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ColumbusBestBlog.com's Science Experiment Saturday

flea diagram

It's Science Experiment Saturday on my other blog.

That's a drawing of a flea magnified many times if you were wondering. It was drawn by Robert Hooke long, long ago when magnifying fleas was science. It was so long ago the copyright on Hooke's flea is expired according to Wikipedia.

Joan Whitebook's story of fleas in a home she showed THERE AIN'T NO BUGS ON ME is guaranteed to make you itch all over!

A link to Joan's story and Jo-Anne Smith's comment on a way to get rid of fleas without harsh chemicals made it's way to my blog which is celebrating Science Experiment Saturday today. Jo-Anne Smith's flea remedy:

"Fleas can be gotten rid of without harsh chemicals. Keeping the place thoroughly vacuumed is a start. Another method is having a low pie plate or bowl filled with water and vegetable oil on the floor with a light shining on it. Leave the light on during the night. The fleas all hop over to the light and land in the dish and drown in the oil/water mixture. In the morning you find you have captured hundreds of fleas and in no time they are all gone. Due to the life cycle and the eggs that are still hatching daily, the thorough vacuuming may not have sucked up all of the eggs so you may have to repeat the pie dish routine a few times til all reproducing adults are gone and all eggs have hatched."

Jo-Anne Smith's method of flea removal sounds like a science project to me. Educational. And very "green."

I vacuum the dog too in the late summer and fall but that's just kind of home economics. I have a degree in "Home Ec...." not science.

Science, Science, Science... ColumbusBestBlog.com has my own Columbus "green" flea remedy today. The Columbus Green flea remedy is zoological in nature with this lovely flea diagram for purely educational purposes and some zoological information about Siphonaptera (flea?), Procyon lotor (raccoon), and primates including Pongo Pygmaeus (orangutan) and Homo Sapiens (human) as they relate to selling real estate.

Columbus Green Flea Remedy - Science Experiment Saturday. Thanks for the inspiration to my muses, Joan Whitebook, Jo-Anne Smith, Tina of Green Buckeye a Central Ohio blog and a group of men on the front lawn of a vacant house I sold picking fleas off of one another.

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Posted by Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes on 07/28/2007 09:12 AM

Comments (20)

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20 Comments on ColumbusBestBlog.com's Science Experiment Saturday

JUL

2007

Gross!

thanks!

I was taking photos at a listing once and thought I was getting bit by mosquitos. I looked at my back in the walled mirror dining room and was covered with fleas. THe condo had been vacant and they must have bred out of control in there.

I was 25 miles from home and ended up at a friends house, stipped on the front porch, called inside from my cell phone and begged for a trash bag (for my clothes) and flea-free clothes to wear home. I don't think I ever itched so bad, for so long, my whole life.

Yuck! It is hard to drive when your itchy!

I can't remember whether Betsy and I fumigated our cars.. we were in her car when we drove back from the flea house. Then I know I went into the office and I drove home.

I got covered with ticks two summers ago walking land in Southern Delaware County. I know I was wearing light colors and got many of but when I got home I found more. I stripped in the garage. Driving home I kept feeling a tick in the middle of my back and in my hair and everywhere... I think most of those were imaginary but I had a bunch inside my clothes. I think I may have blogged on that on my Discover Columbus blog so it may have been fall rather than summer, since that blog is not two years old yet.

I now feel ticks crawling in my hair! skeeve!

How do you keep 4 dogs from drinking water with all and full of fleas ?

I used to be terrified of ticks now they just make me itch. They bother me worse on the dog than on me.

Missy's "How do you keep 4 dogs from drinking water with all and full of fleas" confused me at first. In the science experiment? Maybe the oil would keep some dogs from drinking the water. Not my Buddy though. Maybe you would have to keep the dog someplace else in the house.

I had heard to put dish detergent in the water.

