Flea irradication on Pelts

Wabbitstalker

New member
I’m in my first year of trapping up here in MN and a week ago I snared my first coyote. It was an adult female with good looking fur (to my untrained eye). She had been dead out in freezing conditions for at least a day. I assumed any fleas or parasites would be gone. And i skun her the next night. Still kinda paranoid hoping I didn’t pick up anything. How do you furhandlers treat your critters? Does everything get a can of raid? Or is death and cold enough for fleas to be gone?
 
No where near as cold here as where you are, and I am pretty certain we have a bigger flea problem or at least we have more of them....in my experience fleas leave an animal as soon as it dies and the body temp drops. As in right now, as in a matter of a few minutes. I learned this rabbit hunting as a kid. It is usually still warm enough here when rabbit season first opens for them to have fleas. I'd kill a rabbit and put it in my game bag and have fleas crawling up my back. Didn't take but once to figure out that I needed to leave the rabbit lay on the ground for a few minutes to let them vacate.
Later in the year when we would trap I don't remember seeing animals with fleas.
I have to ask, did this coyote have fleas on it at this time of the year in MN.?????
 
I can’t tell if that question was rhetorical. But having no experience with fleas and I have no idea what to look for other than hair falling out. I just figured I’d wake up one morning with an itchy head and bugs crawling all over and a really mad wife.
 
Originally Posted By: WabbitstalkerI can’t tell if that question was rhetorical. But having no experience with fleas and I have no idea what to look for other than hair falling out. I just figured I’d wake up one morning with an itchy head and bugs crawling all over and a really mad wife.

Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off. This includes fleas, ticks and {I don't know thew scientific name for them, but...} those nasty things we always called "wolves" that live under the skin of rabbits and squirrels. I have also heard them called "warbles" by some folks. I think they are some kind of fly larvae. Once it gets cold out all those kinds of parasites can no longer live on animals. This prompted us to wait until later in the fall to start squirrel hunting.
By the time hides are prime, which is not until around Christmas time here, I am sure it's earlier up in Mn. you shouldn't have to worry about things like fleas on coyotes. Again, even if it's warm enough, the fleas bail out as soon as the animal dies and it's body temperature drops a little. Ticks are different, they drop off too, but not as fast and many will hang on and die right where they were stuck. When you kill a coyote look on his belly...if you see fleas just let him lay there for 5 minutes...they will be gone.

Edit: "Having no experience with fleas..." I am surprised you guys even have them up there on wild animals given the harsh winters. I lived in in the mountains of Pa. for two years and did not see a tick or flea on wild animals or domestic. They might have had them, but I did not see one the entire two years. Also, if you have fleas you wont have to worry about "waking up"...you will never get to sleep.
 
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I've seen fleas and lice on fox and coyote when it's been -25. A heavy frost ain't gonna make em die off...it's plenty warm next to the skin under all that fur.
 
Originally Posted By: Wabbitstalker Still kinda paranoid hoping I didn’t pick up anything.

If it has fleas or lice, you will see them (or feel them) when skinning.
 
"At all life stages, Fleas can't survive temperature above 95 degrees. And below 35 degrees F. So the 105 degree F is good for the purpose. But its better to understand their life cycle, to have effective result."[/i]

"Adult fleas die in temperatures colder than 46.4°F (8°C), and hotter than 95°F (35°C). However, the low-end extreme for immature fleas is 55.4°F (13°C). During winter, adults can survive in cold temperatures while living on a warm-bodied host."

Aint nobody got live fleas on a coyote two days after it was killed, unless it takes that long for one to lose it's body heat....which I doubt. And for absolute certain not if it is frozen...you might be seeing fleas, but they are day-yod. Maybe there is an "Arctic" variety of fleas that can stand the cold better...but the rest of the world hasn't heard of them yet.
 
msinc, that's quite a change from: "Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off."

If ya don't know, don't post. We all are looking for correct answers.
 
Quote:Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off. This includes fleas, ticks and {I don't know thew scientific name for them, but...} those nasty things we always called "wolves" that live under the skin of rabbits and squirrels. I have also heard them called "warbles" by some folks. I think they are some kind of fly larvae. Once it gets cold out all those kinds of parasites can no longer live on animals. This prompted us to wait until later in the fall to start squirrel hunting.
By the time hides are prime, which is not until around Christmas time here, I am sure it's earlier up in Mn. you shouldn't have to worry about things like fleas on coyotes. Again, even if it's warm enough, the fleas bail out as soon as the animal dies and it's body temperature drops a little. Ticks are different, they drop off too, but not as fast and many will hang on and die right where they were stuck. When you kill a coyote look on his belly...if you see fleas just let him lay there for 5 minutes...they will be gone.



that right there is a whole bunch of terrible info. not much right about any of it. lol
 
Originally Posted By: gotspotsPut the animal in a garbage bag spray with raid/dust with flea powder. done!

Works for me !

