Fleas Found On Dog - How to Treat w/ Snakes in the House

We found our dog was infested w/ fleas late last night and rushed out to find any meds we could. We applied some ointment to his body to kill the fleas but worried the house needs to be treated. I called our Pest Company and they have Flea Treatment which requires all human and pets to removed for 4 hours. Anyone dealt w/ this same scenario and have any advice?

if you can set up a generator that would be preferable however if weather isn't terrible your snakes will just be mildly uncomfortable for 4 hours. depending on the weather they may not notice. You're profile only lists two snakes so that is what I'm going off of.

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Originally Posted by SilasHorn'sHerptiles

if you can set up a generator that would be preferable however if weather isn't terrible your snakes will just be mildly uncomfortable for 4 hours. depending on the weather they may not notice. You're profile only lists two snakes so that is what I'm going off of.

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Well if I can, I'm trying to avoid the '4 hour get stay out of the house treatment' and find other solutions to treating the house "if" it's infested. So far, we've only found fleas on the dog and the blanket he was laying on.

If it's pretty warm in your area your ball python and bci might even enjoy some time outside if you can just move their enclosures and make sure the bci has some humidity. If its gonna rain or something then its a different story. Hope you can figure something out. Maybe someone else is more creative than me

Have you tried treating the dog with flee drops? I had a dog with a bit of a flee problem once and was told by my vet to treat her and over the next few weeks the flees would bite her and die. It worked for us. I did a flee bath a really good vacuuming of the house and furniture then the drops on her back and we were good. Now I'm good about keeping up with the drops.

My dogs are on oral Rx medication for fleas and it's totally effective...no fleas ever since. Before that, the stuff you dab on their coats externally were not totally
working, & I have quite a few snakes...having my house infested was NOT an option. ;)

My question for the pest control company is what if you have birds? Does the 4 hour removal for safety still apply? Birds are more sensitive...as are reptiles...to the
sort of things they'll use on your home. They may not know or care if any harm will come to snakes, but they should be able to tell you if it's safe enough for birds
after 4 hours. If it won't harm birds, it should be safe for snakes.

I would be inclined to keep my snakes away for at least a day anyway, and I'd do as I've done for emergency power outage during an ice storm*. Maybe you can
keep them at a friend or family's location for just a bit? *bag each snake in secured (!) pillow case, & put that into an "ice chest" (or styro-foam box), with a jar of
hot water for warmth; change the hot water about every 8-9 hours...they'll be just fine.

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Originally Posted by SilasHorn'sHerptiles

If it's pretty warm in your area your ball python and bci might even enjoy some time outside if you can just move their enclosures and make sure the bci has some humidity. If its gonna rain or something then its a different story. Hope you can figure something out. Maybe someone else is more creative than me

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Please do NOT do this! Enclosures outside become over-heated death traps in the sunshine (& remember that shady spots often do not stay shady!). Snakes can die from
heat stroke, glass or other enclosures tend to magnify & retain the warmth. I repeat...this is NOT a safe option.

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Originally Posted by gunkle

Have you tried treating the dog with flee drops? I had a dog with a bit of a flee problem once and was told by my vet to treat her and over the next few weeks the flees would bite her and die. It worked for us. I did a flee bath a really good vacuuming of the house and furniture then the drops on her back and we were good. Now I'm good about keeping up with the drops.

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Yes, so the drops were available late last night at the local cvs. It's like Frontline where you drag the liquid down the back of the dog. I also purchased Capstar which are oral meds recommended by every vet I spoke with. I think this will do the trick for the dog. My concern was 'if' and 'how much' the house might be infested. I don't see any yet in the house and I've been vacuuming and washing all the linens.

Bombing the house is the last resort and I would never consider leaving the snakes outside.

with the snakes being outside my assumption was them being closely monitored I didn't mean to suggest anything dangerous. I definitely see how that came off as leave the enclosure outside they'll be great. Again very sorry will make sure not to be so quick to post without proofreading next time. Either way outside isn't a great option you'll be moving them around quite a bit. Hope the drops work well. Good luck.

This is my recommendation. Use diatomaceous Earth. sorry about the big font it copied from the website. So I used this stuff on many things from bed bugs to ants. Basically what I did was take a pillow case and fill it with some daitomaceaous earth and hit it against anything u want it to be on. It works well in carpets on beds, on drapes, just about any fabric. This stuff is food quality and it can be ingested with no side effects. This stuff is not meant to be the primary way of getting rid of the fleas. This is meant to be used in conjunction with other natural or non natural methods. Do your research on this stuff before you buy it. The only way in which this stuff can even be mildy dangerous is when inhaled. But even then it just irritates the airways. So after you put it on the carpet the first time wear a mask when you vacuum. I didn't wear a mask when I vacuumed, and had no issues.

