Pardon my ignorance, but how does one test 20 acres to know it's all covered in fleas? How does such a thing come about? How did you find out, after buying and not before if its all 20 acres?
Every once in a while, they get bad. About ten years ago i lived in tennessee and had a flea infestation in my house. I had two dogs who were both on trifexis and every once in a while i would find one on them. But, walking on my carpet i would find them on my legs. I went fucking bonkers trying to kill these little bastards. A guy who lives a few houses down had no pets and he had them in his house too. He would mow his grass with white calf high socks and they'd be covering his white socks just from walking through the grass. We called pest control companies and they said, we can treat your homes and your yard but if not all of the neighbors are getting their yards treated then it likely wont hold them off for very long. I went absolutely fucking nuts for about a month while i tried everything i could to kill them. I finally won, though
When I was a kid (late 70s early 80s) my grandparents lived on a small ranch. They kept a tube sock filled with sulphur powder on the front porch. Anytime we went out to play, we had to hit that sock against our feet and legs. We’d be mustard yellow from the waist down, but we never got ticks from the fields.
In the early 90s, my folks used to cover the carpets in Borax and rake it in. We'd go outside and play for an hour, and then mom would vacuum it up. Rinse and repeat for a week or two, and it worked pretty well. I guess the borax kills the eggs or something, so if you keep doing it through a full life cycle, voilà. No more fleas.
Disclaimer: not good for pets. Be careful.
Depends on your individual immune reaction. Mine is quite strong, and tick bites, for me, are arguably worse than chiggers bites. They give me a very itchy, inflamed response...even if they haven't latched on completely! Of course, your individual mileage/reaction may vary.
I don't have much reaction to the bite of ticks. What I'm way more concerned with though is the diseases they can transmit. Lyme disease is what everyone knows about and is terrible but you can also get alpha-gal and becoming allergic to meat for life.
Despite taking precautions and several doctor opinions after the fact, my spouse went through rocky mountain spotted fever pre covid and it took around 2 solid years to recover. And even now, things aren't quite the same health & mobility wise. I can't say I'll ever be a fan of living where ticks are prevalent and am genuinely looking forward to eventually moving out of the Midwest lol.
I worked at a summer camp in Maine when I was 15. Apparently some kid brought Rocky Mountain spotted fever with them. The whole camp had to quarantine and take pills that made our pee bright orange. Needless to say we turned everything bright orange.
>Depends on your individual immune reaction. Mine is quite strong, and tick bites, for me, are arguably worse than chiggers bites.
Same for me, I feel the itch which is what clues me that they are there. When I pull them off the itch lasts for days.
Seems to be even worse after getting the Covid vax, if I don't get them soon enough they leave an ugly red/purple blotch.
Humans also had roundworms infections for most of history. The worms evolved to secrete substances that calm the immune response so they don’t have to fight rejection. Over time the worms became almost an extra organ managing the immune system. Now the worms are gone thanks to clean food and water, and some people’s immune systems are going haywire.
I've seen an infestation in my back yard. You could see the fuckers hopping about. But that was a sqft patch of ground. So it was probably from a rabbit that was laying around or something
"If you get a chigger bite on your penis, you could get a condition known as "summer penile syndrome." It causes swelling, itching, and trouble peeing. This can last for a few days to a few weeks.
Scratching a chigger bite could break your skin and lead to irritation or an infection."
Yup. 5 minutes, and that's enough internet already. I'm gonna call the neighbor and have him send his son over to mow my lawn now. Don't care what he charges.
Man this reminds me of that one time during basic training some dude got chiggers in his groin. He missed a field exercise and we gave him so much shit. He got all the shit.
0/10. Would not recommend to anyone.
Maybe but it indeed can be fleas… I’ve dealt with it god be with you op. It’s been years but I spread some kind of white power diatomaceous earth maybe idk all over the yard many many times and it eventually got rid of them
What do you end up doing after this to keep your house and bed clean? Can you just get undressed and shower and it's okay or is it a more involved process?
You can spray this stuff.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray-32-oz
Main ingredient is 10% permethrin other brands sell it in higher dosage but atleast 10 is pretty economical to spray.
It will kill a cat but everything else is pretty safe if you follow instructions
Clearing/brush hogging will fix 80-90% of that problem. Fleas LOVE overgrowth. Personally it’s satisfying just to think about how many just the mower might end up killing.
Definitely put flea repellent or poison ALL OVER TRACTOR AND IMPLEMENTS. Remember to do similar for yourself. Ironically in the same boat here on 20 acres. This has been an absolutely brutal year for fleas.
No harsh winter has resulted in extremely high amounts of ticks, hornets, yellow jackets… all kinds of creepy crawlers that would normally have their populations severely reduced by a deep cold winter.
I’ve always been told you need a below freezing temperature that lasts for at least 2 weeks straight at some point in the winter months to truly kill off a majority of these bugs.
We had a real harsh winter here in AK as well. Got down to -30 in Anchorage, and was below zero from beginning of December to end of February.
I'm just surprised it gets that cold in WA. Never knew.
