Jul 2, 2011 – Turtle Talk

QUESTION:

I have a customer that has fleas. Not a big deal right? My question is that they have land turtles that roam around inside of the house. I know they need to be gone for 4 hours. Will it be safe to have them on the floors inside the house after we have treated for the fleas?

ANSWER:

There is an issue here regarding perception vs. reality. I asked a similar question of a product manufacturer years ago, where turtles or tortoises roamed the yard and a flea treatment was planned. The response was that in reality once the spray has dried it is highly unlikely that these reptiles would acquire any dangerous level of the active ingredient, and that keeping them off treated surfaces until those surfaces are dry "should" be sufficient. However, if anything were to happen in the near future to one of those animals you would probably be blamed. The suggestion then was to remove the animals entirely for a longer period of time, perhaps a week or two, and then wash down the treated areas before bringing the turtles back in.

In your case it should be simpler, as there must be some recourse for keeping these animals OUT of the house for a week or two. I won't comment on the sanitation issues of allowing wild animals to roam freely through a home. Or did I just make a comment? We know that synthetic pyrethroids are relatively more toxic to cold blooded animals such as reptiles than they are to warm blooded animals (dogs, cats, birds, people), so the more you can avoid exposure to the recently applied material the better.

A few more thoughts. First, the "4 hours" restriction on allowing people and pets back into treated areas is only a guideline that we often use. The more appropriate guideline, and it is on most product labels, is to ensure no one re-enters "until the treated surfaces are dry", and depending on the weather and other factors this may take much longer than 4 hours. They should test the carpets with a tissue paper first, pressing down on it with their shoe and checking for dampness, and only if it is dry should they re-enter.

Second, I believe that the best flea control includes the use of an IGR, and the growth regulators should have no effect whatsoever on reptiles or any other vertebrate. The IGR will last for months to interfere with proper development of eggs and larvae, and will prevent production of new adult fleas from these early stages. To eliminate the many fleas currently sitting within their protective cocoons in the pupa stage you MUST have the customer vacuum, vacuum, vacuum - before you get there for the first treatment and each day after for a week or more. They should vacuum every square inch of carpet and all edges of hard floors. This removes organic debris, some flea eggs, and causes the pupae to hatch to the adult stage so that it is exposed to your treat. You then could consider using only a pyrethrum product for the adult stage if there is strong concern about the use of a residual material. The pyrethrum/IGR combination will have a good result but you may need to retreat due to the lack of residual of the pyrethrum.

Determine WHY they have fleas, and presumably this is due to dogs or cats also in the home. If so these must be treated properly to eliminate all fleas, and some steps taken to prevent more fleas from infesting them, such as a topical product. After your first treatment it would be helpful to place a number of insect glue traps around the home to monitor your success, and again tell the customer that the more they vacuum the sooner this problem will be resolved.

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