Holiday cottage- possible flea infestation

[SatsumaDog]

Second night in a holiday cottage. Woken in the night by insane itching on tops of feet,
ankles and lower legs. Had to take an oral antihistamine to sleep a few hours. This morning I had multiple bites to both legs/ankes/feet and a few on one arm. Probably around 20-25 in total. I have noticed very small jumpy insects landing on me and other family members since in multiple rooms. No one else has been bitten as badly as me.

Facts:—

• Cottage allows dogs, although asks they are not allowed in bedrooms.
• Rural location near the sea
• House has many housemartins nesting in the eaves
• Since arriving have done a couple of walks down to the sea via a short woodland path
• We are here for 2 weeks
• We have stayed in a this and other cottages owned by the same family over the years with no similar issues
• We love this area and will be very likely to return
• We do not intend to ask for money back or any kind of compensation
• Googling photos of bites, mine could be fleas but it’s hard to tell.

AIBU to inform the owner? Is this likely fleas or similar and if so, what could reasonably be done? Do fleas just go eventually (if indeed this is what they are) or does something have to be done about them? Will my life be a misery for 2 weeks if this is fleas? Could it just be sand flies or similar? Never had this issue before but the weather has been exceptionally warm.

I won’t be mentioning the area or the owner.
I have no desire to damage their business.

Dear god OP! I’d be absolutely furious, those bites look so painful.
I would be demanding a full refund and an alternative accommodation at the very least. You will be left with scars (as I know from bitter experience of flea bites)

If you haven't already, get yourself some fexofenadine, as well as hydrocortisone cream for those bites. They look horrendous.

Also maybe get some insect repellent and spray that on yourself? I don't know if it would help with fleas but must be worth a try.

Are you sure you wouldn't rather go home if you got a refund? I don't think you have to stoic it out if you're still getting bitten. It looks awful.

A previous visitor with a dog must have brought them there, and because flea larvae aren't on the animal, but in soft furnishings etc, the dog must have left before all the fleas hatched, so therefore they are biting you instead. If there is a hoover in the accommodation, it can help quite a lot even if it doesn't totally resolve it.
I would definitely complain and expect some kind of compensation because it has spoiled your holiday significantly.

PS - it is the owner's fault in the sense that they have chosen to allow dogs. And this outcome is a risk of that decision - they could charge an extra £100 for people who bring dogs and then on the occasions this happens they'd have enough money to cover a refund.

I get you being pragmatic so you don’t ruin the family holiday.

However the owner is running a business and should demonstrate a business like approach. You have not received the product you contacted the business to deliver.

Expecting compensation for significant negative experience is not unreasonable.

Update- we are moving to a different cottage tomorrow. We will have to be careful we don’t transfer the bloody things to the new place.

We fed my sister’s cat while she was away on holiday and absolutely brought fleas back to our house with us. They must have hitched a ride on us humans. No dog or other animal to carry them home with us.

Now I’m worried about infesting the cottage we’re moving to. I will wash all clothes etc. Should we quarantine everything else for a period outside?

This is worrying. The last thing I need is an infestation at home! I will need to read up on flea eradication.

In all seriousness, thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread. I truly appreciate it.

If it is a pet friendly property, then I assume the owner asks for extra payment for cleaning (which is standard) and really there should be hovering of all soft furnishings/carpets/mattresses etc as well as a precautionary spray of house hold flea treatments (Indorex as already mentioned is the gold standard). I feel for you OP. I have no allergies accept flea and insect bites that can make me feel very unwell. I also foster cats and kittens, some of whom arrive flea ridden and not only do they need treating but the house does too!

I do not think you are wet, in fact it is totally possible that the owner had no idea because flea eggs can lay dormant after being shed by their host and then suddenly become an issue. Hense why they really need to review their cleaning following pets staying. They are not like bed bugs- it is very unlikely they will travel home with you. All the info re putting things in the freezer etc is bed bug advice.

You should be offered some compensation, whilst the owner probably was not aware, it is a risk they have taken by renting it as a pet friendly property. As with any business, they need to allow for these situations and deal with them appropriately. You have been more than fair. Maybe ask about being put up in a hotel or similar for a night or two until the space is properly treated? It should be more or less instant. Be honest that whilst you love the accommodation, your health and enjoyment has been hugely impacted and therefore it is not unreasonable for the host to compensate for this. I hope you still have enough time to enjoy this place when sorted. It is obviously very special to you.

