Grr. We have fleas

[Moxie]

And we don't have any pets! I am beyond angry. They are either from my Mother's house or from the horrible people that live behind us. How do I get rid of these NOW!!

[Abigail4476]

You need to spray with a permethrin based spray. My husband buys something at the local feed store that works great. He mixes it into a sprayer according to the directions on the bottle and sprays it around baseboards of every room, on all carpeted floors, and around the outside of the house.

 

Once it's dry, vacuum your carpeted floors thoroughly and throw away the bags.

 

You'll need to repeat in a week or two to get all the new babies that hatch.

 

We had to spray our house when we first moved in, and we haven't had any problems since. (We have two dogs and two cats.)

 

If you have money to spare, I'd just call Orkin or Terminix. We've subscribed to their services before, and even though we suspended the service over a year ago, I still rarely see any insects in the house at all--not even spiders.

[Michelle My Bell]

Is there a natural way to do this? I don't use chemicals if I can help it. We too are having a bit of trouble with this.

[justasque]

Non-chemical approach: Vacuum absolutely everything - floors, couches, etc. Then, the next day, it will seem like you have even more fleas than you started with. That's what you want - the warmth and vibration of your vacuuming have caused dormant flea eggs to hatch. So vacuum again, everywhere, so you can get the new ones before they lay eggs. And on the day after, do it again. It really should only take a few days to beat the fleas' life cycle and get rid of them all. The key is to vacuum *daily* so that you are getting them before they have a chance to reproduce, and so that you are triggering all the dormant eggs to hatch now rather than later. (This assumes that you are not re-infecting by having a pet, in which case you'd want to treat the pet with Advantage or Frontline.)

[Abigail4476]

Is there a natural way to do this? I don't use chemicals if I can help it. We too are having a bit of trouble with this.

 

Yes, but in my experience, natural methods are less effective, and more time consuming. In our house with several pets, it isn't worth the risk of dealing with all of them being infested. I vote for natural for maintenance on a regular basis, but occasionally a heavier hand is necessary.

 

Quote from www.motherearthnews.com:

 

"Unfortunately, in cases of severe flea infestation it may be necessary to "bomb" your house with a commercial insecticide to annihilate the adult fleas before a natural-insecticide program can be implemented effectively. If you find yourself faced with this necessity, take the time to search out a bomb that contains either pyrethrins (natural) or resmethrin (one of the less dangerous synthetics) as the active ingredient. These are the safest of the "bombers," but, nonetheless, follow the directions on the container exactly. After this initial treatment, an ongoing natural flea-control program should preclude the necessity for further chemical "fogging" in your home."

 

You can set a shallow bowl in a room with soapy water in it, shine a light on the bowl, and the fleas will jump into it.

 

My Mom used to sprinkle baby powder on the floor and then vacuum it up. I don't know if it was the powder, or if it was the vacuuming that actually did it.

 

More ideas here.

[oldskool]

I have seen a lot of threads here about getting rid of fleas. Here is one or you can do a forum search on fleas. I have dealt with fleas too. Not fun.

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213239&highlight=fleas

 

Lesley

[StephanieZ]

Bombs & sprays are your most effective bet. They are scary stuff, however.

 

Personally, if this were me, I'd hire an exterminator. Any effective spray or bomb you use is going to be highly toxic, and you'd be better off hiring a pro who will use very effective stuff and know how to apply it fairly safely.

 

If you do-it-yourself, I like Virbac's line -- KnockOut -- the have a bomb plus two sprays (one higher potency). You put a bomb in every floor/area and then spray the corners, under couches, under beds, etc. Some vets carry them, and some retailers like PetCo or whereever carry them. Just read the instructions carefully -- these are potent poisons. I don't think we've every had a single purchaser complain about these products not working -- they DO WORK -- but I do try to avoid them if at all possible b/c they are serious POISON.

 

Anything you do is going to cost a bit, so be sure to do it right the first time so you're not spending over and over. That's why I'd hire a pro.

 

In any event, vacuum & wash/dryonhot everything feasible daily until the infestation is GONE for at least a week. You can wash/dry/then bag (garbage bags) things like stuffed animals and bedding to keep it 'safe' until the bugs are gone. (You can probably just bag things for some period of time to kill the bugs if you have stuff that isn't washable. . . google that if it applies. . . I don't own anything fluffy that I don't wash, lol)

 

I'd personally wash everything washable AFTER the bombs/sprays/exterminator come as well to get rid of as much of the poisons as possible (ideally allowing 12-24 hours for the poisons to work first). If it were me, I'd hire the exteminator to come, then evacuate the house for 18-24 hours to friend's house while the poisons work and fumes settle, then come home, wash everything, vacuum more, mop & wipe down everything, open all the windows for a day. . . then resettle the home.

 

HTH

[Moxie]

So, the slumber party my daughter has planned for her birthday next weekend is probably off??:crying::crying::crying:

[Prairie~Phlox]

So, the slumber party my daughter has planned for her birthday next weekend is probably off??:crying::crying::crying:

 

I think if you vacuumed every day REALLY well, you should probably be ok. really vacuum, vacuum, vacuuming is the key and make sure you either vacuum up some borax, that will kill any in the bag, or take the bag outside every time and then just bring it back in. I actually seal it in a ziplock bag until my friend told me to vacuum up borax.

[cyndi60]

There also is a pill for just 3 to 5. that kills the adult fleas almost immediately.

We also use Revolution that works

Good idea before the flea bath and before spraying.

We would do all of the stuff with our dog and then put him in the garage in a kennel while we "spray" the house and vacuum it and we even spray the yard and try to do this ever so often to stay on top of it.

HTH

Cyndi

Wife of dh of 29yrs.

Homeschool since 1986 6 children 28-11

[emonline]

I would think vacuuming every day might work if you don't have a major infestation (if you think you just have a few fleas). I am not sure how well it would work with a major infestation, however. Evidently it is harder to get rid of the fleas when you don't have a pet that can be treated.

[scrappyhappymama]

I highly recommend FleaBusters. You can hire them to come take care of it, but we buy the powder on Amazon and self-treat. We've had severe infestations and tried treating our dog and bombing the house and nothing worked completely until we used FleaBusters.