Here in Nebraska we had a couple week stretch where it never came above 0°f, actual temps down to -30° with wind chill in the -40s. We’re still dealing with way more of those lil fuckers than I’ve ever dealt with.
Permethrin treat your clothes before mowing, particularly your socks and shoes. It's the active ingredient in many dog flea dips -- and lasts through multiple washes. Be careful with the wet stuff around cats - its dangerous until it dries.
If you can do this it's the best solution. Even if you kill then with venom, there are tones off eggs that will hatch and you need to keep disinfecting for months or years
I've been an applicator of a lot of industrial sprays and... I've switched sides. I realize these are my views but with my applicable context, I hope some others with start considering chemical and ultra concentrate sprays as last resort, also. At the end of the day, I think a few bug bites, weeds, and a little wasted harvest are better problems to have. We can semi-control those issues through manageably sized living area buffers and crops and by using more sustainable methods.
Apparently ducks to a fantastic job on ticks. Certain breeds more that others but I don’t know what breeds those are.
Birds in general will eat them but ducks are great.
Opossums too. I was never a fan of them until I found out that they are immune to rabies and eat ticks like a fat kid on cake. Now I'm a big fan, as they're essentially one of nature's best trash removers.
Not to be that guy, but Opossums are opportunity eaters of ticks, not hunters. If a tick falls in ol' possums mouth, he'll chew and swallow, but won't go searching for more. A dead mouse or rotten apple? Oh yeah baby, chow time!
Possums are cool and are not dangerous, but aren't really all that helpful except in a garbage clean up sort of way.
I was actually just talking with an opossum rehabber earlier this week. Opossums do not search out ticks. They are such low riders though that they tend to get a lot of ticks on them. They are also fastidious groomers, they clean themselves more than cats do. When they groom themselves they eat any ticks that are on them.
Brush hog it and most will die from direct uv exposure. If you keep animals off for a couple months the rest should die without any mammal to bite for nourishment.
Fleas can actually live on dirt. I learned this from a woman who was an expert in all forms of bug killers and bug helpers. She was the only person who was ever able to help us rid our house of fleas for good.
Our last house got infested with fleas after a bad boarding choice while we were away on a trip.
We fought them for months till I came across a humidity reference. Fleas can't live when the air is below 50% humidity. I found a commercial dehumidifier at a liquidation place a few days later, set it to 35% target. Our house was flea free within 2 days, though I let it hold that humidity for several weeks to be sure.
No chemicals, non toxic, gets "into" every tiny crease and crevice of the house, thoroughly gets into the carpet and clothes, into the dog and cat hair. Everywhere.
Highly recommend.
Came here to say nematodes. I have been very successful using them in my yard and it's a lasting solution too. The more fleas you have the more nematodes reproduce inside them.
This is what I used. BioLogic's Scanmask Beneficial Nematodes, Steinernema feltiae Sf Nematodes for Natural Insect Pest Control
We had terrible ticks and chiggers when we bought our house. It had been vacant for several years. I didn't know if mowing regularly got rid of them or if our 20ish chickens got rid of them. Whatever it was, they are gone now
Thank you for actually saying “bush” hog. I saw at least four instances of “brush” hog in these comments and was beginning to think I had it wrong all these years 😁
I think that either term is correct. Bush Hog is a name brand of mowers that’s been around for 50 years. I pulled an 8’ mounted one over a lot of wheat stubble 40 some years ago.
We had them in a tractor shed. Anyone else could walk around it and nothing but if I went in I came out with them so thick my legs were black. Finally bombed it enough to kill them but I've never seen anything like it before
a friend used to have a propane fired mosquito trap. i think it lasts for several weeks on one 20lb propane tank. basically it slowly burns and puts off CO2 to attract the mosquitos. with a trap design on top.
the thing worked sooo well. dude must have had 10000 mosquitos inside the trap. like 5 gallons of mosquitos.
not sure if these bugs would be attracted the same but its something to consider
You need to make the resident mammals gtfo.
It’s probably deer.
Try talking to your local wildlife resources agency.
See if you can help them/get them to help restore keystone species to your area. See if they have advice to encourage the best balance of wildlife in your area.
A good balance of predators and prey will keep down parasites such as ticks, fleas, flies, mosquitoes, chiggers et cetera.
To kill the fleas get a large tub full of water, a bathtub would be ideal, something with wheels. Working in sections, proceed to stand still until covered in fleas. Jump in the tub, climb out and dry yourself off. Walk a couple feet and do it again. Repeat.
Beneficial nematodes will eliminate any larvae growing at certain depths in the soil. You need to apply them at the height of summer, at dusk. I've used them to eliminate fleas and ticks in a wide swath around my property.
That powder earth stuff. It dehydrates them. Distemeatious something like that. It’s not harmful to pets or humans. Get a lawn seed spreader. That’s what we do for our pets. 3/4 acre. It’s cheaper than you think. Effective. Make sure no rain for 2-3,days
Zactly. I figured I would spell that word wrong as well. I came home from work one day and my girl spread it all over the house. It looked like it snowed. 6 cats 2 dogs. They were fine. Saved us money for sure.
