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fleas how to end the nightmare

4 replies

begkindtoeachother · 24/04/2023 11:10

To those of you who have this horrible problem. IE FLEAS . in your house you like me were probably horrified. I don't have pets and I have always associated these things with poverty and deprivation. if you want to get rid of them quickly you will have a really hard time getting the info you need online as there is a lot of conflicting advice, to save yourself a lot of money and time, and TRUST ME I have wasted a lot of both over my 12 month battle with the parasites. this is what you have to do. FIRSTLY. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS !!!!! I HAVE TRIED THEM ALL.!!! if you are being bitten you of course want this to stop immediately. you can do this fast with smoke bombs/flea bombs. not foggers or aerosols in a can but the type that you light a taper and they burn. do this at dusk seal the room and leave it till morning, if you have to use that room overnight then leave it sealed for at least 5-6 hours during the day. you will need one of these bombs for each room in the house. if you cant do this all at once then do each room separately within a week. you may like me think that the nightmare is over after a few days of peace but NO, unless you want the whole saga to start again in a few weeks maybe less depending on the infestation you will have to spray all soft furnishings, carpet/curtains/sofa/ mattress/skirting boards, with a product that contains an IGR 'insect growth regulator " again you will have to do the entire house. the only exception I made was the kitchen, where I was very careful about spraying and did so only along the skirting and behind cupboards etc' you will no doubt have read that you should vacuum and you should .but not in the way a lot of different sites tell you to. cynical me tells myself this is so they can sell you more products that don't work .vacuum before treatment. after spraying DO NOT vacuum for 2 weeks this is so any pupae in the last stage of the development of the flea from an egg and also the hardest to kill, will come into contact with the insecticide when it hatches. think of these pupae. like land mines, they are invulnerable to almost anything including insecticide while in their cocoons and can stay in this state for up to 18 months and will only quickly hatch and bite when they know a host is nearby, vibration co2 heat moisture are all triggers. also the IGR a hormone will stop the development of the worms in the second stage of the flea life cycle after hatching from an egg the size of a grain of salt from growing. expect to be bitten in the first week but at least you will know that the flea that got you will not live to lay more eggs and continue the cycle ., how many times this happens depends on how many pupae are in the house in my case it all stopped after about 7 days do not avoid the rooms where you think the fleas are, you want them to hatch and hit the insecticide, you can take precautions like tucking your trousers into socks and turning on lights when you enter a room at night. to avoid being bitten during the waiting period. if you follow my advice you WILL get rid of them for good. count on using about 1 trigger spray bottle 1 ltr per room,10 trigger pulls per square meter of carpeting, wear a mask a covid one will do, in the UK the only insecticide non-profesonals can buy is plant-based so dont worry too much about poisoning yourself .just don't eat it or let it get onto anything you eat from and avoid anyone coming into contact with it until its dry. i am writing this review as I wish I knew then what I know now. ps wash all bedding at 60 degrees or 40 on long cycles, this will kill eggs worms pupae if there are any in your bedding as you cannot use the insecticide on bedding. be thorough and don't buy second-hand sofas again even if they were made in italy, lol

OP posts:
Curlywurlys98 · 24/04/2023 11:12

Personally I just got my cat treated and then used 2 cans of indorex over the whole house at it worked!

TheApplianceofScience · 24/04/2023 11:15

Indorex once a year in all the cracks and crevices, never have a problem.

OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea · 24/04/2023 11:34

I treated the cat, set off the aerosol type bombs and sprayed the ancient horsehair stuffed armchair.

Only had them invade like that once thankfully. I think looking back though they were probably only in the ancient armchair and doing the rest of the house was overkill.

AliceTheeCamel · 24/04/2023 11:49

We got rid of them without using insecticide on anything except the cat, but only because we spotted the problem early before we got too many.

We switched the cat's flea treatment on vet advice, then as soon as the cat had had the new treatment, we hoovered all the carpets and soft furnishings like fury. Washed all ours and cat's bedding on 60 degree wash. Cat then roamed round the house mopping up all the fleas that hatched (they bit cat and died due to new flea treatment). We repeated the hoovering and bedding change every 1-2 days for about 4 weeks. No issues since. Obviously the flea-treated cat was key to this working, so I feel for you OP - I'd be horrified to get fleas in my house if I didn't have pets.

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