Can you ever have just one flea?

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I was just watching TV and looked at my arm and a flea was biting me. It jumped off and I lost sight of it.

I am freaking out. Are we heading for an infestation? We don't have pets.

In the summer after sitting in the grass, I occasionally noticed red spots on my baby's legs. I found what I thought was a dead flea in her room once and then it stopped. That was back in July though.

What shall I do? And where has it come from? Could it be from school or do they not travel on people?

Never just had one tbh.
Are you sure it was a flea? Ankles are generally the most commonly attacked area, although one place I lived in was so infested they would end up in the cup you were drinking your tea from!
Even if I’ve visited other peoples houses, it will be my ankles that end up with a bites on rather than anywhere else.
Have you recently moved? Eggs can lay dormant in carpets then hatch out.

You need to get a flea bomb from a pet shop & decontaminate your whole house. Boil wash all soft furnishings, clothes and bedding. Scrub the whole house down and use flea spray on bedding & soft furnishings.

I suppose in theory if you did somehow bring one into your house (ie it jumped from your neighbours dog to your coat) and that one flea is a boy so can't lay eggs you would just have the one.
But unfortunately... there's probably more.

Get some indorex and give yourself peace of mind. Could be bed bugs in your DDs bed, are the bites 3 in a row?

Fleas don't live on humans and if you don't have pest there shouldn't be more than any you bring in on your clothing.

You dont need to boil wash your whole house as a pp suggested. Indorex could be used if you wish

We have always had pets and have had fleas pop up here and there through the years.

In my experience there can kind of be only one, in that I see one, I treat the animals, they go away. I assume there are more but I never see them. They don’t bite me, I must not be tasty.

Ive never done more to get rid than vac up and wash the cat and dog beds and that has always been enough, so don’t panic. I’ve never needed to decontaminate, boil wash or flea bomb anything.

They will usually die without a host OP. And they can’t breed without a host. I would vac up, watch and wait.

I was already in quite a depressed/anxious/overwhelmed state the last few days, this is going to tip me over the edge.

I've never seen a flea before so can't be 100% sure, but with the way it jumped, I'm quite positive :(

We don't have any carpet and have lived here 10+ years.

Baby hasn't had any red marks for about 4 months. Definitely not bed bugs, I am massively paranoid about them and monitor constantly which is how I noticed the faint red marks on DD in the first place, I was hypervigilant.

No, I don't think so. You need to set up a trap overnight and see how many you get.
Shallow dish, fill with water and add a drop of washing up liquid, put a torch or light source next to it and wait.

I very much doubt you have an infestation given you have no pets so no host to live on.

Boil washing and cleaning doesnt kill fleas

OP there are some good powerful sprays on the market, you have to hoover a huge amount, then apply the sprays, then go out or leave the house for a while, then hoover again, all the furnishings and you should be ok

You might want to wash your furnishings once you've finished to wash the spray off

@dementedpixie @InTheFutilityRoomEatingBiscuits thank you that makes me feel a lot better. Googling only ever gives horror stories so I may stick to reading your messages.

Don't panic. Yes you can have just one rogue flea. However, to be on the safe side, hoover everywhere and spray carpets and skirting boards with Indorex (you'll only need one can, they are huge).

If you don't have pets, that should put a stop to it immediately.

Agree with a PP that you don't need to boil wash everything. Just hoover hoover hoover! You can put a flea collar inside your hoover bag too to kill off any eggs that you hoover up.

This post is sponsored by the word "hoover"

I'd wait if I were you to see if you spot anymore. If there's more you'll soon know.

Agree you don't have to boil wash and do bombs etc just indorex and hoovering.

This probably won't make you feel any better but any chance you or neighbours have a rodent problem? They can carry fleas

PS if it makes you feel better I looked down to see a flea on my baby's head while I was breastfeeding recently. Absolutely dreadful. I just about managed not to burn my house down!

Big fleas have little fleas
upon their backs to bite ‘em
Little fleas have lesser fleas
And so on, ad infinitum

@bakehimawaytoys poor you! I would have walked out with baby and left DH to sort it out while I stayed somewhere else!!

@samstownsunset indeed it doesn't make me feel better but it's a good point. We're in the country side and both neighbours and us have had the odd mice in the garage. Not in the house though I don't think! (Hope!!)

I am so worried that I let it escape, now I know there is a rogue flea somewhere. I just can't find it.

I should have just squashed it straightaway but I was so freaked I froze and wanted to make sure I could identify it before squashing it. Then DH touched it and it jumped.

I wouldn't do anything at all unless you spot another one.

Fleas are everywhere, dont think that if you dont see any that you dont have any. As a vet once said to me, fleas are omnipotent

Yes, I was bitten one day, pulled the duvet back to see a flea - sellotaped the thing and put it in the outside bin, never saw another.