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Flea-ting thoughts


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I've been house sitting this month and with the heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago, the house has been invaded by fleas.

There are two cats and two rats, but they are on the second floor, had flea treatments before the owners left and are fine.

Week one was the worst, as they bit me head to toe, but have been trying, better living through chemical engineering and was having moderate success.

Now it looks like the second generation is here(they grow up so fast these days), so obviously I have missed one of their hiding places.

I'm spending a fortune I don't have on products and being busy with work, doesn't leave me with enough time or energy to completely dismantle their house(lots of stuff) to get in every nook and cranny.

I was vacuuming quite a bit, but of course am now out of bags(supposed to throw out each time) and replacements are some boutiquey brand that I have to find more of.

Am I better off calling a exterminator with something more lethal than what I have access to and if so what am I going to do about the pets?

Anyone with some experience or thoughts, before the whole house gets taken over and they completely consume me in my sleep?

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I don't have any good ideas.

When my aunt passed away, she had been living in a nursing home for maybe a year. Her cats (4) were left in her house and her neighbor was keeping them fed to a degree. The cats basically demolished the house turning the entire place into their litter box (they coudln't get outside)

I had to make the tough decision to have her cats taken away and put down. When she passed, my cousin & I got up there and were absolutely mugged by the little buggers. We decided we coudln't work in the house like that so went to Walmart and bought 4 bottles of flea bomb.

Set one off in the kitchen, living room and two bedrooms. We left for breakfast & then bank.

We got back to the house 3-4 hours later and I don't think we had a single episode upon our return. Since she was gone, we had zero concerns for food items, everything was going to be tossed....had no concern for furniture as the cats had ruined it anyway. Had no concerns for carpets, bedding.... really, nothing other than killing the little boogers.

Worked like a charm but I doubt you'd want to do the same thing while planning to return back to your home.

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We moved into a rent house one time and you couldn't walk anywhere's in the house without fleas covering your legs. The only thing that worked for us (couldn't afford an exterminator) was a flea killer made by Adams. It was a liquid that was sprayed on the carpet and floors. I think it took 2 or 3 applications to break the hatching cycle but every time we used it you could tell a huge difference.

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Been using the Canadian equal of the Adams spray, been through about a Gallon already @ $30 a pop and it did cut down the pop. and slow 'em down, but new batch seems to have hatched.

Got a quote from Orkin today for around $300(!) so think I will just keep pumping spray, until the carpets are squishing.

I am sure my friend would pay me back, but would rather just keep fighting the battle DYI and let them make the expensive decission when they return.

Of course it goes without saying that any friend of mine has lots of records and stereo gear, but with my impending store move, I have enough of my own to shift around, so may just have to do the bug bombs, leave the annimals outdoors in their cages and carriers with lots of water and hope it doesn't damage too much.

Just at wits end, with enough stuff on my mind and sleep deprivation, due to fleas, is not allowing me to find inner peace.

And if another person asks me if I'm going to the "Flea Market" this week, I'll kill 'em inbetween scratching my legs off![:D]

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took 2 or 3 applications to break the hatching cycle...

Correct: To really break the cycle takes about 4 times.... Set off the "spray bombs", at least one per room and leave. Come back vacuum up the dead bodies (again..); wait 5 days; repeat; wait 7 days, repeat; then about 14 days later..... We had that happen with this house when we first moved in. It had carpet and the previous owner had a dog.... We ended up removing the carpet about a year or two later. Dog & Cat "critters" live outside, and still get the flea & tick "drops" and a bath once a month whether they like it or not.....

Just as a precaution, we bug-bomb the house about twice a year even if no critters got in as sometimes you can get fleas on your pant legs and carry them in. There is also a spray product from Sevin that comes in a bottle to which you attach a hose. You spray that around the perimiter of the house and on the lawn about 20-30 feet out. It also kills fleas, ticks, etc. That stuff works well and we only do that after the hurricane season, or immediately after a hurricane/ tropical storm as a preventive measure.

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I know folks who will put Sevin dust on their carpets, and then vacuum it out. It works except for the very abrasive nature of the Sevin dust. It will eat up motor bearing in a hurry...

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My parents and I moved to a new house recently and we had other insects. But the one thing that impressed me was this raid

You drop it in water and in 30 seconds its starts to puff out a deep deep heavy smoke. It set the alarm off and rang for about 30 minutes (I did not want to go back in to the fog and take the batteries off since it was so very thick). That was the last time we saw any creepy crawlers.

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I've been house sitting this month and with the heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago, the house has been invaded by fleas.

I just noticed this specific comment. Ironic circumstance at best?

[:^)]

Just saying....[:o]

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Related.... My son got home last night with..... "nits"..... He was supposed to get a haircut, but just when it started, the hair cutter person stopped and threw him out. She told my wife that it's particularly bad year here. The only place we can figure out where he got them was..... the swimming pool during swim practice. Apparently when the great unwashed masses come to the pool, the head lice escape because they cannot stand the chlorine. They end up floating, almost invisible, on the surface and anybody who swims by, their head hair acts like a Guf Oil spill cleanup skimmer....

The good news? Only a couple "survivors" were present.

The bad news? back to the store; the special shampoo (and the funny snooty looks from the sales clerk at Walgreens...); then wash everything he laid his head on during the last week, "bombed" the rooms, vaccumed twice, etc., etc.

This seems to happen every summer; he goes someplace, camp, etc. and there's always some kid that's also attending that is a "typhoid Mary" walking around.

[:@]

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