Bites driving us mad!

[Gibson12]

Hi All,
Sorry for this un-Christmasy thread but I'm at my wit's end. Every night we're getting bites, my daughter especially, eleven at last count on her alone.

We've had the council in twice to check for bedbugs and they've told us we definitely don't have them. I thought maybe fleas? Though we don't have pets. I saw one several years ago, but I've never seen one since and I've been vacuuming and searching like crazy. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be and what to do? Being at home more because of Tier 3 seems to be creating a feeding frenzy. :( The council recommended trying something called Acclaim but it's a strong pesticide and I'm not even sure we know what we're treating for.

Any help would be fantastic!

Can you post a picture of the bites?

You can definitely get fleas in the house if you don't have pets

Do you have a fireplace (or closed off one) in the room? I got this and it was bird mites from a nest in the chimney getting in through the fireplace. Drove me crackers until I finally worked it out and had the chimney swept and properly sealed up.

Contact your local vet and ask them for a flea spray. The flea spray will kill everything, not just fleas.

Acclaim is usually used to kill of fleas...my mum used to use it as we had a cat growing up...

Meant to say also... i used Indorex as my cat was always picking up fleas.

Another vote for Indorex spray and also daily hoovering (empty the bag immediately).

OP I have had cats all my adult life and am 60 now. I have never ever seen a flea although occasionally a cat has had them. I have only known due to an itchy lump. Action must be instant.

Assuming it is fleas, i used Indorex. It was excellent and worked first time.

I thought i was losing my damn mind when i was smothered in the bites around my ankles and the itching was keeping me up half the night.
And i had hoovered like a demon and washed everything in sight, so i was at my wits end.

So Indorex genuinely saved my sanity.

Another vote for indorex. I used it on my chicken coop for redmite aswell. My cats are indoor but a rouge flea came back with one of my girls from the vets. Last 12months aswell i believe

You can buy indorex from asda pharmacy probably other supermarket pharmacies and from pets at home without a problem.
A bit cheaper online though. One spray can was enough for the whole house

Hi,

Thank you all so much for these replies.

This is a photo of a bite. I'll definitely try Indorex. Do you think it's safe to use around kids?

And I'll also look into bird mites. We live in a terraced house in London with chimney slats and lots of pigeons on the roof.

You need to spray indorex with the windows open and a face mask on, but the smell / fumes die down quickly. It's supposed to last for a year on furniture/ carpets etc. You may need more than 1 can!

It’s safe to use around the children but follow advice about having open windows. However, I would probably arrange for children to be out for a few hours during/post spray. Can take a while to die down.

I spray it’s every couple of months as we have pets, never had any bites so use it more preventatively. I normally spray it on a school day, then I go in the garden for a few hours to let the house air out while empty.

Great, I've ordered two cans so will get spraying! Thanks again.

Just cover any fishtanks if you have any as it can kill the fish off. I do upstairs, Air it all out then do downstairs and repeat. One can normally does the whole house and i liberal spraying of the landing/stairs carpet and any rugs

Don't forget to spray around the bottom skirting boards.

Just wondering if there’s any update on this? We’ve had what we think is bird mites for the last 4 months. I’ve tried hoovering daily, diatomaceous earth, flea powder, flea bombs, indorex spray, we’ve had a professional pest control person come out but we can’t shift them. I’m at my wits end getting bitten a good 100 times a day I can feel them biting me. If anyone has any other suggestion please let me know?

Hi Annifer,

That sounds terrible, I wish I had more useful advice. We used Indorex and it worked for a few months then my DD got about 20 bites in day so we just had to do it again. We concluded it was fleas brought in by mice so we also sealed up any holes and cracks, so far so good. We also sprayed Indorex in the air vents just in case it was bird mites.

I really hope you find a solution!

Thank you. I think we’re just going to go super hard with the hoovering and steam cleaning and pest control are coming back out again. Hopefully we get it sorted xx