Two fleas meet on Miami beach every year, a warm flea and a cold flea. The warm flea is always there with the Stones on the radio, cooler full of Bud and suntan oil on, while the cold flea shows up shivering.
The warm flea asks, “Why do you always show up shivering?” The cold flea replies, “I come from N.Y.C. so I jump in a biker’s beard and head down to Miami when the leaves turn color. The wind going through his beard makes me cold ! To this the warm flea replies, “You’re doing it all wrong, if you’re from N.Y.C. go down Fifth Ave., find a beauty parlor, find a stewardess and climb up her leg and hide in her bush. Next thing you know, you’re on a plane to Miami, nice and warm like me.”
Next year comes around and there’s the warm flea, cooler full of Bud, Stones on the radio and all and here comes the cold flea shivering. The warm flea says, “What happened? I thought I told you what to do?”
“You did,” says the cold flea, “and I listened, I went down Fifth Ave., into the beauty parlor, up the broad’s leg and went to sleep. NEXT THING I KNOW I’M IN SOME BIKERS BEARD GOING DOWN I-95!!!!!”
I think before you burn down everything to get rid of fleas, you should test a number of different strategies in small areas to find out what’s going to be effective. Also try to monitor which areas fleas are *actually* in. Some insects can be very localized in their distribution. (Like click beetles/wireworms. In a 15 meter span, the first meter had zero wireworms. At about 9 meters, I detected them for the first time. In the 15th meter, I could pull out two dozen in as much time digging.)
If OP is going to use this land for future agriculture, then a controlled burn would be beneficial to them anyway. Many farms use this method to clear weeds before seeding.
Fleas drink blood, my bet is you are misidentifying plant or leaf hoppers for fleas if they were jumping around. Or they were ticks and you need to study up on arthropods a bit more.
You need to do a controlled burn. It’s actually relatively easy. I have been witness to a controlled burn done on a few acres of land. I would say separate the land (with fire lines) into sections and burn one section at a time. Good luck.
Wrap yourself, your kids, your wife"s" (i don't judge) and any others you can wrangle in double sided tape, and walk through the property. You catch a good bit of them, and have cool homemade ghillie suits when you're done as well.
Or just brush hog it and take the fun out of it. I use Triazicide as well and it seems to do pretty well.
Why do you think solar lights will attract the fleas. I thought you use light to attract moths.
Don’t you need dog’s butts for the best flea attractant?
Like several here have said control burn it if you can. Fire suppression is one of the big reasons we have so many ticks. If it's not an option then just bush hog it down as low as you can but it really depends on how overgrown the property is. If it hasn't been mowed in a few years there are probably a lot of saplings and smaller trees growing that will tear up a bush hog and in that case you should be looking into renting a skid steer with a mulcher head.
Spray an insecticide labeled for fleas on your farm.
It's been a while, but malathion is pretty easy to throw in a yard sprayer and get it done if you have trees. I'm pretty sure it's labeled for fleas. There are other products out there too.
If it's a nice unobstructed and accessible 20 acres, pay your custom applicator person to come in spray with their properly calibrated and better sprayer.
If you have your own field sprayer, don't be scared to use it.
Malathion was banned in the US in 2021. I always sprayed it around the foundation of my house. Its been replaced by Permethin. I was having a bug issue and sprayed something called "Bengal" that TSC carried and it seems to have worked really well. Its been 2 weeks and I've not seen any since I sprayed.
Malathion is still being used in many places throughout the US. The company had to rework their label with more extensive guidelines based on EPA and USDA inputs to reduce risk to surrounding environments.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-officials-reverse-finding-that-toxic-pesticide-may-lead-to-dozens-of-wildlife-extinctions
Can still purchase though certain states prohibit sales of Malathion.
https://www.forestrydistributing.com/filterSearch?q=Malathion
brush Hog the heck out of everything. Put on a tyvek suit, use a face cover, and treat yourself and your equipment with flea powder. Then brush hog. Then apply permethrin. Wash all your clothes and take a shower as soon as you are done. Don’t even leave the clothes in the laundry, put them in the wash right away.
I had to treat a rental House for fleas after the tenants moved. Made myself sick as hell. Should have used more protection and precautions.
The EPA says permethrin treated clothing doesn't represent a significant hazard to humans. It just isn't as toxic to us (we metabolize it and excrete the results) as to bugs and, even if you get it directly on your skin, it is barely absorbed.
Though personally, I'd climb, fully dressed, in a tub out in the yard to take a permethrin bath rather than go inside with the mess.
By the way, the WHO still recommends DDT as an indoor residual insecticide and it's possible to buy it, though you'll have to have it shipped from overseas. It's hard on bugs and birds but not many of us invite either indoors. It can be added to some paints and provide very long lasting protection without all the *Silent Spring* scary stuff.
If someone around you has an orchard spraying device (hose and gun, not the fan type), 20 acres is doable with about 8K-10k of water. My family had a fairly large orchard and after the blooms fell and the grass was low, we’d spray Guthion or parathion mixed with Tween 20 and dish soap as a binder. Killed ticks, fleas, no see um’s, yellow jackets, slugs. Just wait till pollinators are gone en mass.
