Fleas... it has come down to this.

[OwnedByTheBuns]

This is bad. Real bad. My mom says... we are either using Advantage II, getting rid of all my rabbits, or bathing them with Dawn soap. So, this has me in a snit. What would be best out of these three horrible choices, do you think? :evil: It's either one of these or just let them suffer and die of flea explosion.

 

[Secuono]

Bath isn't a horrible choice, it will just be worse than bathing a cat with some rabbits. One person needs to have a firm and solid grasp on scruffed neck/back skin and helping if the rabbit kicks/flails, other person washes the rabbit thoroughly. Leave the dawn in for 5min at least. While waiting, use a flea comb and remove all fleas that are now hiding on the face.
Rinse, dry and put them up in a NEW and CLEAN cage, AWAY from where they used to be! If you put them back, they will only get re-infested. Once all have been clean, start spraying, cleaning and setting up a new area for the rabbits.

Might help to clip nails short first.

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

I figured we would do it in their cages. that way the cage would basically be getting clean while we are cleaning the rabbit. Heck, we will probably do advantage and a bath, since a bath won't fix everything.

 

[Secuono]

Leaving them in the cages you might as well skip the bath and just use the topical drug.
Do you know where the fleas are coming from??

 

[MaggieJ]

I'm constructing a homemade flea trap. Our problem here is not severe, but I've heard good things about these traps. Basically, a dish of water with a squirt of dishwashing liquid with a light shining on it at night.

This is the model I am using, but with dish soap and water instead of honey.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-made-flea-trap/

I'll post about how it works for us. Since I am using all found materials, I figure it is worth a shot. It won't stop the fleas on its own, but it should reduce the numbers and also act as a gauge as to how we are doing controlling the fleas with other methods.

Bathing a bunny is not so difficult. I'd go with the Dawn dishwashing liquid. If the water temperature is just at blood heat and you put the rabbit in the bucket hind feet first, some of them don't struggle at all. They like to feel their hind feet on something solid and they don't like to feel a temperature change. Good luck!

 

[Secuono]

Bathing a bunny is not so difficult.

Mhm, tell that to the LHs I had years back, they went haywire on me, lol.

 

[MaggieJ]

Well, maybe it depends on the rabbit. But I do believe that water temperature is an important factor and all rabbits prefer to have their feet supported.

 

[Miss M]

Well, maybe it depends on the rabbit.

That's the way it was with our cats! We had one cat that liked baths, another that tolerated them, and a third that went psycho.

Once, we made the mistake of doing the psycho first. He spooked the others so badly, they went psycho, too. We learned to bathe the cat that liked it first, then the one that tolerated it, then the psycho last. :roll:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

While waiting, use a flea comb and remove all fleas that are now hiding on the face.

If you wet down and soap the neck area first, the fleas wont be able to "run for the hills" (head) when the rabbit gets dunked. Otherwise, as Chickies says, they will all run for dry ground and be all over the head.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

As an addition... Just thought about it, but using a flea comb in addition to whatever you do would be beneficial. Use it daily and either drop the fleas in a bit of soapy water, or crush them between your finger nails.

 

[squidpop]

I think the advantage should work really well if it works anything like it does with my dogs and cats. When you first put it on there won't be much of a difference but the current fleas on your rabbits will bite and all die in a few days- then the baby fleas that where eggs before you did the treatment will hatch out and you'll get fleas again but then after they bite- they will die before they ever layed any eggs and then you'll see a big difference-flea population will drop down pretty dramatically- in 10 - 14 days you should see a big difference.

 

[Blossomacres]

I have heard that using kitten flea powder will do the trick. I've heard Sergeants is a good brand and was told by another rabbit breeder to use it if I ever ran into this issue (which luckily I haven't!). Hope you can resolve this issue soon!

 

[Frecs]

I'm not sure what your set up is or how extensive the flea problem is. I doubt the rabbits are the only place the fleas are so you must treat the surrounding area, any other animals (dogs/cats), yard if the rabbits are outside, etc. What follows is my experience with fighting fleas but **not fleas on rabbits**. MaggieJ et al will need to screen these recommendations in terms of what is safe and what is dangerous for rabbits.

I gave up on Frontline, Comfortis, Capstar, Advantage, and all the other vet recommended chemicals several years ago. Tried them all, none worked. "All-Natural, Essential Oil based products" worked better but not enough. Pig-farm-strength prrythim also did not work (the fleas danced and laughed).

What did work:
1. Treated yard with Beneficial Nematodes.
2. Treated house (carpet, furniture, floors) with Borax -- sprinkle on, leave for a few hours or overnight, vacuum up. Repeat every few days for several weeks to get past the lifecycle of the flea.
3. Bathed the dogs every couple days in flea shampoo (with coconut oil to keep from hurting their skin) and flea combed them daily.

I did that two years ago. This year is the first time since that we've see a flea one. The monsoons have brought them back.

 

[MaggieJ]

Three fleas in the trap this morning. I am going to use a more open grill over the dish tonight. The fan housing has a solid centre and I think it may be preventing some of the fleas from landing in the water.

 

[Frecs]

I tried that flea trap. I hope you have better success than I did. I've heard a lot of people say it works. It just didn't for me.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

I'm constructing a homemade flea trap. Our problem here is not severe, but I've heard good things about these traps. Basically, a dish of water with a squirt of dishwashing liquid with a light shining on it at night.

we've done that here. set a lamp in the middle of the floor with the cake pan of water and soap. I think dad put some oil in it too?? cant remember for sure...
but ya turn off all the other lights you possibly can and they will go to it pretty well.


as for bathin rabbits... I've only done two that were really bad. one a doe from a way too small cage with litter box that was full of pee and she sat in it most of the time. the other a BEW lionhead buck that you would have sworn was just peestained permanently.
have to be very careful and its slow goin. but just like if you had rescue kittens really. make sure ya don't get water in the ears, at least try your best not to.

I feel for ya though we got fleas in the house again here plus at the same time I had to wash all 15 guinea pigs for mites :x that was interestin let me tell ya.