AIBU to ask landlady to rip the carpets up because of fleas

[Feelingitchy]

I've names changed for this as along with my other threads it could be a bit outing...

Last year we moved house into a private rented house, with in about four days of moving in it became VERY apparent they was a serious flea infestation. We bought some sprays, carpet granules that type of stuff and our landlady had left control out within 24 hours of us informing her.
We were told to wait a fortnight by pest control and after that the problem should be sorted. It wasn't.
We bought flea bombs for every room in the house and the landlady had left control out 28 days after the previous one came out.
We still have fleas. They're not terrible but I still see at least between five and ten weekly. I'm still using the carpet granules and sprays regular but they're not cheap when used so frequently and we must have now spent upwards of £150 (around one spray can a week which is £6 plus other bits and bobs for close to 10 months now I think) since we moved in.
There's actually only three carpeted areas in the whole house, rest of it is wooden floor boards so I don't even know where the fleas are hiding. I have a baby who is beginning to want to crawl now so constantly putting down chemicals isn't really ideal now I don't think.

I have a small furry pet who is in a hutch outside and does not come inside ever, who I flea treat regularly so it's not us that have brought the fleas.

AIBU to ask the landlady to rip up the carpets to try solve the problem even though there is nothing particularly wrong with the current ones apart from the fleas ? Unless anyone has some miracle flea repelling suggestions ?

Would the pest control company not be liable still if they’ve treated twice and still no resolution?

We had a flea infestation and no carpets so I'm afraid it won't necessarily fix it- we used indorex which was great and also hot shallow bowls with water and a bit of washing up liquid, it attracts and kills the fleas

One can of Indorex should sort it out. £6 cans are unlikely to have the active ingredients in needed. Flea bombs don’t get into the parks fleas like to hatch, down the skirting etc.

*parts

I found flea bombs useless. They're able to get into cracks eg between floor boards and survive it.

What worked for me was constant hoovering, concentrating on edges, washing all linens,band flea traps (container of water set under a lamp/light bulb - fleas jump towards it and into water, at night, you will find them).

Even if you lift the carpets you'll have to hoover all the cracks/joints in the floorboards, along the skirting board/floor joint etc.

Indorex & lots of extra hoovering is the only thing that worked for us. Pay particular attention to furniture (under cushions etc), where skirting boards join carpet and don't forget underneath furniture & under the bed too. They go for dark nooks & crannies.

Oh heck so carpets arnt the problem then?
I've vacuumed as much as I possibley can with a baby, under furniture, skirting boards, the whole lot.
Will put bowl of water down and washing liquid, makes sense they like this cause there's always one that jumps In my coffee

I had fleas once so I can completely sympathise, they are a nightmare. I bought Acclaim flea spray and blasted the whole house with it. Also had to vacuum constantly and I mean at least once a day if not twice plus regularly washed soft furnishings (cushion covers, sofa covers etc). We bought a flea lamp as well but it was no more effective than leaving a lamp lit at night with a bowl of soapy water near it. They’re attracted to light so jump into the bowl and drown.

Replacing carpets could help but they hide under skirting boards and all sorts. Acclaim flea spray was a brilliant purchase, I still have some now just in case. Killed ants with it last week, it’s great stuff.

Also, the soapy water thing also highlights the problem areas so you know where to target the treatments. We never used a light with ours though, albeit it was never pitch black in the house.

And it's quite yuck, but using a steamer encourages the eggs to hatch quicker so they're easier to eliminate.

Had a severe flea problem at an exs house. He refused to believe that flea eggs can lie dormant over the cold months, waiting for warmer weather to hatch. So without central heating on much during the cold months, he assumed there was no problem. And didn't put treatment on his cat.

Oh god, there is nothing like walking over a carpet and having them jump all over your legs. Makes my skin crawl again just typing that.

If any parts of the carpet aren't glued down and can be brought up, then Hoover and treat under the carpet, between floorboards. They fit everywhere. And if you catch any, they will burst if you squeeze them between the flat part of your fingernails.

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So, so worth it.

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We used a professional carpet cleaning machine that you hire for a day, which washes the carpet thoroughly, that worked for us.

There was a thread about something similar from a Landlady's perspective a few weeks ago

I think you need a different pest control treatment. The one we used was 100% effective and also prevented any more fleas living there for 6 months. He guaranteed his work and said only once in 10 years did he actually have to come back to a house. He said rentakill were useless and quite alot of his customers were people who'd had failed treatments with them or the council.

In the mean time food grade diacatemous (sp?) earth will help!

Your treating all soft furniture too right? And what animal are they using for food,? Fleas don't live in humans do you have s mouse or rat problem too?

On humans not in 🤦‍♀️

Vacuum the whole house daily, stick lots of damp washing on the radiators and turn the heating on and vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Everywhere, furniture, all floors. Spray with Indorex, pay special attention to round skirting boards, anywhere the little buggers can be hiding.

Your problem is probably the pupae. They can stay hidden for over a year before turning into adult fleas and are pretty impervious to just about everything while they're in that state. Once they're adults you can kill them. You can try and persuade them that now is a good time to become an adult flea by making the air damp and causing lots of vibrations.

I've had to do all this twice, the last time with a toddler. (Never buy Frontline. It doesn't work, my bloody vet still sold it to me a few years ago rather than recommending something effective.)

Do you empty the Hoover every time you use it. Wonder if they’re getting out again.