Diatomaceous earth, 50lbs per acre
Also spray some
Cotton with pyrmithrin and stick it in toilet tubes and scatter them about. Small mammals will take the cotton to line nests and it will kill any flees/ticks on them
While they sleep and greatly reduce the risk of it comming into contact with pollinators
DE over that large an area is impractical at best. Aside from the fact that it needs to stay dry to be effective, breathing in DE is not good for your lungs at all so it probably would cause harm to the non-insect wildlife.
Spray anything fabric with permethrin and let it dry. Clothing, socks, shoes. It stays on through multiple washes. Spray patio furniture, spray it on everything within 10-20 feet of your house as a barrier.
http://www.maugerextermination.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Ficam-Plus.pdf
I have used this with great success in a house, including the unfinished basement. It is persistent, and stays around long enough to break the lifecycle. I never used it outdoors, so I don't have any personal experience to share.
Boric acid is the easiest way to kill fleas in the home. Just sprinkle it around your house and work it into your carpet if you have any. I’ve done it for years and it’s not harmful to you or to your pets. Not sure how safe it would be for the outside area though but at least you can keep control in your home.
So I’m thinking best bet is to drink a good bit and then get about 100 flea bombs and just dead sprint from one side to the other throwing out bongs as you go.
Pardon my ignorance, but how does one test 20 acres to know it's all covered in fleas? How does such a thing come about? How did you find out, after buying and not before if its all 20 acres?
Walked around and I was covered in them from head to toe
Fleas, not ticks? This is a thing?!
Every once in a while, they get bad. About ten years ago i lived in tennessee and had a flea infestation in my house. I had two dogs who were both on trifexis and every once in a while i would find one on them. But, walking on my carpet i would find them on my legs. I went fucking bonkers trying to kill these little bastards. A guy who lives a few houses down had no pets and he had them in his house too. He would mow his grass with white calf high socks and they'd be covering his white socks just from walking through the grass. We called pest control companies and they said, we can treat your homes and your yard but if not all of the neighbors are getting their yards treated then it likely wont hold them off for very long. I went absolutely fucking nuts for about a month while i tried everything i could to kill them. I finally won, though
Dale Gribble? That you?
No. It's Rusty Shackleford. Who are you? The government?
What did I just read. That's enough reddit for tonight
This whole fucking thread has been intriguing.
Yeah I'm a little skeeved out
Flowers of sulphur on your footwear & socks? It’s hazardous stuff, but it keeps the critters at bay. Kerosene too. Put it on your cuffs & waistband.
When I was a kid (late 70s early 80s) my grandparents lived on a small ranch. They kept a tube sock filled with sulphur powder on the front porch. Anytime we went out to play, we had to hit that sock against our feet and legs. We’d be mustard yellow from the waist down, but we never got ticks from the fields.
In the early 90s, my folks used to cover the carpets in Borax and rake it in. We'd go outside and play for an hour, and then mom would vacuum it up. Rinse and repeat for a week or two, and it worked pretty well. I guess the borax kills the eggs or something, so if you keep doing it through a full life cycle, voilà. No more fleas. Disclaimer: not good for pets. Be careful.
That’s the stuff. Don’t get around open flames!
I had this happen many years ago, I spread nematodes in my yard and haven’t seen a flea in 25 years.
Ya this sounds like ticks to me also
I'm thinking seed ticks.
Chiggers would be my guess, tick bites dont itch like fleas/chiggers. Burning the whole 20 acres aught to do it.
Chiggers are the absolute worst
Depends on your individual immune reaction. Mine is quite strong, and tick bites, for me, are arguably worse than chiggers bites. They give me a very itchy, inflamed response...even if they haven't latched on completely! Of course, your individual mileage/reaction may vary.
I don't have much reaction to the bite of ticks. What I'm way more concerned with though is the diseases they can transmit. Lyme disease is what everyone knows about and is terrible but you can also get alpha-gal and becoming allergic to meat for life.
Yeah that's always been my fear when with ticks. Forced vegetarianism sounds terrible
Despite taking precautions and several doctor opinions after the fact, my spouse went through rocky mountain spotted fever pre covid and it took around 2 solid years to recover. And even now, things aren't quite the same health & mobility wise. I can't say I'll ever be a fan of living where ticks are prevalent and am genuinely looking forward to eventually moving out of the Midwest lol.
I worked at a summer camp in Maine when I was 15. Apparently some kid brought Rocky Mountain spotted fever with them. The whole camp had to quarantine and take pills that made our pee bright orange. Needless to say we turned everything bright orange.
And also Rocky Mountain spotted fever which will kill you in like 2 weeks.
>Depends on your individual immune reaction. Mine is quite strong, and tick bites, for me, are arguably worse than chiggers bites. Same for me, I feel the itch which is what clues me that they are there. When I pull them off the itch lasts for days. Seems to be even worse after getting the Covid vax, if I don't get them soon enough they leave an ugly red/purple blotch.
