Fleas everywhere - no pets at home!

lo0kash

It started few weeks ago - we have been bited few times and few days ago we discovered that its the fleas. Now we are vacuuming everywhere, every day, today we sprayed whole house with an IGR spray.

BUT.... we have just discovered that the felas are in the garden, on the trampoline, possibly everywhere. No we think about moving out
Did anyone experienced something like that? Is there any way to get rid of these little f*****s ?

Crossposted on Home & Garden.

Zapperzy

The tenants before ye probably had a pet, the eggs can live in the carpet and furnishings for years and hatch when there's some movement and heat. Keep doing what ye're doing but pay special attention to all nooks and crannies, they love dark, humid and warm places like under and in the couch, corners of the carpet. Hoover EVERYWHERE and pop a flea collar in the bag, wash anything possible on a high temperature. Buy some flea spray or flea bombs. If it's very bad you may need to move out for a few days and have the heat on full blast and keep boiling the kettle to increase the humidity, it'l ensure all the eggs hatch (they are hardest to kill as eggs) so you can fully rid the place of them.

lo0kash

We are living here for 2.5 years... the neighbour has a dog :mad: there seem to be hundreds of them in the grass outside. nightmare :mad:

Zapperzy

That's unusual that they are mostly outside, usually fleas stay indoors. Unless the dog has access to your garden I doubt they came from him, most likely another animal passing through your garden (cats or foxes?). Is the grass cut short?

Dotsie~tmp

Nigtmare alright. After our cat died years ago we started noticing bites and eventually spotted them (tiny bastards). Initially started hoovering em up and cleaning. They would seem to be gone but next morning more bites. I actually noticed the would wait at the foot of the bed on floor by morning!

Eventually tracked lots of em onto the old sofa. Chose the nuclear option. Threw sofa out sheets out. Massive clean after which everyone stripped and showered, clother straight into scalding wash. Found odd straggler as i crawled every inch of the floor over next few hours. I was the bringer of flea death, the destructor.

Id say there were never more than 100 and we acted fast and killed it. If it bigger than that you may need a professional.

RubyGirl

Do ye live beside trees, moist land etc. Are they midgets? Have they just started biting recently.

lo0kash

RubyGirl wrote: »

Do ye live beside trees, moist land etc. Are they midgets? Have they just started biting recently.

Yeh quite recently - 2 maybe 3 weeks ago - first bites at home. Some bushes outside beside the fences. Grass longer beside the trampoline. We saw a rat going under the shed last year. Neighbour's dog is just beside the fence (1m from our patio door).

We found out what bites on Wed - since we hoover everything daily and wash wooden floors with water+vinegar. Today I've sprayed whole house with an IGR.

I thought you can only get these bastards when you have a pet. We are in the middle of a housing estate so probably we are not the only ones affected...

lo0kash

Zapperzy wrote: »

Is the grass cut short?

Well it was cut just recently when it started to grow after the winter. Still a bit longer beside the trampoline. I'm going to wait for a rainy day and move it then cut the grass where the trampoline is now.

Mountainsandh

I'm in the countryside and we get midgets that look very much like fleas (approx same size and looks, and they hop rather than fly_mostly) every year. They tend to stay in the bathroom where water/humidity is available though.
The resemblance is uncanny and I did get paranoid the first few years in our house, although our cat has always been de-flead on a regular basis. I get the feeling these midgets would be a lot easier to get rid of so fingers crossed for you they might be just that ? Midgets ?


I hate them fleas too :mad:. Did you know that birds, rabbits, and hedgehogs are full of fleas too ? I have seen them crawling all over my cat's "presents". You could have one of them "carriers" in the bushes in your garden.

RubyGirl

Did you mention it to the neighbours, have they the same problem?

lo0kash

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I get the feeling these midgets would be a lot easier to get rid of so fingers crossed for you they might be just that ? Midgets ?

nope, if midges look like these fellas here:
http://bit.ly/HC96WZ
The Midges seem to be a bit like little mosquitoes, with visible legs to the sides?

Things we are seeing are dark brown to black with rear legs longer.

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I hate them fleas too :mad:. Did you know that birds, rabbits, and hedgehogs are full of fleas too ? I have seen them crawling all over my cat's "presents". You could have one of them "carriers" in the bushes in your garden.

That what's probably happened. I've read that they hate rain and that will probably flush them out of the garden. Anyway, I just hope this IGR thing + vacuuming will work for the house and rain + moving the law will fix the garden...

lo0kash

RubyGirl wrote: »

Did you mention it to the neighbours, have they the same problem?

Well, the neighbours have a dog, and they just cut the grass in the back garden and moved stuff around... There are other issues with them but that's a separate story. They would be delighted hearing we have this problem

wetfish

lo0kash wrote: »

It started few weeks ago - we have been bited few times and few days ago we discovered that its the fleas. Now we are vacuuming everywhere, every day, today we sprayed whole house with an IGR spray.

