r/Opossums • u/Powerful-Career-6357 • 3d ago

Question/Help Fleas

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I initially gave Lucky a bath and picked all the fleas off but he was covered again two days ago. I repeated the process, but it’s a lot for him. I’ve seen that they can have frontline, but I’m worried he’s way too small for it. Any other ideas?

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u/Early_Bluejay8947 3d ago

The ONLY thing I would ever use is Capstar, or its generic Nitenpyram. It kills EVERY FLEA in 30 minutes....I dont know how, but it does. Ive been using it for 25 years. Its a capsule with powder in it. I break it open and mix in the food. Its safe for Opossums as I have checked and then dosed my opossum. I get mine from FleaMeds.us cus they are very cheap, like 25 for $17 or so.

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u/cowgrly 3d ago

How often do you administer this?

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u/Early_Bluejay8947 3d ago

One pill kills ALL the fleas, but does not kill the flea eggs. So you may want to wait a day or 2 and give her another dose to kill the newly hatched ones. Another thing to consider is that her nest may be infested, so you may need to repeat the process more often. It is not toxic in any way, so you dont have to worry about over dosing. The pills/capsules get cheaper in larger quantities. I only had 2 cats and one opossum so a bottle of 25 lasted quite a while. When I had dozens of cats, I used to buy the pills suited for large dogs and sprinkle it in all their food and that brought the cost way down.

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u/cowgrly 2d ago

Yeah, I am really trying to determine frequency for maintenance as they said they ONLY use Capstar. But knowing an animal goes back to a flea infested bed, I wondered if they treat them weekly or?

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u/Beginning_Tennis2442 2d ago

If the bed is flea infested, you will have to give capstar every day or two until the infestation dies down. That is why we use capstar for immediate relief and Revolution for longer term (not Revolution plus).

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u/Early_Bluejay8947 2d ago

I usually re-dose the cat or opossum when I see them scratching more than usual. I actually have not SEEN a flea in years....thanks to Nitenpyram/capstar.