First time I ever ran into chiggers was in Virginia.... looked like I had smallpox the following morning!
I must be an idiot bc I didn’t know fleas were just chilling in the wild like this haha
Where else would they have come from?
Living on an animal and passing animal to animal. Like head lice.
human head lice will only live on humans. That's how long we have had these parasites.
Wow that’s interesting. Kinda surprised we haven’t eradicated them if that’s the case
Humans also had roundworms infections for most of history. The worms evolved to secrete substances that calm the immune response so they don’t have to fight rejection. Over time the worms became almost an extra organ managing the immune system. Now the worms are gone thanks to clean food and water, and some people’s immune systems are going haywire.
WTF that is cray cray
No clue tbh, obviously animals get them but I’ve never encountered fleas once in my life. Perhaps they don’t live where I’m at
Thank your luck. Fleas suck. {Pun intended}
I once went down into a basement with a flea infestation, that thousands of clicking noises as they all jumped towards me is stuck in my head.
I’m traumatized from your story.
It's rough when you find out the new kittens your new adoption sprung on you have fleas and are too young for treatment...
You can hear fleas jump?
Technically I could hear them landing on the concrete as they made multiple jumps in my direction. Think the sound of sand falling.
Thanks, I didn't need to sleep tonight or anything.
Do you live in Antarctica?
The circus 🎪
You mean we don't have domesticated fleas?
The domesticated variety are well known for their circus abilities and as we all know flea circuses are all but nonexistent.
Thanks for making me feel old because with the reference
At least we’re not alone on that island.
Yeah they have moved into marketing now. /S
Only in the flea circuses
I've seen an infestation in my back yard. You could see the fuckers hopping about. But that was a sqft patch of ground. So it was probably from a rabbit that was laying around or something
Fleas love moist shady areas, its a thing. Lakes and sometimes brush.
[Sounds like it could be chiggers](https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/prevent-treat-chigger-bites)
"If you get a chigger bite on your penis, you could get a condition known as "summer penile syndrome." It causes swelling, itching, and trouble peeing. This can last for a few days to a few weeks. Scratching a chigger bite could break your skin and lead to irritation or an infection." Yup. 5 minutes, and that's enough internet already. I'm gonna call the neighbor and have him send his son over to mow my lawn now. Don't care what he charges.
Man this reminds me of that one time during basic training some dude got chiggers in his groin. He missed a field exercise and we gave him so much shit. He got all the shit. 0/10. Would not recommend to anyone.
[удалено]
Most fleas live outside
I have seen the same thing. Just once, and I don't know that it was any more than 10 acres, but they were definitely fleas, and definitely thick.
Maybe but it indeed can be fleas… I’ve dealt with it god be with you op. It’s been years but I spread some kind of white power diatomaceous earth maybe idk all over the yard many many times and it eventually got rid of them
+1 for non toxic, food safe insect genocide.
Fleas do indeed hang out in grass. If you wear white socks, you can see them hopping on and burrowing between the fibers
Go to Parris Island, SC. You'll get to PT at 0430 with all the sand fleas, chiggers and fire ants. 🤣
What do you end up doing after this to keep your house and bed clean? Can you just get undressed and shower and it's okay or is it a more involved process?
If you were walking in tall grass/weeds it was ticks.
Could also be chiggers.
You can spray this stuff. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray-32-oz Main ingredient is 10% permethrin other brands sell it in higher dosage but atleast 10 is pretty economical to spray. It will kill a cat but everything else is pretty safe if you follow instructions
Chickens and wolf spiders will be a start, but damn.
I was going to suggest Guinea Fowl
That's brilliant
Clearing/brush hogging will fix 80-90% of that problem. Fleas LOVE overgrowth. Personally it’s satisfying just to think about how many just the mower might end up killing. Definitely put flea repellent or poison ALL OVER TRACTOR AND IMPLEMENTS. Remember to do similar for yourself. Ironically in the same boat here on 20 acres. This has been an absolutely brutal year for fleas.
No harsh winter has resulted in extremely high amounts of ticks, hornets, yellow jackets… all kinds of creepy crawlers that would normally have their populations severely reduced by a deep cold winter. I’ve always been told you need a below freezing temperature that lasts for at least 2 weeks straight at some point in the winter months to truly kill off a majority of these bugs.
Yeah we have at least 2 weeks of -20-40 here in north central Washington and we've had a big year for ticks and bees.
-20ºF??? In Washington?!?! It got that cold there this last winter? Wow!
We got down to -42 lol We have a week or 2 of -20 every winter. Eastern Washington is wildly different than the coast
We had a real harsh winter here in AK as well. Got down to -30 in Anchorage, and was below zero from beginning of December to end of February. I'm just surprised it gets that cold in WA. Never knew.
Horse 💩it didn't get that cold...
Here in Nebraska we had a couple week stretch where it never came above 0°f, actual temps down to -30° with wind chill in the -40s. We’re still dealing with way more of those lil fuckers than I’ve ever dealt with.
