Fleas

[RandyRhoads]

I have an abnormal reaction to fleas. Where a normal person gets bit once or twice I will already have dozens of bites and look like an AIDS patient. One flea can annihilate me. They also seem to be much larger (about the size of a good mosquito bite) on me.

I kill lots of fur bearers that always have fleas. Is there anything besides wearing gloves I can do to protect myself further? Like something similar to a permethrin spray I could possibly spray on without hurting the fur/meat? I'm torn on the plague situation. From what i've read it's pretty rare. But i'd rather not take the chance.

I have noticed while digging and constructing shelters in my area the ground ( mostly sand with grass growing in it) is loaded with fleas in certain places as well. Is there any natural/ primitive ways to repel them, perhaps smoking yourself or something? IF one were to get infested with fleas while camping/outdoor situation what could they do to get rid of them? Can you drown them at all, or is that hopeless?

[Skinner]

Try Useing Eucalyptus Oil .It works For mosquitos .And It Smell Pretty Good .

[RandyRhoads]

I actually have eucalyptus around. Do I just boil the bark and skim off the oil that floats up, like pine oil, then smear it on?

[Skinner]

Or If you Have a Oil Seperator Like for Makeing Gravey's But Just Skimming the Oil Off Will Work And If you Have something to Put it In Helps Also.

[Rick]

Sorry, but I'm a DEET man. Fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, flies, gnats and no seeums, are vermin I don't need to be bothered with. DEET will keep them off of you.

[crashdive123]

+1 for DEET on fleas. I too am sensitive to flea bites. Whenever I do a flea job, I spray DEET on from the knees down. Works every time. Obviously you would need a little more coverage when handling animals that have them, but DEET does work.

[your_comforting_company]

From what I understand, you boil the leaves to get the eucalyptol. It's an ingredient in some of the mite treatments on bees.
Soapy water is supposed to be toxic to fleas and other insects like aphids.
Thymol (from bee-balm or thyme plants) also works as a repellent.

when dealing with deer that are full of ticks, a soapy wash seems to take care of them.
Explore the options and see which one best suits you. In the meantime, +1 on the deet.

[intothenew]

Eat more garlic.

[Trabitha]

I heard the same thing about garlic. Of course...you then repel more than fleas. LOL! Good luck!!

[intothenew]

If offending other "critters" is of concern, I've kinda sorta got an answer for that. First, this is an absolute felony in hunting camp. It's way beyond the penalties incurred for such things as scented soap, scented toilet tissue, etc............critters of a different nose you might say.

Skin so Soft by Avon is a reasonable deterrent. The hens have always insisted on it versus DEET, and that is especially true for the youngsters.

[kyratshooter]

SSS was the standard insect repellant for the tree huggers at the archeology field school back when I was a grad student.

They would turn up their noses in disgust at us deet users, then send us into the thick stuff because "we would not get eaten alive!" Talk about a double standard.

[intothenew]

I'm with ya';

Real Roosters use DEET.


And eat garlic.

[Rick]

Roasted garlic. Mmmmmm. That can bring tears to a rhino a full day later. Just tell folks your chair squeaked.

[Kortoso]

The docs have so many treatments for dogs and cats. Maybe you visit the vet and say you have a real big dog that sleeps in your bed.

Seriously, natives in my bailiwick would put California Bay Laurel leaves in their beds to keep the crawlies down to a dull roar.

[wholsomback]

DEET!or keep the animals away from you until you make the truck and place them in a plastic garbage bag and fog them with flea and tick killer for a few minutes until yiou arrive at your next set.

[natertot]

I am another one for the DEET. Never had an issue with it.

[RandyRhoads]

DEET!or keep the animals away from you until you make the truck and place them in a plastic garbage bag and fog them with flea and tick killer for a few minutes until yiou arrive at your next set.

So a fogger is ok and wont hurt the meat/ fur?


Thanks for the suggestions guys. Is the DEET spray on like OFF?

[reelhook]

I use simple sulphur powder for chiggers and I am sure that it would work for fleas. Put is around the top of your socks and your skivies and any place where the restrictions are tight. They won't mess with you and it is not expensive

[Batch]

Yeah, get spray on DEET in the strength between 30% and 100%. Just watch plastics and synthetics until the DEET dries or it will start to dissolve them. The primary difference in concentration is how long it will last. I use 100% and believe that extra strength fills the gaps in areas I may have missed.


Kyrat, your tree hugging classmates were hurting the poor mosquitoes by having heavily DEETed enter the field and denying them the meal they so desperately need to nourish their unborn children! I mean the horror of it all!

[kyratshooter]

Yea Batch, I had a difficult time with the liberal kids and they had a difficult time with me. I was in my mid-40s when I went to grad school and did not take any foolishness. Frekin' people that push gun control and will not do harm to any creature but want to know if I am carrying to protect them from the axe murderers before they set up camp for the night. I will not even get close to the political platforms they support even though they will not eat meat or kill a bug.

I just remembered an old historic fact.

Back in the day the British Navy discovered that if a ship got infested with fleas, lice of other vermin they could burn pans of black powder and saturate the ship with that smoke. It was probably the sulphur that did the trick. In those days infestations were a common problem.

If you have a trappers cabin that gets infested you could do the same. We used to buy "sulphur candles" at the co-op and they would kill anything that walked, crawled or flew!

I also just remembered that my son had the same reaction Randy speaks of when he was a kid. We would spray him down good, then give him Benidril to fight the reaction. It seemed to work and kept down the scratching and whining.

Remember that plague is transfered by fleas and in a long term survival situation you want to avoid them like (here it comes)... the plague!