BUT.... we have just discovered that the felas are in the garden, on the trampoline, possibly everywhere. No we think about moving out
Did anyone experienced something like that? Is there any way to get rid of these little f*****s ?

Crossposted on Home & Garden.

Who or how did you confirm that you have a flea problem?

lo0kash

wetfish wrote: »

Who or how did you confirm that you have a flea problem?

I have googled them and they look like fleas on the internet.
They bite, they make low but long jumps. They are dark, almost black with rear legs longer.

How can I confirm this otherwise? I guess only by getting a specialist looking at them? What else can it be?

aisher

A friend of mine got an outbreak of fleas even though they too had no pets - could not get rid of them until they realised the fleas were living in an abandoned bird box they had which was beside the washing line - the fleas were invading the house through the washing - once they got rid of the bird box the flea problem was resolved but it did mean a lot of hoovering and washing at hot temps. See if you can find a source otherwise it will be hard to get rid of them.

lo0kash

aisher wrote: »

A friend of mine got an outbreak of fleas even though they too had no pets - could not get rid of them until they realised the fleas were living in an abandoned bird box they had which was beside the washing line - the fleas were invading the house through the washing - once they got rid of the bird box the flea problem was resolved but it did mean a lot of hoovering and washing at hot temps. See if you can find a source otherwise it will be hard to get rid of them.

They defo come from the garden. My wife sat on the trampoline and got about 20 of them on her within seconds. Maybe they are under the trampoline, in longer grass. I will wait for the rain and then move the trampoline to cut the grass.

Mountainsandh

lo0ksh wrote: »

nope, if midges look like these fellas here:
http://bit.ly/HC96WZ
The Midges seem to be a bit like little mosquitoes, with visible legs to the sides?

I'm only saying midges out of ignorance of what they really are, but they are really tiny (the ones we have). They're very like these mini beetles, they're probably baby versions of some bug that's out in the garden. I'm nearly certain the ones we have have minute wings but they are hidden under the shell.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ruBaQaeHSx8/ShSxmCTBBOI/AAAAAAAAD-Y/Yr5A15TDGtc/s400/Tiny+Beetle.JPG
http://0.tqn.com/w/experts/Entomology-Study-Bugs-665/2008/10/Tiny-bugs.jpg

As I said I got right paranoid about them at first !

lo0kash

Mountainsandh wrote: »

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ruBaQaeHSx8/ShSxmCTBBOI/AAAAAAAAD-Y/Yr5A15TDGtc/s400/Tiny+Beetle.JPG
http://0.tqn.com/w/experts/Entomology-Study-Bugs-665/2008/10/Tiny-bugs.jpg

As I said I got right paranoid about them at first !

Nope, they are not what we have and AFAIK they are not midges either.

Stuff we are seeing looks like that:
http://www.dogblogpedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/dog-fleas.jpg

planetX

You could only have fleas if there's a host animal in your garden. Google their life-cycle, they can't reproduce on feeding from humans. So they won't spread inside, and shouldn't last too long outside without animals living there.

lo0kash

planetX wrote: »

You could only have fleas if there's a host animal in your garden. Google their life-cycle, they can't reproduce on feeding from humans. So they won't spread inside, and shouldn't last too long outside without animals living there.

I'm not an expert but I did google a lot and didn't read that anywhere, from what I remember they can reproduce sucking human's blood.

We don't have a pet but our neighbour has a dog.


quote from http://ask.metafilter.com/49705/Another-Flea-Question

"many species of flea will bite and successfully reproduce on human blood"

dodderangler

Any rats foxs or hedgehogs around

lo0kash

dodderangler wrote: »

Any rats foxs or hedgehogs around

We saw a rat going under the shed last year. I've bought two traps today...

dodderangler

Well I have found hedgehogs and held them and seen an unbelievable amount of fleas on them and same with rats dead and all

sideboard

lo0kash wrote: »

We don't have a pet but our neighbour has a dog.

Look over the fence at the neighbour (and their dog)...if they are scratching then there is the source of your problem...otherwise you need to 'scratch' further on your side of the fence to find the source. Sympathies...:(

lo0kash

sideboard wrote: »

Look over the fence at the neighbour (and their dog)...if they are scratching then there is the source of your problem...otherwise you need to 'scratch' further on your side of the fence to find the source. Sympathies...:(

Yeh he is scratching. I won't talk to the neighbours though, they are lunatics.

At least it is raining which hopefully will flush these little bastards for now, that should give me a time to move stuff around in the garden and later cut any longer grass.

Dotsie~tmp

lo0kash wrote: »

Yeh he is scratching. I won't talk to the neighbours though, they are lunatics.

At least it is raining which hopefully will flush these little bastards for now, that should give me a time to move stuff around in the garden and later cut any longer grass.