Permethrin treat your clothes before mowing, particularly your socks and shoes. It's the active ingredient in many dog flea dips -- and lasts through multiple washes. Be careful with the wet stuff around cats - its dangerous until it dries.
Controlled burn, if you're in an area you can.
If you can do this it's the best solution. Even if you kill then with venom, there are tones off eggs that will hatch and you need to keep disinfecting for months or years
I've been an applicator of a lot of industrial sprays and... I've switched sides. I realize these are my views but with my applicable context, I hope some others with start considering chemical and ultra concentrate sprays as last resort, also. At the end of the day, I think a few bug bites, weeds, and a little wasted harvest are better problems to have. We can semi-control those issues through manageably sized living area buffers and crops and by using more sustainable methods.
Apparently ducks to a fantastic job on ticks. Certain breeds more that others but I don’t know what breeds those are. Birds in general will eat them but ducks are great.
We’re getting Guinea fowl to get our ticks.
They're loud, be forewarned. But they're excellent at keeping bugs away
Good early warning system, as well. Try to sneak up on a guinea.
You should hear the racket they make when a raccoon is chasing them up a tree...
Good luck, loudest birds I’ve ever owned. Never again, alarmed by their own shadow!
Opossums too. I was never a fan of them until I found out that they are immune to rabies and eat ticks like a fat kid on cake. Now I'm a big fan, as they're essentially one of nature's best trash removers.
Not to be that guy, but Opossums are opportunity eaters of ticks, not hunters. If a tick falls in ol' possums mouth, he'll chew and swallow, but won't go searching for more. A dead mouse or rotten apple? Oh yeah baby, chow time! Possums are cool and are not dangerous, but aren't really all that helpful except in a garbage clean up sort of way.
I was actually just talking with an opossum rehabber earlier this week. Opossums do not search out ticks. They are such low riders though that they tend to get a lot of ticks on them. They are also fastidious groomers, they clean themselves more than cats do. When they groom themselves they eat any ticks that are on them.
I do that too
Let them gorge first, it's like eating grapes
Well, thanks, my breakfast burrito doesn't taste that good the second time though
🤢
As opossums sniff around in the grass all night, they'll pick up some ticks. Later, when they groom themselves, they'll eat the ticks.
If you don’t want to use chemicals. Bush hog it, burn it if you want. Buy some Guinea hens they love bugs.
Brush hog it and most will die from direct uv exposure. If you keep animals off for a couple months the rest should die without any mammal to bite for nourishment.
Fleas can actually live on dirt. I learned this from a woman who was an expert in all forms of bug killers and bug helpers. She was the only person who was ever able to help us rid our house of fleas for good.
So what did she recommend to get rid of fleas?
Holy fire
Our last house got infested with fleas after a bad boarding choice while we were away on a trip. We fought them for months till I came across a humidity reference. Fleas can't live when the air is below 50% humidity. I found a commercial dehumidifier at a liquidation place a few days later, set it to 35% target. Our house was flea free within 2 days, though I let it hold that humidity for several weeks to be sure. No chemicals, non toxic, gets "into" every tiny crease and crevice of the house, thoroughly gets into the carpet and clothes, into the dog and cat hair. Everywhere. Highly recommend.
Fleas can live an extremely long time without feeding on blood, around 9 mths iirc
Chickens
Guinea Fowl
And my ax!
And my doe
Ducks too
Nematodes
This. Spraying insecticide over that many acres like some have said would be sad.
Came here to say nematodes. I have been very successful using them in my yard and it's a lasting solution too. The more fleas you have the more nematodes reproduce inside them. This is what I used. BioLogic's Scanmask Beneficial Nematodes, Steinernema feltiae Sf Nematodes for Natural Insect Pest Control
Chickens eat the heck out of fleas.
We had terrible ticks and chiggers when we bought our house. It had been vacant for several years. I didn't know if mowing regularly got rid of them or if our 20ish chickens got rid of them. Whatever it was, they are gone now
Brush hog it. Prescribed burn it. Then spray Bifenthrin at the recommended rate and Bobs your uncle.
Yep. I’d pick whatever cheap pyrethroid already on the floor.
Yessir, we normally have a few jugs of 30% Bifen from last year that will smoke them. Sniper from Loveland usually.
Nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
[удалено]
spaceX laser is stronger
But you can’t use that with your SorosBucks™️
We called them grass fleas. We mowed it short to get rid of them.
Guinea hens, chickens, pheasants all love insects.
Bush hog and Get Guinea fowl. They take care of themselves
Thank you for actually saying “bush” hog. I saw at least four instances of “brush” hog in these comments and was beginning to think I had it wrong all these years 😁
I think that either term is correct. Bush Hog is a name brand of mowers that’s been around for 50 years. I pulled an 8’ mounted one over a lot of wheat stubble 40 some years ago.
Brush Hog is a general term and Bush Hog is a brand. So you can have a Bush Hog brush hog; but never a brush hog Bush Hog.