Put canine in garbage bag, use bug bomb in bag and fold shut. Let sit for awhile. When you use bug bomb, don't fully depress "trigger", or it will lock and spray continuously.

This way you can use one bug bomb on multiple critters. Seems like all Coyotes stink and have bugs.
thumbup.gif
 
Originally Posted By: K9SNIPERmsinc, that's quite a change from: "Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off."

If ya don't know, don't post. We all are looking for correct answers.

Zero change at all...read it again. First or second frost will be below 35 degrees. Do you know what a frost is??? Again, maybe you guys have "special Arctic" fleas, but around here by December they are gone.
Why aren't you calling out the post that says a two day frozen coyote still has fleas???? Do you, can you, can anyone seriously believe that???? It appears you don't know what a correct answer is.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotQuote:Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off. This includes fleas, ticks and {I don't know thew scientific name for them, but...} those nasty things we always called "wolves" that live under the skin of rabbits and squirrels. I have also heard them called "warbles" by some folks. I think they are some kind of fly larvae. Once it gets cold out all those kinds of parasites can no longer live on animals. This prompted us to wait until later in the fall to start squirrel hunting.
By the time hides are prime, which is not until around Christmas time here, I am sure it's earlier up in Mn. you shouldn't have to worry about things like fleas on coyotes. Again, even if it's warm enough, the fleas bail out as soon as the animal dies and it's body temperature drops a little. Ticks are different, they drop off too, but not as fast and many will hang on and die right where they were stuck. When you kill a coyote look on his belly...if you see fleas just let him lay there for 5 minutes...they will be gone.



that right there is a whole bunch of terrible info. not much right about any of it. lol

Really??? What part???
 
Originally Posted By: msincOriginally Posted By: WabbitstalkerI can’t tell if that question was rhetorical. But having no experience with fleas and I have no idea what to look for other than hair falling out. I just figured I’d wake up one morning with an itchy head and bugs crawling all over and a really mad wife.

Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off. This includes fleas, ticks and {I don't know thew scientific name for them, but...} those nasty things we always called "wolves" that live under the skin of rabbits and squirrels. I have also heard them called "warbles" by some folks. I think they are some kind of fly larvae. Once it gets cold out all those kinds of parasites can no longer live on animals. This prompted us to wait until later in the fall to start squirrel hunting.
By the time hides are prime, which is not until around Christmas time here, I am sure it's earlier up in Mn. you shouldn't have to worry about things like fleas on coyotes. Again, even if it's warm enough, the fleas bail out as soon as the animal dies and it's body temperature drops a little. Ticks are different, they drop off too, but not as fast and many will hang on and die right where they were stuck. When you kill a coyote look on his belly...if you see fleas just let him lay there for 5 minutes...they will be gone.

Edit: "Having no experience with fleas..." I am surprised you guys even have them up there on wild animals given the harsh winters. I lived in in the mountains of Pa. for two years and did not see a tick or flea on wild animals or domestic. They might have had them, but I did not see one the entire two years. Also, if you have fleas you wont have to worry about "waking up"...you will never get to sleep.

I don’t know what your basing this information on but it sure as [beeep] isn’t true around here! Every coyote I shoot gets sprayed with flea killer spray before it’s skinned because they all are likely to have fleas. That includes coyotes shot in temps well below zero and late into February. I’ve also seen fleas remain alive on dead coyotes for a couple of days.
 
Originally Posted By: msinc
Why aren't you calling out the post that says a two day frozen coyote still has fleas???? Do you, can you, can anyone seriously believe that???? It appears you don't know what a correct answer is.

I’ve seen coyotes dead for days in below freezing temps that still have living fleas on them. The old trappers who run snares in our areas spray every animal they catch (which have often been dead for days) for fleas and it isn’t because the trappers like the smell of the spray.
 
I've seen the same thing Jimbo. Warm em up and the little buggers come to life. If fleas were as fragile as msinc says, fleas would be extinct in cold states like MN and ND...
 
Originally Posted By: msincOriginally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotQuote:Some where around the first or second heavy frost wild animals external parasites will die off. This includes fleas, ticks and {I don't know thew scientific name for them, but...} those nasty things we always called "wolves" that live under the skin of rabbits and squirrels. I have also heard them called "warbles" by some folks. I think they are some kind of fly larvae. Once it gets cold out all those kinds of parasites can no longer live on animals. This prompted us to wait until later in the fall to start squirrel hunting.
By the time hides are prime, which is not until around Christmas time here, I am sure it's earlier up in Mn. you shouldn't have to worry about things like fleas on coyotes. Again, even if it's warm enough, the fleas bail out as soon as the animal dies and it's body temperature drops a little. Ticks are different, they drop off too, but not as fast and many will hang on and die right where they were stuck. When you kill a coyote look on his belly...if you see fleas just let him lay there for 5 minutes...they will be gone.



that right there is a whole bunch of terrible info. not much right about any of it. lol

Really??? What part???

yes, really. and every part.
 
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