pay attention to the bedding - dead fleas will fall on it. I have been using this method for several years. The cat has a very beautiful and soft coat, like after shampoo. This method was suggested to me by a veterinarian with extensive experience.
What are fleas most afraid of? A strange question ... Lefty, of course. This is known from the classics. Shoe - and no more flea will be able to jump.But seriously - spray dichlorvos in those places where cats and dogs spend the most time. And all business. And no more fleas. Well, at least until the new ones start...
Guard! I have a house cat, she doesn't go outside at all. She entered her third year. Fleas attacked. Yes, not just attacked, but attacked directly. They just swarm! The animal is exhausted ((I’ve been trying to get it out for a week. Drops of 2 types, a collar, shampoo of 2 types, haircuts have already reached dichlorvos. A day passes - and they attack again. They also blew the apartment! WHERE did they come from? How to fight?
At home there was karbofos, they processed the apartment, everything was according to the instructions. All because of a dog that picked up fleas somewhere. A dwarf pinscher, I saw a flea running in the face and ... I added karbofos, half a teaspoon to the dog shampoo, lathered the dog completely, held it for 10 minutes. Washed off with warm water. All. As there were no fleas. I soaked the dog collar in karbofos, dried it and put it on the dog. So far, pah-pah, everything is fine. Bloch is not. She scratched the dog after washing, no one fell out - they died during the washing process.
Every day you need to use a different remedy. Start with any that you can buy in the store, or that you find at home or gather in the field. The main thing is to understand that this is a war, and having processed the room once, even very carefully, be ready to process it again the next day, but preferably with the next tool. When I go shopping, I always buy a new flea remedy. Today was Dichlorvos. In the morning I sprayed the whole apartment, I came home from work in the evening - no one had bitten for 3 hours. That week, Masha's crayon, before that vinegar water (washed floors), drops from a veterinary store, clove essential oil.I want to buy "Biorin" and "Raptor", but have not yet come across. If I process the apartment as before in a week, they will still bite. I have a terrible allergy, I immediately take Cetrin. I agree to have ants. This year is very long fleas, already the 4th month.
Fleas infested the house, no strength. Whatever she did not poison, she called the sanitary and epidemiological station, they said that there was nothing to poison. In general, they refused! What to do?
I bought a Yorkie, found fleas on it. Scottish woman and two small children at home (( Collars, drops and shampoos do not help! They started biting the children and got to the cat. What to do? How to withdraw?
I have such a problem. Bought a house in Bulgaria. It turns out that in addition to the house, they also received a bunch of fleas in it. Despite the almost completed repair, the fleas have not disappeared. They only bite me, and in such a way that I don’t see the white light. I am already afraid to go to Bulgaria because of this. Please tell me, if I put dog flea collars on my legs (like bracelets), will it help? Is it harmful to a person?
Fleas need to be eradicated urgently. If you yourself do not know how, then it is better to call specialists. They will not give you life and will not disappear by themselves. I have friends who ran away from home because of fleas. It's good that the house was rented. In short, fleas are a terrible thing, and the worst thing is that they are carriers of any infection. I myself recently poisoned myself with some poisons that are used to wash cows and sheep (they treated me). The fleas disappeared literally for a week, and now there are hordes of black ones again. Where did they come from, figs knows, it wasn’t there before ...
Fleas got in. That is, they bought a house, and there are a lot of fleas. They bite the granddaughter, all walks in greenery.Are there any ointments that repel fleas from a child? And so we fight with all sorts of sprayers - both in the house and on the street, but there is no sense. Has moved, year as on Kuban. We did not have this creature in Omsk. Help!
The same story. I've been going green for two years. And I bought ointments. And I drink loratadine and zodak. But no rescue. Salt half a pack and half a bucket - mix everything and wet wash all the baseboards, wipe the furniture. And do this for a week. These creatures are afraid of salt.
I etched fleas from cats, and the fleas decided that I would stay at home. In general, today I discovered this misfortune. The cats have moved temporarily to the streets. In the morning I'll be baiting these creatures. Sleep is impossible. It turns out that the fleas just moved from the cats into the house. Would live with cats, what for, I started bullying at all ((