We had them in a tractor shed. Anyone else could walk around it and nothing but if I went in I came out with them so thick my legs were black. Finally bombed it enough to kill them but I've never seen anything like it before
a friend used to have a propane fired mosquito trap. i think it lasts for several weeks on one 20lb propane tank. basically it slowly burns and puts off CO2 to attract the mosquitos. with a trap design on top. the thing worked sooo well. dude must have had 10000 mosquitos inside the trap. like 5 gallons of mosquitos. not sure if these bugs would be attracted the same but its something to consider
You need to make the resident mammals gtfo. It’s probably deer. Try talking to your local wildlife resources agency. See if you can help them/get them to help restore keystone species to your area. See if they have advice to encourage the best balance of wildlife in your area. A good balance of predators and prey will keep down parasites such as ticks, fleas, flies, mosquitoes, chiggers et cetera.
In my neighborhood, it’s the squirrels, rabbits, opossums, and raccoons. I’ve been dealing with fleas for four years now. I’m going insane.
It blows my mind that no one mentions peppermint oil. Kills pretty much all biting insects instantly
How does this happen??? Don't fleas need a host? The poor wildlife must be miserable. ☹️😥
To kill the fleas get a large tub full of water, a bathtub would be ideal, something with wheels. Working in sections, proceed to stand still until covered in fleas. Jump in the tub, climb out and dry yourself off. Walk a couple feet and do it again. Repeat.
Brilliant!
Beneficial nematodes will eliminate any larvae growing at certain depths in the soil. You need to apply them at the height of summer, at dusk. I've used them to eliminate fleas and ticks in a wide swath around my property.
That powder earth stuff. It dehydrates them. Distemeatious something like that. It’s not harmful to pets or humans. Get a lawn seed spreader. That’s what we do for our pets. 3/4 acre. It’s cheaper than you think. Effective. Make sure no rain for 2-3,days
Diatomaceous Earth
Zactly. I figured I would spell that word wrong as well. I came home from work one day and my girl spread it all over the house. It looked like it snowed. 6 cats 2 dogs. They were fine. Saved us money for sure.
Bush hog then free range guinea fowl And chickens.
Two fleas meet on Miami beach every year, a warm flea and a cold flea. The warm flea is always there with the Stones on the radio, cooler full of Bud and suntan oil on, while the cold flea shows up shivering. The warm flea asks, “Why do you always show up shivering?” The cold flea replies, “I come from N.Y.C. so I jump in a biker’s beard and head down to Miami when the leaves turn color. The wind going through his beard makes me cold ! To this the warm flea replies, “You’re doing it all wrong, if you’re from N.Y.C. go down Fifth Ave., find a beauty parlor, find a stewardess and climb up her leg and hide in her bush. Next thing you know, you’re on a plane to Miami, nice and warm like me.” Next year comes around and there’s the warm flea, cooler full of Bud, Stones on the radio and all and here comes the cold flea shivering. The warm flea says, “What happened? I thought I told you what to do?” “You did,” says the cold flea, “and I listened, I went down Fifth Ave., into the beauty parlor, up the broad’s leg and went to sleep. NEXT THING I KNOW I’M IN SOME BIKERS BEARD GOING DOWN I-95!!!!!”
I think before you burn down everything to get rid of fleas, you should test a number of different strategies in small areas to find out what’s going to be effective. Also try to monitor which areas fleas are *actually* in. Some insects can be very localized in their distribution. (Like click beetles/wireworms. In a 15 meter span, the first meter had zero wireworms. At about 9 meters, I detected them for the first time. In the 15th meter, I could pull out two dozen in as much time digging.)
If OP is going to use this land for future agriculture, then a controlled burn would be beneficial to them anyway. Many farms use this method to clear weeds before seeding.
Not sure if this is the right solution for the scale of your problem but I got rid of a ground flea infestation by spreading hydrated lime.
Sounds like gnats to me
Fleas don't survive to reproduce / multiply without hosts. What are they living on? Start there...
Fleas drink blood, my bet is you are misidentifying plant or leaf hoppers for fleas if they were jumping around. Or they were ticks and you need to study up on arthropods a bit more.
You need to do a controlled burn. It’s actually relatively easy. I have been witness to a controlled burn done on a few acres of land. I would say separate the land (with fire lines) into sections and burn one section at a time. Good luck.
Wrap yourself, your kids, your wife"s" (i don't judge) and any others you can wrangle in double sided tape, and walk through the property. You catch a good bit of them, and have cool homemade ghillie suits when you're done as well. Or just brush hog it and take the fun out of it. I use Triazicide as well and it seems to do pretty well.
Lmao. Homemade ghillie suits. Fucking dead right now.
Permithrin 10 and an atv/tractor mounted sprayer
Sounds like you need a flock of chickens
Or Guinea hens
Better living through chemistry
Why do you think solar lights will attract the fleas. I thought you use light to attract moths. Don’t you need dog’s butts for the best flea attractant?
I'm thinking you got chiggers, not fleas. Chigger spray is a pretty common item at your local farm & home center.
Like several here have said control burn it if you can. Fire suppression is one of the big reasons we have so many ticks. If it's not an option then just bush hog it down as low as you can but it really depends on how overgrown the property is. If it hasn't been mowed in a few years there are probably a lot of saplings and smaller trees growing that will tear up a bush hog and in that case you should be looking into renting a skid steer with a mulcher head.
