# Running an experiment with DE on a flea (non scientific)



## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

So Stanley has fleas and I have been combing him and liberally applying DE around his bedding, washing his bedding and using repellant oils. Unfortunately we are having a very long hot summer and the fleas are having a ball. Stanley is going to stay with my inlaws in a couple of days and we don't want to send him with fleas so we have made the decision to use vet flea treatment. Horrible stuff I know but he has only been treated 3 times in 2 years which is pretty good going.

Anyway, so tonight I pulled off this big flea, immersed it in DE so it was absolutely coated in the stuff and then put it in a jar to observe.
So far after 2 and a half hours the little bugger is still very much alive and leaping around like a Russian gymnast.
Will the DE slow it down? 
Will the DE kill it or will it just starve and be unable to survive after its waxy coating is worn away.
Will it be so pissed off with me that it will send telepathic messages to its mates to attack me big time in the night?
These questions and more will be answered in about 9 hours.

Just off to bed now at 10.45pm and I will check in tomorrow morning and give you an update.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

It's morning, what's the update?


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

It's morning here. Still night in New Zealand.


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## FBarnes (Feb 17, 2013)

Is it dead?


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

Blimey you lot are impatient! when you did your posts it was 3am here, a girl needs her sleep you know especially as it's my forty something birthday today and I'm starting to look my age. 

Anyway that is beside the point, I've inspected the jar and the flea at 8am is still alive. He can still jump, but not as high by the looks of it. Whether the DE has any effect on his sucking blood ability I don't know, I would hope that it would at least slow him down, which it probably has but not rendered him immobile.

So I'm now going to send my kids off to school have a shower and walk Stanley and have another look.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

sozzle said:


> Blimey you lot are impatient! when you did your posts it was 3am here, a girl needs her sleep you know especially as it's my forty something birthday today and I'm starting to look my age.
> 
> Anyway that is beside the point, I've inspected the jar and the flea at 8am is still alive. He can still jump, but not as high by the looks of it. Whether the DE has any effect on his sucking blood ability I don't know, I would hope that it would at least slow him down, which it probably has but not rendered him immobile.
> 
> So I'm now going to send my kids off to school have a shower and walk Stanley and have another look.



LOL! happy b'day to ya! 40 something! I turned 40 in September, and I swear, it's snap, crackle and pop with every move, and it takes a crane to get me up and moving. Kidding, it's not really THAT bad! HAHA! but happy birthday!!

And BTW, I told them it was night where you are. HA HA!


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## FBarnes (Feb 17, 2013)

Happy birthday!! hope it's a nice one. And thanks for the flea update.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

Thanks for the salutations...let's just say I am nearer 50 than 40 which kind of amazes me because I still feel like I am in my 20s in my head...........but my body tells me a whole different story ha ha!
Anyway back to the flea. It has been about an hour since my last update and he is looking a bit like a drunken sailor having a great time on the wharf ie still hopping but kind of going sideways and not nearly as high.

Right, now I'm going to tart myself up, so I look half way decent, and go out for Devonshire tea with a girlfriend and report back later.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

sozzle said:


> Thanks for the salutations...let's just say I am nearer 50 than 40 which kind of amazes me because I still feel like I am in my 20s in my head...........but my body tells me a whole different story ha ha!
> Anyway back to the flea. It has been about an hour since my last update and he is looking a bit like a drunken sailor having a great time on the wharf ie still hopping but kind of going sideways and not nearly as high.
> 
> Right, now I'm going to tart myself up, so I look half way decent, and go out for Devonshire tea with a girlfriend and report back later.


Happy Birthday! I'm a couple years over 50 & still alive!


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## Boxers&Pom's Mom (Jan 17, 2011)

Happy Birthday! I am wondering if it will be acting the same if you have it in the jar with no DE I tried DE and got a big flea infection in the house. I give up and I am using Frontline this year. I wish I can find a better way, but at the end when everything get infected with fleas, I have to put a lot more poison to eliminate it from everywhere.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

InkedMarie said:


> Happy Birthday! I'm a couple years over 50 & still alive!


That's good to hear!


