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Posts Tagged ‘flea life cycle’

Flea Life Cycle: The 4 Stages

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Flea Life cycle insideTo be successful, natural flea control involves eliminating fleas from your dog and controlling the flea life cycle in your living environment. Dogs and cats share the same fleas. Fleas on the couch, carpet, and even hardwood floors need to be eliminated. It’s important that all pets have a flea control like Wondercide EVOLV. Treating your pet for fleas and ticks has never been easier. With Wondercide, you can also treat the source of the problem, not the symptom. Fleas on your pet are a symptom of fleas in your living environment, indside and outside your home.

When it comes to environmental control, we must first understand the 4 stages of the flea life cycle.

1. Flea eggs are white and about 0.5 mm (1/32”) in length. Eggs are laid by the adult flea after taking a blood meal. The eggs are laid on the dog’s skin and in the environment where their life cycle continues. Flea eggs represent approximately 50% of the total flea population. Eggs may hatch in as little as 14 to 28 days, depending on environmental conditions. High humidity and temperature are perfect hatching conditions.

2. Flea larvae are about 2-5 mm (1/8 to ¼”) in length. They feed on organic debris found in their environment and on adult flea feces. They dislike strong light and move deep into carpet fibers or under furniture, grass, branches, leaves, soil, etc. Flea larvae prefer warm, dark and moist areas. Outdoor larval development typically occurs in shaded, moist areas where pets with fleas spend time. Our homes, which most of use keep climate-controlled, offer an ideal environment for the flea life cycle to thrive.

3. Flea pupae produce a protective silk like cocoon. It quickly becomes coated with grime and debris, which acts as camouflage. With warmth and humidity, pupae become adult fleas in 5-10 days. The adults emerge from the cocoon when stimulated by physical pressure, carbon dioxide or heat. Unless they are able to feed, fleas can only exist for a few days once they emerge from the cocoon. Pre-emerged adult fleas can survive up to 9 months. During this time they are resistant to most insecticides applied to the environment. Wondercide is the exception because it eliminates the entire life cycle and other pesticides don’t. This is important to understand because adult fleas will eventually emerge into the environment months after you apply traditional or synthetic insecticides in your home.

4. Unlike the larvae, the emerged adult flea is attracted to light and comes to the surface to find a passing host to feed upon. Two days after the first blood meal, female fleas begin egg production.

In normal circumstances the adult female will live up to three weeks, laying approximately 40 eggs per day. The entire life cycle, from egg to adult flea can be completed in 14-28 days depending on the environment and conditions.



Friends with Pets with Fleas

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Q.  I am fogging my home with BioDefense and treating my pets with Evolv, but I have friends who come over with their dogs.  Should they bring in any fleas will the product have enough residual effect to kill these?

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San Diego Fleas & natural alternatives

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Hello San Diego! You are looking for non toxic flea control for your dogs and cats, and you keep finding it!  San Diego wins the Summer 2009 Award for the most Wondercide used in a local area.  You’ve provided the most Wondercide Reviews and product feedback too!  If you live in San Diego, California, consider yourself fortunate to be among so many people who truly care about their environment, their pets, and their children!

It’s amazing to talk to all of the “converted” users about the differences between traditional pest control products and Wondercide.   Folks from San Diego seem to really grasp the concept of treating the environment (your property) and spraying your pets down as needed…as opposed to putting drops on the kneck of your pets that resulted in one or both of the following: crazy side effects, ineffective results.
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Houston Pet Talk on Wondercide

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Houston is a city known as the Energy Capital of the World, but is also a progressive city where environmental and green initiatives abound.  It’s entirely possible for homeowners and pet owners to find local products that are new, natural and safe for the whole family. 

With hot annual temperatures and high relative humidity, Houston is the perfect environment for pesky fleas, ticks and mosquitoes to breed and quickly take over our lives.  Of course, the huge water roaches Houston is famous for are a force to be reckoned with in their own right.  So, what do we do if we don’t want to use chemicals on our pets and the property where we live?   Sometimes it’s best to step away from a problem, look at it from a nontraditional perspective, and determine an alternative way to achieve success.  That is exactly what a group of local business women have done for green, cost conscious, pest control products.
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Makes you Wonder…well it should

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

As a society of environmentally conscience consumers we are starting to ask questions about the chemical products we use on a daily basis.

What exactly are our children being exposed to where they learn and play?