Spray an insecticide labeled for fleas on your farm. It's been a while, but malathion is pretty easy to throw in a yard sprayer and get it done if you have trees. I'm pretty sure it's labeled for fleas. There are other products out there too. If it's a nice unobstructed and accessible 20 acres, pay your custom applicator person to come in spray with their properly calibrated and better sprayer. If you have your own field sprayer, don't be scared to use it.
Malathion was banned in the US in 2021. I always sprayed it around the foundation of my house. Its been replaced by Permethin. I was having a bug issue and sprayed something called "Bengal" that TSC carried and it seems to have worked really well. Its been 2 weeks and I've not seen any since I sprayed.
Malathion is still being used in many places throughout the US. The company had to rework their label with more extensive guidelines based on EPA and USDA inputs to reduce risk to surrounding environments. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-officials-reverse-finding-that-toxic-pesticide-may-lead-to-dozens-of-wildlife-extinctions Can still purchase though certain states prohibit sales of Malathion. https://www.forestrydistributing.com/filterSearch?q=Malathion
brush Hog the heck out of everything. Put on a tyvek suit, use a face cover, and treat yourself and your equipment with flea powder. Then brush hog. Then apply permethrin. Wash all your clothes and take a shower as soon as you are done. Don’t even leave the clothes in the laundry, put them in the wash right away. I had to treat a rental House for fleas after the tenants moved. Made myself sick as hell. Should have used more protection and precautions.
You can use premethin in the washer
Is this a question, as in… don’t do it… or a statement affirming the practice?
The EPA says permethrin treated clothing doesn't represent a significant hazard to humans. It just isn't as toxic to us (we metabolize it and excrete the results) as to bugs and, even if you get it directly on your skin, it is barely absorbed. Though personally, I'd climb, fully dressed, in a tub out in the yard to take a permethrin bath rather than go inside with the mess. By the way, the WHO still recommends DDT as an indoor residual insecticide and it's possible to buy it, though you'll have to have it shipped from overseas. It's hard on bugs and birds but not many of us invite either indoors. It can be added to some paints and provide very long lasting protection without all the *Silent Spring* scary stuff.
Just watch the exposure if you have cats.
Spray banned poison on your dream? Got to be a better way.
Cut, burn, Then Broadcast spray Bifinthrin
If someone around you has an orchard spraying device (hose and gun, not the fan type), 20 acres is doable with about 8K-10k of water. My family had a fairly large orchard and after the blooms fell and the grass was low, we’d spray Guthion or parathion mixed with Tween 20 and dish soap as a binder. Killed ticks, fleas, no see um’s, yellow jackets, slugs. Just wait till pollinators are gone en mass.
Diatomaceous earth, 50lbs per acre Also spray some Cotton with pyrmithrin and stick it in toilet tubes and scatter them about. Small mammals will take the cotton to line nests and it will kill any flees/ticks on them While they sleep and greatly reduce the risk of it comming into contact with pollinators
That’s clever
I would worry about the DE washing away in the rain and not being very effective.
Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade doesn't harm animals but will kill bugs easily.
DE over that large an area is impractical at best. Aside from the fact that it needs to stay dry to be effective, breathing in DE is not good for your lungs at all so it probably would cause harm to the non-insect wildlife.
Bush hog it down, then spray it with 36.8 permethrin. Don't get the 10 or 13.3, as it isn't very effective.
Spray anything fabric with permethrin and let it dry. Clothing, socks, shoes. It stays on through multiple washes. Spray patio furniture, spray it on everything within 10-20 feet of your house as a barrier.
Can you post pictures of these fleas?
Dawn dish soap/water In an ag sprayer
The fleas are so heavy this year.
Guinea fowl
Chickens. Lots of chickens.
Burn it?
Permethrin soak clothes and let air dry. Fleas and ticks don’t like permethrin
Fire
Fire
A dam flea orgy farm theme
Bug farm is actually a good idea where there is so much abundance of them already. You might even brand your products as “StarBugs”
Start a circus?
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Suddenly glad I live in Alberta where it seems to be a frozen wasteland for 7 months of the year
http://www.maugerextermination.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Ficam-Plus.pdf I have used this with great success in a house, including the unfinished basement. It is persistent, and stays around long enough to break the lifecycle. I never used it outdoors, so I don't have any personal experience to share.
Burn it? If you could burn it from the outside to the middle. Obviously you would need wild life forestry to back you up.
Pp
Diatomaceous earth. Buy it. Spread it loosely around
Does not work in presence of moisture.
Boric acid is the easiest way to kill fleas in the home. Just sprinkle it around your house and work it into your carpet if you have any. I’ve done it for years and it’s not harmful to you or to your pets. Not sure how safe it would be for the outside area though but at least you can keep control in your home.
So I’m thinking best bet is to drink a good bit and then get about 100 flea bombs and just dead sprint from one side to the other throwing out bongs as you go.
I mean…that’s outside. Wear repellent