Maureen, dogs plural. 4 of them and I couldn't lock them up. I heard if they have flea's which mine don't that they will stay on the dog, unless they are out of the house. I have a Buddy too and he would definately drink any water.

My Buddy has had fleas. Two or three times. I believe in personally weapons of mass destruction for fleas (harsh chemicals)

Maureen. You can make even a flea infestation interesting.

It is interesting, though, the adverntures we have had with pests in homes. I've run into fleas, mice, roaches, rats, snakes, bats, dogs and cats of course, ferrets, silverfish, parrots, termintes, voles, and some I probably can't think of now.

Part of the job.

Lenn most of the animals I have run into in real estate were dead. I had a couple who ran into dead squirrel, dead snake in looking for homes, the inspector found a dead bunny in the crawl space of the house they bought.

I guess I have run into living animals too. I sold a house a few years ago with a cat that hated me. Just me, not the buyers, not the inspector, not the listing agents, not the appraiser, just me. I was the first one to show the house and got there before my clients. He followed me around the house hissing and swiping at me.

I was bit by a clients dog walking down the hall. Luckily psycho dog just bit a hole in my tights, did not break the skin. Thanks for visiting my flea infestation story.

Had never heard the oil and water remedy, Maureen. I was fortunate to escape the flea infestation when I had my husky Naklik; maybe it was the thick fur. But I think of all the chemicals that went onto her body to keep her flea free :-( Good stuff here

oh this is just plain creepy!!! its making me itch just reading this.... arggggg!!! And I hope I don't have nightmares about that picture up there tonight either. LOL

Yikes! Disgusting! I am NOT a flea fan. My skin IS crawling!!!

The middle school science experiment that this made me think of was about water surface tension you use water, pepper, soap and detergent. Jo-Anne's remedy with the fleas in water made me think of pepper floating on water.

Carole I was paranoid with my first dog about fleas and I don't believe he ever had them. Buddy has not been so lucky.

Whatever you do Kimberly don't ever read about fleas! It is truly scary. I doubt there are many flea fan's Irina, except for flea circuses...

Your drawing reminded me of my "former life". I was introducing a new product at the national sales conference to around 300 salespeople. Our presentations were formal and shown on a huge (20' x 20') screen behind the podium. One of the new products I was introducing required a photo of a flea. The photo I used was an actual flea - magnetized - but a front view - not the side shot like yours. You should have seen the effect a 20'x20' flea's face has on a crowd of people when it "pops" up. Everybody moved back in their seat. Oh, well, I had their attention. ;-)

BTW, a flea's face is really, really ugly!

JUL

2007

They have a face only a mother flea could love.

AUG

2007

Maureen, thanks for the mention of my 'green' flea remedy. It's great in homes where there are pets and children where toxic sprays etc should be avoided.

The pie plate and light are only set up at night in a dark room , of course. A week or so of good vaccuuming (hit every single crevice and baseboard to get as many eggs, larvae, pupae and adult fleas as possible) and the pie-plate routine should nip the flea problem in the bud.

Also, keep your pets bathed regularly in a good organic flea bath or use organic flea soap, safe for the pets, safe for your children and safe for you.

The reason the vegetable oil works is that it plugs up the fleas breathing apparatii (spiracles ) and they suffocate. The other thing is, if a pet does happen to drink the water, it won't hurt the pet. However any pie plate set-up is not going to last long with pets running around the room (just keep them out of that room during the night).

You may still find the odd flea as pupae can sit in a state of homeostasis for up to a year (depending on the species of flea) and their hard impenetrable shell makes them virtually impervious to most toxic sprays. Vibrations usually cause the pupae to open up releasing the adult stage of the flea. This is why a vacant house can sit with no pets in it for many months, then people enter, the vibrations of their footsteps cause the pupae to hatch, and voila, fleas !

It does make a neat science experiment, however one which you hopefully won't have to try.

Thanks Jo-Anne. You and your remedy made my real blog too.

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