Anyone else looking for a flea spray that isn't toxic so they can harvest muskrat meat (even though Raid probably isn't going to get on the meat I guess and I've probably used it before)........
Yes? Am I missing something? Should show as $8.48.
(thanks Jeremiah Wood for showing the topic in your video. This one here is food-grade and almost same price as the non-food grade version at Lowes that is only 7oz).
So once you've skun your rat, you're seeing fleas on the meat? They are not staying on the fur?
I've not had an issue with muskrat fleas. They crawl around on ya for a bit then jump off (species specific) but maybe you have somethig else out in NY.
I remember crawling shrimp on the rats in SD. Creepy little buggers.
I've seen the fleas, and they've bit up my hands when skinning. I don't know if they're fleas-proper or not but that's what I've called them.
I've sprayed raid on them (rat, before skinning), put in a garbage bag, and let sit BUT... I'm always afraid of eating the meat then. I'm not 100% sure I've done the spraying And eaten that same rat; not sure.
What I'm saying here is: This might be a safer alternative.
Diatoms are unicellular algae, one of the two major classes of the phytoplankton that constitute the bottom of the food chain in oceans and freshwater. Diatomaceous earth is a soft, siliceous sedimentary rock containing the fossilized skeletal remains of diatoms. It has been used as a bug killer: it is hypothesized that the sharp particles physically cut up the insects and also damage their waxy protective layer, causing dehydration. It is also used as an abrasive, a filter, an anticaking agent, and in various other industrial and agricultural applications. It contains silica, mainly in the form of amorphous silicon dioxide but with some crystalline silica. Silica is dangerous when inhaled, causing lung disease in workers exposed to silica dust. Silicosis is the most common occupational disease worldwide.
Diatoms are unicellular algae, one of the two major classes of the phytoplankton that constitute the bottom of the food chain in oceans and freshwater. Diatomaceous earth is a soft, siliceous sedimentary rock containing the fossilized skeletal remains of diatoms. It has been used as a bug killer: it is hypothesized that the sharp particles physically cut up the insects and also damage their waxy protective layer, causing dehydration. It is also used as an abrasive, a filter, an anticaking agent, and in various other industrial and agricultural applications. It contains silica, mainly in the form of amorphous silicon dioxide but with some crystalline silica. Silica is dangerous when inhaled, causing lung disease in workers exposed to silica dust. Silicosis is the most common occupational disease worldwide.
I wonder then if a handful here and there could cause problems? I just wanted something not toxic.
I have never seen or had any sort of biting insect on the muskrats here in Southern Ontario either. I am curious if this is a regional thing or if I should be watching out for bugs?
I wanted to make an update to this posting. Not only for flea removal on meat you might want to eat (so not using RAID for instance) but.........
in your garden.
Topic: What Diatomaceous Earth (natural and really cheap on Amazon...see above) does and does not do; from "MIGardener," a very well respected (from what I've observed as a layman for years) youtube gardening channel:
Don't worry about a few fleas stuck to the meat-cooking them will kill any bad stuff. There is all kinds of bugs people ingest every day and don't even know it.People are also covered in tiny bugs living off you.
I bet you're hoachin with bugs walleye after wallerin around in the ratswamp all those years.
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Muskrat fleas - 01/14/2011:57 PM
Not sure what you got on those NY rats but I don't think it's fleas. Never heard of an aquatic flea. Possibly some sort of daphnia crustacean attracted to a dead rat