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

Boxers&Pom's Mom said:


> Happy Birthday! I am wondering if it will be acting the same if you have it in the jar with no DE I tried DE and got a big flea infection in the house. I give up and I am using Frontline this year. I wish I can find a better way, but at the end when everything get infected with fleas, I have to put a lot more poison to eliminate it from everywhere.


Well another update. It is now 1.50pm and the flea is now on its side still alive, but barely. There is a bit of DE in the jar but that is only what fell off the flea when I put him in. I think it is fair to say that DE will kill fleas after many hours but how do you ensure that the flea has actually picked up enough DE to do it damage?
I don't know.
Some people use it with great success but I think as has been mentioned on these boards before, you have to be persistent and methodical with it and also do the washing and vacuuming. If the fleas have laid eggs you won't get them, if you can get the adult fleas which are fantastic jumpers then they will die, eventually, but how many eggs would they have laid in the meantime? are there any in the carpet etc.
Blood nuisance I know.
When I was flea combing Stanley last night I had a bowl of hot soapy water next to me which was great because they can't swim and the ones that came off the comb just drowned. We were going to bath him tonight but knew we were going to run out of time hence the flea treatment. 
Must go, daughter back from school with two friends, so need to do the 'meet and greet'.
Be back later.


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## FBarnes (Feb 17, 2013)

I think you need a second flea. And a control flea.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

FBarnes said:


> I think you need a second flea. And a control flea.


I think you could be right. ....But I am away this weekend so can't do and any fleas on Stanley will not survive the Frontline I gave him.
Glad to say at 6.30pm the flea is dead as a dormouse!
I think I actually did this experiment last year and posted on DFC but can't remember the outcome, probably due to my advancing years.
So I shall continue to drink my beer out of a wine glass (so much nicer that way) and then will move on to a nice NZ red to have with my dinner currently being massacred, sorry I meant to say prepared and cooked by my family as I type this.

If anyone else wants to have a go feel free to share your experiences.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Happy birthday sozzle! From the sounds of it you might have a headache today. That is the worst thing I've discovered about the advancing years. It's good to know that the DE does indeed work on living fleas though, everyone always seemed to have a differing opinion.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Happy belated birthday... Oh to be forty again. I hope the supper was good. This is the funniest thread. How about putting one in a jar with a little borax, I would like to know if that would kill it fast.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

G'day Herzo, I'm glad you are enjoying the thread which should probably end here really - I talk far too much and I've got to make my son a birthday cake shortly to take away with us for weekend (his birthday is the day after mine so I'll be forever organising HIS on MY day, well probably not when he leaves home realistically, not his fault, poor sod)
The purpose of the DE in the jar was to see if it actually killed the little blighters in theory proving if you actually manage to get some on the flea whilst on your dog or from bedding/carpet etc it will actually finish it off even if it takes 12 hours or so.
Borax may well work too but you might not want to coat your dog in that it might be too harsh.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Well I really do get that it may needs to end and that you wouldn't want to put it on your dog. But you maybe can put it on the beds and the floors and I was just wondering how long it took to kill them then. And how effective it would be. Just because I had put it up because it was in my green cleaning book.

No big deal happy birthday to your son as well.


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## Boxers&Pom's Mom (Jan 17, 2011)

Something that work for me in the house is get a dish with some water with dish soap and put a lamp on in the floor besides it. It is amazing how many fleas go and die there. I am also washing and vacuum everything all the time.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

Boxers&Pom's Mom said:


> Something that work for me in the house is get a dish with some water with dish soap and put a lamp on in the floor besides it. It is amazing how many fleas go and die there. I am also washing and vacuum everything all the time.


Yes I remember hearing about that one too, because they are attracted to the warmth. If a dog was in the same room though which would they choose, lamp/water or dog? or just the nearest thing to them. I might try that one when I get back, somewhere where Stanley won't knock the water over though, as he does like to move around in the night. Herzo, borax is really effective on ants, if you put it on their trails or outside in holes they use to come in, away from pets and young kids though.
I keep a container in the laundry which I use when I make up my own laundry soap every now and then.


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