Non-Toxic Methods: Mosquitoes, Bed Bugs, Termites, Ants, Ticks, Flies and Fleas
Are you looking for successful and eco-safe ways of dealing with mosquitoes, fleas, bed bugs and other common pests? If you truly insist on “success’ and “non-toxic” as your primary criteria, you will probably end up with a very short list of viable candidates. My personal finding is that scientifically formulated cedar oil products belong on this short list — but unfortunately in taking this route you will need to avoid some “pretenders” and “cost cutters” when making your final cedar oil product selection.
Flood waters and high temperatures can produce an ideal environment for many pests, but even routine weather can be conducive to a burgeoning pest presence. Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma produced multiple impacts that were felt immediately by both commercial real estate and residential property owners and renters. However, some of the most complex challenges will appear a few days and weeks after initial storm damage in the form of increased pest populations that include mosquitoes, ants, flies and termites. While there are many “traditional” pest solutions for these ongoing problems faced by real estate owners everywhere, most of these annoying and dangerous pests have been able to outwit a high percentage of the pest control strategies.
Multiple Strategies for Handling Fleamageddon and Other Pest Problems
Many of us probably limp along with less-than-satisfactory pest solutions — until the problem becomes overwhelming. For example, the most recent winter in Ohio was so mild that it contributed to a larger population of fleas during the following spring and summer. Our “normal” approach of using Frontline Combo for both cats and dogs seemed to have little or no impact this year. For a detailed overview of our response, I suggest that you read my wife’s recent accounting of our experience — A Multi-Pronged Approach for Fending Off Fleamageddon.
As Blythe notes, pest control for fleas or anything else is rarely a straightforward “one and done” activity. Almost always, genuine success usually involves multiple strategies and actions taken to cure what ails you. I strongly urge you to do your own research (as I did) before going down a new path. For example, in reviewing the viability of cedar oil as a non-toxic alternative for killing fleas, I discovered some controversies a few years ago about the claims made for reducing bed bug problems with cedar oil. In my opinion, the bulk of the controversy was spawned by chemical manufacturers and professional pest control companies that did not want their current and potential customers to discover an effective non-chemical approach to the problem.
Fast-forward to today and I believe the biggest current challenges with cedar oil for successful pest management are threefold:
- The “other ingredients” in cedar oil sprays such as silica hydrate (aka hydrated silica)
- The source of the cedar oil and subsequent fractionating
- The amount of cedar oil used in a spray formula
Cedarcide and Cedar Oil
Several cedar oil marketers have stopped using silica hydrate altogether because of “supply issues” — the real reason appears to be one based on reducing their costs while still charging the same (or more) for their product. Cedarcide ultimately found (with about 20 years of research) that the Texas Red Cedar (just one of more than 300 cedar tree species) was the “winner” in cedar oil sourcing — but only by also modifying and fractionating the cedar oil. As a direct result of the scientific sourcing and modifications, Cedarcide spray is safe to use on cats and kittens. Cedarcide fractionates the cedar oil to remove toxic ingredients such as terpenes and phenols that can be dangerous for small mammals.
The Cedarcide original spray continues to contain 10% cedar oil and 90% silica hydrate while the much cheaper Cedarcide D.A.S. (domestic animal spray) uses a 3% cedar oil and 97% ethyl lactate and water formula. With our own fleamageddon, we ultimately used both versions in addition to the Cedarcide patented flea and tick pet brush — I strongly endorse all three Cedarcide products based on our recent personal experience with fleas, and the company has many more pest solutions to consider for dealing with fleas as well as mosquitoes, bed bugs, termites, ants and ticks.
As noted above, pest control involving fleas and other pests is likely to be more successful when applying multiple solutions. As I reiterate throughout the AEX Commercial Financing Group website, “Always Have a Plan B.” With our first-hand indoor flea experience, the use of Cedarcide, both a flea brush and flea comb, flea traps (with light bulbs) and a top-notch vacuum cleaner (the Miele C3 cat and dog canister vacuum) each contributed to our final success. But we will need to be vigilant in coming months and years as well! As a favorite quote from “Galaxy Quest” suggests, “Never give up! Never surrender!” And never forget Plan B, C and beyond for lasting success with pest solutions.
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