Why doesn’t the stuff we use in the yard eliminate the bugs?
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Florida Fleas

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Wondercide Customer Email Excerpt:

Living in Florida in tropical conditions we never have a  respite against parasites, it’s 12 months a year fight with some times being worse than other times, right now it’s the flea time and we have incredible fleas that nothing kills.  Having sprayed the yard with every chemical on the shelf, powders, granules, and using spot ons, baths, dips on the dogs with no let up I was absolutely overjoyed with the way Evolv killed the fleas on contact.  I couldn’t believe it….
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Florida Flea problem and natural remedy

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Q. I bought some Evolv and Eco Treat for a flea problem I am having.  I haven’t had a chance to spray the yard yet because of high winds at the moment but have used the Evolv and it works great.  Kills on contact; unfortunately no lasting effect as they are back the next day.   But I’m wondering…  If the Eco Treat works as well for the yard as the Evolv does I will buy the gallon size.   Is is possible to use the Eco Treat to spray on the dogs too?  It would be so much more economical to be able to just buy the big bottle and use for both.

A. Evolv is a contact killer of parasites (fleas, ticks, mites, lice) and a preventative (repellent) for mosquitoes, ants, chiggers, gnats, etc.  There is no such thing as a flea repellent or preventative for fleas, except, to treat the property and eliminate them.  If you don’t treat the property, fleas will continue to jump back on your animals because they are heat seeking blood suckers. This is why we recommend treating the property entirely to eliminate the adult fleas you see (only 5% of the life cycle) and the eggs/larvae stages you don’t see (95% of the life cycle).  Every female flea produces 500 eggs in a lifetime and can quickly overrun a property that goes untreated.
 
That being said, we recommend treating your animals, your house (if the animals come inside they brought fleas in with them!) and the yard.  To eliminate fleas, you must break the egg layer cycle and the only way to do that is to treat everything. Once you have done that, simply maintain the flea free environment by spraying the yard every 30 days.  Mist the dogs once a week with Evolv.
 
Treating the yard with EcoTreat: On the first treatment,we recommend spraying the yard twice within 4-7 days to break the egg layer cycle. EcoTreat kills the adults, eggs and larvae and this will ensure the cycle is broken.
 
EcoTreat use on Animals: EcoTreat is a water soluble concentrate. It can be diluted for use indoors and will not stain or attract dirt. You can safely use it anywhere and everywhere inside when diluted.  Livestock has a much thicker hide than dogs and its okay to spray them, but the best thing for dogs is Evolv. It repairs and moisturizes the skin and is not water soluble. EcoTreat has the potential to dry them out as the inert is Ethyl Lactate, a corn oil by-product. It’s primary function is to dry out and dissolve the egg and larvae.    That being said, we just released a grooming concentrate that can be used on the yard and on the animals.  It is about $100 per quart, but makes 8-16 gallons depending on how you dilute it. It will last you a pretty long time. Roughly 7 yard treatments and a gallon of pet spray can be made from one qt of concentrate.
 
I hope this information helped. Depending on how many fleas you have indoors, consider using BioDefense to treat the indoor property. 1 gallons treats 2,000 sqft. It is the exact same formula as Evolv (just labeled differently).  A gallon of BioDefense is on sale for $100 and is 8 times more solution than Evolv (16 oz for $25).
 
We have also changed out our sprayers on the EcoTreat Qt. that allow for a much more thorough spray. Would you like me to ship one out to you today at our expense? Or, If you plan on placing an order we can include it in that.
 
Thanks for doing the best thing you can do for your dogs, yourself and the environment! Using chemical free, non toxic solutions to eliminate pests in the most effective and least harmful way you can protect the ones you love!



Q: How much is liberal?

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

I sprayed what I thought was a liberal amount the fur was damp-on both the cat and dog and the next day they are still scratching. Ran the flea comb over both of them and got four to five fleas from each one. They’re in and out animals so are the fleas hitching a ride in and if so why aren’t they dying from the smell????

A: The application method we recommend is to run your hand in the opposite direction of the fur growth, in order to get to the “hide” of the animal. Spraying directly to the skin will ensure proper application.

As far as the fleas and your animals still scratching, we must stress the necessity of complete treatment to get rid of the fleas. ALL insects come from outside, and  treating your yard with EcoTreat where the animals go is crucial to ridding your home and loved ones of fleas! With the dog and cat going in and out they are most certainly carrying the pests back into your home. For every flea you see, there are 9 times as many in larvae and egg stages. Another way to put it is that only 5% of the flea life cycle is actually adult fleas (the ones on your animals). So 95% of the problem is outdoor & indoor on your carpet, bedding areas, furniture, etc. just waiting to hatch into an ongoing problem. The key to ridding your pets of fleas is to rid the living environment and break the flea life cycle. That is the only way.  Considering the odds, 3-4 fleas isn’t bad.  I certainly understand your question about why they are still on your pets and why the aroma isn’t killing them. EVOLV  flea spray kills on contact and provides off limit protection but it does greatly depend on a controlled environment.  For example, they go outside and lay in the grass where there are more fleas or eggs, it will repel them but not 100% if there is an active, uncontrolled population.

I would be happy to speak with you in person to understand the habits of your animals and the indoor/outdoor environment where you and your pets live.




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