Help! How to treat for fleas without harming snakes?

[oneirogenesis]

Looks like the cats might have fleas. I've got medicine for them ready to be picked up at the vet, but I want to treat the apartment as well. It's a small apartment and I don't want pesticide around the snakes, but I had fleas in my old apartment over a year ago and nothing I did on my own stopped them from breeding all over the place.

I've heard of diatomaceous earth and I'll use some of that around the apartment, but I really want a professional to come in and flea bomb the place at some point. Is the only option to pack up the snakes and move them for a day or so? If I pack them up in bins and their tanks are still in the apartment at the time, is there any chance of their tanks being tainted with chemicals? I'm at a loss and thought some of you may have had fleas and snakes simultaneously. What did you do?

 

[GSDlover]

Fleas are terrible, I spent around 300 dollars on products trying to get rid of them and I never had a problem with them until I moved into the GTA to be honest haha.

I tried everything.. except having a professional come in. I wouldn't want a flea bomb around with my snakes though, I think this would be bad for their health.

To be honest, the BEST thing that cleared my house was cold air... I opened all the windows and kept the heat off all weekend. They were gone, and seeing how cold it's been lately, I think it would work. (Granted, this was before I had snakes, not sure if it would effect the tempature for the snakes).

Also the shots from the vet work great, no fleas this year.

 

[kathylove]

My house has had fleas really bad a few times over the years...

I would not bug bomb the whole place. Use Advantage or Frontline on the cats consistently. There is also another product that you can put on the cats' necks that immediately kills fleas on the cat, but has no residual effect - but I forget the name. Your vet will know.

And use Precor or a similar product on carpets. It does not kill fleas, but prevents baby fleas from turning into adult fleas. You can also get some flea traps that use a light at night to attract them to a glue stick.

If you do not allow the cats outdoors, and use those products regularly, the fleas will go down in number quickly, although you will still find a few fleas here and there for several weeks. But after a month or two, they will finally go away for good, unless you get re-infested from a cat or dog outdoors.

 

[oneirogenesis]

Thank you both for the advice. The cats are indoor-only. I lived in a really hot, humid basement apartment over a year ago and somehow fleas completely infested that place. I have no idea where they would come from now, but so far I've only found one on Nermal so I assume I've caught it early. I know their little flea cocoons can basically survive in stasis for months until conditions are warm and humid enough. I have to wonder if it's the same strain of fleas come back to haunt me even though I've moved into a different apartment.

The cold air is a great idea. If I can find a way to keep the snakes warm enough I may try it.

 

[wstphal]

Years ago I fought the flea wars while living with a cat that was allergic to almost all pesticides. He nearly died when I used a flea product that is generally safe. This product got rid of the fleas:

http://www.fleabuster.com/

I don't think any living thing would benefit from inhaling a whole bunch of it, but it seems very safe & my very sensitive fur baby was fine with it and NO MORE FLEAS.