Put some poison in some meat and fúck it over the fence. Jobs oxo.


USER HAS BEEN BANNED.

lo0kash

Dotsie~tmp wrote: »

Put some poison in some meat and fúck it over the fence. Jobs oxo.

Bit drastic, but discovered some calming tablets for dogs recently so I may use them for this little yapper. Won't solve the flea problem though

ISDW

lo0kash wrote: »

Bit drastic, but discovered some calming tablets for dogs recently so I may use them for this little yapper. Won't solve the flea problem though

I don't know if you're being serious, but you can't give someone else's dogs any kind of medication, over the counter or otherwise. You don't know what medications the dog may be on, and what effect other chemicals may cause.

Is it a solid fence between the two houses? I don't see how fleas can be passing over a fence onto you?

lo0kash

ISDW wrote: »

I don't know if you're being serious

No I'm not The dog isn't guilty anything here.

Is it a solid fence between the two houses? I don't see how fleas can be passing over a fence onto you?

No, the prob is it's not solid at all. huge gaps approx 10cm.

Hellrazer

Dotsie~tmp wrote: »

Put some poison in some meat and fúck it over the fence. Jobs oxo.

Banned for a week.

Hellrazer

lo0kash wrote: »

Bit drastic, but discovered some calming tablets for dogs recently so I may use them for this little yapper. Won't solve the flea problem though

Please dont quote posts like that one--Report them instead.

lo0kash

Hellrazer wrote: »

Please dont quote posts like that one--Report them instead.

Sorry, I didn't think it might be serious.

lo0kash

ISDW wrote: »

Is it a solid fence between the two houses? I don't see how fleas can be passing over a fence onto you?

It's more less something like that:

http://www.ricksfencing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/good-neighbor-cedar-fence.jpg


but with bigger gaps. The dog is 1m from my patio door. Houses are really close to each other here

RubyGirl

Op is there a house the far side or behind the house with the dog, if so have you spoken to them.

Any inprovement yet? De flead all mine yesterday you had me stratching.

lo0kash

RubyGirl wrote: »

Op is there a house the far side or behind the house with the dog, if so have you spoken to them.

Any inprovement yet? De flead all mine yesterday you had me stratching.

No, I didn't speak to any neighbours about this issue yet.

There is some improvement, although we do not use our garden... The house is treated with an IGR spray and it's hoovered very often, but apparently at least one flea survived as my son has new bite marks :mad:

murmur

Hi, we are having a similar problem at the moment. Since late February my son and I have been getting bites. Maybe only once every couple of weeks but will get a few at a time each time. My husband and baby aren't affected.

We have a dog but there was absolutely no indication she has/had fleas, we have treated her anyway in case. Twice outside I found a little black thing on me when I felt myself getting bitten, but I didn't get a chance to take a photo or get a good look. It didn't appear to have wings, but doesn't look like the pictures of fleas I found on google either. Also bites initially were on my legs but now I get them on my back & neck too.

I have sprayed couches, cushions, curtains, anything I can think of. Should I spray mattresses? I am not convinced it is a problem in the house but I did get bitten while inside a few times, maybe am carrying something in from outside? It is driving me crazy, especially with baby in the house.

I live in the country and our lawn is v long, due to be cut shortly. Could it be something living in the long grass?
Any ideas greatly appreciated.

lo0kash

murmur wrote: »

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Hi there. As at this point I have a fair idea how to deal with it, so here is my advice as how to keep the problem under control.

But first of all I'd bring the dog to a vet for a check-up, the animal is an obvious source of fleas.
If the dog however is free from fleas AND you are sure you have flea problem - read on.

Do not spray beddings.
Use a spray with an IGR formula - they have it at woodies - white container cost approx 13 quid. Air the house for a very long time after spraying, especially if you have a small baby. We only sprayed the house once - carpets, rugs, sofa and all the corners etc. I believe spraying the house too often may be risky for your health.

I think you are carrying them from outside (as we did). Yes, the fleas live in longer grass, keep it as short as possible. We don't use our garden at all now.
Do an experiment - on a sunny day go outside wearing white/fair socks / trousers for 10-15 minutes, go on the grass. Then check clothes. Each time you come back from outside (after cutting the grass etc) check your clothes put all your clothes into a plastic bag, take a shower and give the clothes a good handwash.

My guess is your husband and baby aren't affected because they may not go to the garden as often as you do?

Hoover the whole house as often as possible. For first two weeks we were hoovering daily everywhere. Under furniture as well. Make sure I'd put the vacuum bag into the plastic bag while vacuum not in use.

We bought a natural powder killing fleas (in woodies, green plastic container) and spread it on the grass outside.

This is a nasty problem but we managed to keep it under control, we hope to start using our garden again soon.


Good luck - these insects can be defeated!