Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you take care of a flea problem when you have snakes in the house?
Thank you,
Todd Thompson

Do you have cats? Dogs? Where are the fleas coming from?

I have never treated my home for fleas. I will treat an individual cat or dog with a perscrition medication (drops applied the nape of the neck.) Or maybe put some cedar on the dog's bed. They are nowhere near my snakes.

Like I said, thankfully I have never had a severe flea problem to the extent that it became an issue. But what I can say is to be EXTREMELY careful of any chemical flea products that you use.

I had an experience once with termites in a house I was living in. I tried to consult exterminators as to the safety of different treatments for my herps. However, I found that they generally had no understanding, nor did they much care. I just wouldn't do it. Fortunately I ended up moving out of that house. (I wasn't mine) before I had to deal with that.

..

Hmmmm....I don't think I'd use Sevin dust in my house.

I don't think it's entirely effective against fleas, and don't really think it's worth the risk.

-Harmful if swallowed.
-May cause mechanical eye or skin irritations.
-Inhalation may cause lung injury.
-Extremely toxic to aquatic and estuarine invertebrates.

I think they used to recommend using it on dogs, but, if I'm not mistaken, in recent years have come out with more warnings against that.

I think that if I needed to, I'd start with systemic treatment of dogs/cats, and frequent, thorough vacuuming of the home, along with laundering of linens and whatnot.

Stryder, I can certainly tell that your recent experience has you thinking in the right direction. I have used seven dust 5% directly on reptiles; 45-60 minutes in a pillow case, lightly dusted with no ill effects. But I do not recommend to anyone using any product around reptiles except for those that are formulated specificly for reptiles. Seven Dust is very dehydrating and any animals exposed should be rinsed and then soaked after treatment. Also provided plenty of clean water afterward. I have used this as a treatment for snake mites for over twenty years with very good sucess. I am not sure however that I would use it on the carpet in my house due to any residual effects it may have without the carpet being shampooed. I dont think I would rely on vacuming to completely remove the product, plus it may spread it far and wide as I believe was your case. I don't know if you read the entire article I attached to a response to one of J3nny's post, but it stated that flea powder can remain active for up to two and a half months in carpeting. Thats a pretty long time.

Jeff

lol! Yes, it's true that I am paranoid. Always have been, but especially now!

I just never saw any point in going to any kind of risky extremes if there are other alternaitves to try first, when it comes to the animals.

Like I said, I have never had a really serious flea problem, to where I really had to battle them in my home. I have known people that have, though, and it can be frustrating. All I'm saying is that I think I'd tend to try the safest alternative first, and take it from there.

Sorry, but I am still pretty upset about my recent experience, and felt a need to comment here.

I have heard that you can sprinkle table salt on the floor and let it sit a day or two and then vaccuum it up. I have never tried it but the people that told me about it swear to it. There is also a natural flea killer at most pet stores. Don't remember the name so that is a big help. But it is for any age animal and they make stuff for dogs and cats and reptiles. I've used it with pretty good results. It takes a little more that most products but it doesn't poison your pets. If it is fleas on an animal, try a little garlic in the diet. That is supposed to help as well.

Good luck,
Jason

I have also heard of good results using baking soda on carpets.

Provent-a-Mite will kill fleas and won't hurt your snake, your dog/cat or you? If you have a large amount of space to cover you can also get Equate brand lice bedding spray at Wal-Mart that has the exact same ingredients.

If you have long term issues - then you can go to a farm store and get a battery operated fly sprayer (again with pytherins same ingredient in PAM) that will spray an area every 30mins or so. (I use one of these in my rat breeding are and have never even see a bug)

Hope this helps.