Another natural way to handle fleas is with Neem oil.

*note* doing it the natural way will take a while before they are all gone.. Since you got the drops already I would recommend making a neem oil spray to spray down everything you can. let that dry, and then apply the DE.

another way to apply DE is with a sifter, but i find that you end up with piles of it instead of a fine dusting when you use a sifter.

I actually treat our three dogs monthly with oral flea/tick pills as well, however the mention of the Neem oil was a good one! I use Neem oil for a couple different things:

I don't like Febreeze because it leaves a film on things plus the chemicals in it (more worried about the animals than myself) so I use a mixture of one part baking soda, three parts water, plus a few drops of peppermint oil, tea tree oil, and Neem oil that I spray on the carpets before I sweep. Leaves everything smelling nice, and BONUS, helps keep little bugs away. I like this as an extra preventative :)

I also use a gentle mixture of water, a few drops of Dawn dish soap, and a few drops of Neem oil to spray on my plants to keep pests away (aphids, etc.)

Another thing I should mention that it hasn't been proven, but DE is supposed to be a method to get rid of worms.

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Originally Posted by sur3fir3

This is my recommendation. Use diatomaceous Earth. sorry about the big font it copied from the website. So I used this stuff on many things from bed bugs to ants. Basically what I did was take a pillow case and fill it with some daitomaceaous earth and hit it against anything u want it to be on. It works well in carpets on beds, on drapes, just about any fabric. This stuff is food quality and it can be ingested with no side effects. This stuff is not meant to be the primary way of getting rid of the fleas. This is meant to be used in conjunction with other natural or non natural methods. Do your research on this stuff before you buy it. The only way in which this stuff can even be mildy dangerous is when inhaled. But even then it just irritates the airways. So after you put it on the carpet the first time wear a mask when you vacuum. I didn't wear a mask when I vacuumed, and had no issues.

Another natural way to handle fleas is with Neem oil.

*note* doing it the natural way will take a while before they are all gone.. Since you got the drops already I would recommend making a neem oil spray to spray down everything you can. let that dry, and then apply the DE.

another way to apply DE is with a sifter, but i find that you end up with piles of it instead of a fine dusting when you use a sifter.

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Thanks for the great recommendation Sur3fir3! I went with it after doing some more research. The neighborhood Feed & Seed store had a big bag available and I used a small children's nose mister do spread it around the floors in my house. I wore a respirator and while it created a 'chalky-like' cloud in the room, I never felt any irritation. I also ended up sprinkling it on my dog and rubbing it into his skin. After returning from dinner a couple hours later, I checked the dog and didn't see any more 'live' fleas. So far it looks like it's doing it's job! Kudos to your helpful tip!!

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

Thanks for the great recommendation Sur3fir3! I went with it after doing some more research. The neighborhood Feed & Seed store had a big bag available and I used a small children's nose mister do spread it around the floors in my house. I wore a respirator and while it created a 'chalky-like' cloud in the room, I never felt any irritation. I also ended up sprinkling it on my dog and rubbing it into his skin. After returning from dinner a couple hours later, I checked the dog and didn't see any more 'live' fleas. So far it looks like it's doing it's job! Kudos to your helpful tip!!

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No problem, my pleasure! [emoji3]

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DE is nice and all, but its not safe to breathe in and i'd be very reluctant to use it inside my home on that scale. I would recommend Trifexis for your puppers instead. You can get a 3 or 6 month supply at any Petco that has a Vetco office in it. Its oral so you don't have to worry about getting it on you, your furniture or having them lick it off. It treats live fleas AND they're eggs, in addition to preventing heartworm (a MUST), hookworms, pinworms, and roundworms

The pills amazed me. My cat got fleas and the upstairs was a flea haven. You could literally see them jumping at you and with khaki pants on, the number on my legs was obscene. I took said cat to the vet and they gave him a pill. By the time I got home every flea on him was dead in his carrying crate. I sent him upstairs as a biological weapon and he destroyed the infestation. After a thorough vacuum I never saw another flea. Powerful stuff. I can't remember the name but I remember it was expensive.

Before getting my dogs on prescription oral meds, I tried the stuff you dab on between their shoulder blades & hated it! Not only was it not totally effective, but
then when you pet your dog, you're touching the stuff, & if you have 2 dogs that play & wrestle each other, they can end up ingesting it off the other dog. :(

I've used DE before too, but not this way & not for fleas. I agree with Joykoins, I wouldn't want to be breathing that in my air space either.