Flea Problem
Anybody got any wonderful, tried & true methods of getting rid of a flea infestation? I've read up info from the internet, but would like some reccommendations from an experienced person.
Background:
We bought the fixer & they had a dog. Well apparently, fleas would rather live on pets than humans so we didn't see the problem while looking at the house. Now that it's ours, we hate going into it because we know what's there. I'm going to have it tented and buy some flea stuff at the pet store to put in the carpets to make it somewhat managable for us to work in there.
Any ideas would be appreciated!!
Thank you! :-?
Goto the hardware store and get a bag of seven dust and put in on the floors of the house. The fleas should die and any other fleas that hatch should die also.
I hope this will be a cheap fix.
Marty
My wife has more cats than I will admit to here. Fleas have become an unwelcome part of our life. You can buy the Ortho or Spectracide pump bottles at your favorite store. Read the label to make sure it will kill fleas. Also, Clorox Clean Up in a bottle is very strong and will kill anything including you if you breathe it too long. I wash baseboards and mop floors with it in our rental house. Excellent stuff. A word about carpet. Fleas weave their way under the carpet and lay their eggs there away from the pesticides. If possible, pull the carpet back along with matting to thoughly kill these all guys. To keep the bites off of you, use OFF or something like it until you get rid of them. Don't forget the outside of the house also. Fleas multiply fast and are great hiders so you have to really stay on them to eliminate them. Good luck!
I thought I'd update you all on what I decided to do. I am using a product from Fleabusters (dot com) to treat the floor & that will kill the eggs in the carpet. Also, the house is being tented for termites which will kill anything alive, plus I am going to buy these little flea lights which attract fleas and they get stuck on a flypaper type of contraption. The combination of all this stuff better work! I'll let you know how it goes.
I read up on fleas and they are nasty little bugs. Their eggs can lie dormant for 140 days, so they'll sit there until they have a food source. The previous owner's dog was their food source & now that she's gone, any living thing that goes in there is next... Makes it hard to have people work in there when they're being attacked by pests!
Try Borax soap powder, I think thats what its called, it works better than any bombs or anything I tried and its cheap, just sprinkle all over the carpet and leave for a few days. Worked well for me,
best wishes.
it is called 20 team mule borax. It is cheap and you can get it from any grocery store. It not only works to kill fleas, it deodorizes the carpet. Just sprinkle it all over the carpet. Leave it for about a week or two. Then vacume. I used to have flea infestation problem and pet odor problem, but after one treatment with 20 team mule borax, these problems are toally gone.
Good luck!
Eek - fleas are awful. After a particularly bad year with my pets about 4 years ago, and after using bombs and sprays that didn't work, I had to bring out the Big Guns (translation: I paid a lot of $$ for a program because at that point, I would have paid ANYTHING to get rid of them and break the cycle!)
Anyway, I first vacuumed the entire house for fleas and eggs. Contents must be disposed of into a plastic garbage bag and tied, or else they will find their way out of there. Next, I used the Zodiac flea & tick carpet spray with insect growth regulator (4 cans worth!) on the carpets. Finally, I used an insect growth regulator (this was the expensive stuff) 1 oz/1gallon of water in one of those pump sprayers and really covered the carpets well (this breaks the egg lifecycle.) Also sprayed the yard with this stuff. No more fleas.
SPAMSTER.....DOES THE HOUSE REALLY NEED TO BE TENTED ??? I hope you got a second and third opinion on that. It's been my experience that it never needs it. Your are going overboard on the flee thing as well. SImply go to Home Depot and buy a few foggers (about $30) and set 2 off on each level of the house including the basement and attic. Leave. Flees all gone. It's that simple. What is the exact story on the termite problem ???
I wasn't very specific about the problems with this house. The fleas were horrendous. I would not be able to work in there had I not done what I did, but so far, the flea problem is gone (I'm keeping my fingers crossed). Here's how it went:
Bought foggers from Home Depot & set them off. It did absolutely nothing.
Called Fleabusters & they came out and treated the floors (they also sell their product online).
Went by the house a few days later to get the fleas hatching & moving (their eggs lie dormant for over 3 months without a host). While there, I found a cat IN the house. Yikes! It must've followed the pest control guy in. I got the cat out & thankfully because...
Two days later, the house was tented for a termite infestation. Can you imagine finding a dead cat in your house? Whew!
After the house was cleared from the Vikane gas, the kitchen was measured for new cabinets & there was not a flea in sight! I set up some electronic flea traps that are pretty much made of a light and fly paper, but wasn't able to turn them on because the 25 year old hot water heater was leaking, so we had the power off.
Today, we got the hot water heater replaced and my husband said there were still no fleas. Yay!! I'm going to turn the traps on and hopefully will never see another flea in there again!
What a trip!
Thanks to everyone for all the advice & tips!
Tami