Fleas in holiday home

[Fleasinholidayhome]

Hi. Posting for traffic. Discovered that the house we're staying in on holiday has fleas. They're definitely fleas - small, brown, long legs and jumping. I spotted them tonight and have killed 15 so far. It's our second night here. I can't sleep. I'm here on my own with two dcs. There's a number to ring the agent tomorrow but what should I say? I don't want to stay here but our flights aren't till the end of the week and I want a holiday. Aibu to get them to pay for alternative accommodation and clean and treat our stuff? Feel very down and panicking. Please help.

Fruit flies don't leap about like bloody fleas!

OP, the agent saying she's sure it isn't fleas as they've never had them before is a flipping daft argument. Tell her there's a first time for everything and this is her's.

Don't let her intimidate you by being sharp- you are the customer here and you cannot have your children in unsanitary conditions.

Thing is I know from talking to other people in the complex that they can be an issue here because of the dozy Brits letting cats in. So she must have come across it before.

I'm going to ask a neighbour I was chatting to yesterday if he can help me with this matter maintenance guy. The neighbour lives here and speaks the language.

Definitely take pix of the corpses and, if you can, of a live one.

Strictly speaking if they are fleas you should be moved and your clothes washed/treated. I'd be pushing for compensation for inconvenience and distress, too.

Remember it's tough for the owner too. The fleas will have been left by a previous renter.

I have pictures. No sign of them this morning. And we haven't been bitten. This is weird. Pero yo creo que no estan Las moscas - estan Las pulgas.

(Resurrected ancient language skills and am practising.)

Neighbour very nice and will help me talk to maintenance guy. Flipping nightmare.

I know it's tough for the owner but the agent was curt and dismissive when I was being polite and all but accused me of lying.

When we had fleas courtsey of our dear cats I was the only one to be bitten out of four of us. You may simply not appeal to them (and if they have had previous occupants to feast on they won't be desperate yet).

If you don't have pets, or if your pets are treated with an effective spot-on/tablet, they won't multiply once you're home, but it's as well to give everything (clothes, luggage etc) a good hot wash and perhaps a spray beforehand.

Ok I'm calming down now. Even if it's fleas, they're not biting us. They'll already be in our clothes etc so moving won't solve that. We don't have a pet so they won't last in our home - is that right?

Put a shallow dish of warm water down with some washing up liquid in. Put it near a light on the floor. If they’re fleas they’ll jump in and not be able to get back out.

Fruit flies fly, fleas jump and have no wings, so I am pretty sure you can tell the difference and your agent is talking rubbish.
Have had fleas in my house courtesy of various cats and they don't seem to be attracted to me at all ( or if they bite I don't react to the bites) but OH got bitten to pieces, so I think some people just aren't as tasty as others. Maybe why you don't have bites?

Tis cucarachas. They weren't jumping - just moving to the side really quickly. Place sprayed and loads more crawled out to die. There are lots of gaps along skirting boards etc that have also been sprayed and they'll be fixed tomorrow. Fucking nightmare. Am going to ask for massive refund - told the assistant today that will speak to boss to make arrangements. If I see one more live bastard we are out of here and they will just have to bomb it.

Have been out most of the day - man came, looked at squashed ones and unsurprisingly couldn't tell what they are. Then he sprayed, we came back a couple of hours later to a bunch of dead ones and I was pretty sure what they were by this point but they are very little so needed him to come round and confirm while we were out. Got back and he agreed with me so going to see - don't hold out much hope as there are lots of gaps. Fuckers.

But cucurachas are cockroaches, not fleas. I’m puzzled.

Yes I got it wrong. I thought they were jumping but they were just moving sideways really fast - the lighting is bad in there and so is my eyesight. And they are small cockroaches. Now in a hotel that I have had to fund myself and also that is shit - typical brits abroad place with fucking poolside entertainment and the works. But fortunately no cockroaches. The agent did offer us a different apartment but that was even worse - within minutes of stepping in there I'd trod on four roaches just by walking across the room and when I switched on the light in the bathroom I saw fleas jumping off the bathmat. Also ants and woodlice. It was like a jungle challenge.

This is officially the shittest holiday I have ever had. Also the most expensive.