Also second the fexofenadine recommended above!

Those bites look awful.
I had this in a rented house. The bites are particularly angry because the fleas are starving. Dog or car fleas can only live / breed on their correct animal, but the eggs will have fallen off a dog and have hatched because they detect movement and warmth (you). They are trying to live on uour blood but it’s not working and they’re going mad.
if you have none of the correct animal they can live one generation only. You can’t infest your own house although you might carry live fleas which eventually die.

pet owners who don’t treat fleas drive me mad.

my landlord offered no compensation although I was absolutely savaged, like you, all the way up my legs. He said there was no proof. He had a dog and the pest control - that I had to pay for - said it couldnt have been anything else.

take very good care they are not bedbugs as you can transfer those. I don’t think they are because the little puncture looks more flea like than from bedbug jaws. Dont go home until youve caught one, got it in a jar and shown an expert. DO NOT TAKE BEDBUGS HOME

Oh, you poor poor thing. The photo of your foot is horrendous.
I’d be giving up and going home, preferably with a refund that I could put to good use at a later date elsewhere.
You sound so lovely, and I’m sorry that this has happened to you.

The other thing is that I personally wouldn’t go somewhere that accepts dogs if I didn’t have one myself.

Have just seen your update that you are moving accommodation. I’m so pleased, and hope that your remaining holiday is salvageable.

Yep, fleas 100% can hitch a ride on humans, not on your body probably as we’re not good hosts for them but most likely on our clothes or shoes. Unfortunately I speak from experience. Thankfully it was only a handful and they were spotted loitering on my shoes so it was easy to get rid of them but god I was stressing.

OP I think I would shake VIGOROUSLY all my clothes and shoes outside and then put them in clean bin liners to move them to the other property. Everyone has to do this with each and every bit of fabric they’ve brought in the infested property, including your luggage. I’d also take a hot shower immediately before leaving.

Best of luck and hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday ❤️ PS: You really do need to ask for a pretty significant refund as this is a massive issue. Yes not the owner’s fault, but absolutely their duty to refund you. It’s a major major issue.

ETA that diatomaceous earth kills fleas and their eggs and it’s not toxic to humans. You could sprinkle it on your luggage clothes etc, I had got a big bag from Amazon for £10 if memory serves

God OP, these look terrible. Perhaps you are allergic, because the fleas must be biting your family too. I hope the treatments work.

Congratulations OP, you react to flea bites. Like others have said - antihistamine tablet and hydrocortisone cream (highest % you can get). They are also itchier when hot so keeping your skin cool will minimise the itch.

None of those look infected though - they just look like the blister versions that fill with clear or pale yellow fluid. They will scab and then take months before the marks completely go.

Gosh looks so sore. I had over 100 mosquito bites that looked like that when we stayed on the florida coast, but thankfully didn’t itch much, just looked horrendous. Poor you on your holiday. My son always gets bitten much worse than others, I don’t normally get bitten much apart from this one time.

OP this is the owners fault. If they allow dogs, then they have to assume that at some point a person will turn up with a flea ridden dog.
So they should be using Indorex every few months as a matter of course as part of their cleaning routine.

@SatsumaDog Legally speaking this is negligence on the part of the owner.

It can be reasonable to predict as a business that is pet friendly results in a risk of animal fleas.

He has an absolute responsibility to use a commercial flea bomb product between lets, most hotels do this.

clearly he failed to do so.

He owes you a full refund and a grovelling apology at the very least.

We’re moving to a different cottage today so hopefully we’ll manage to do it without taking any unwelcome visitors with us. We’ll take all the precautions we can (shaking and washing clothes etc). DS2 was wearing white socks this morning and they were covered in around 20+ small black insects (assuming fleas) in the time it took to walk down the stairs.

I’ve been doing some reading and wonder if they have come from the house Martin nests. There are multiple nests under the eaves of the house, located quite near the bedroom windows. They do carry fleas apparently, although are said to stay in the nests until the chicks fledge. If this is the root of the problem it won’t be fixable as the nests can’t be disturbed when there are young. We have however stayed in this cottage many times before at the same time of year with no issues, though not with quite so many nests present.

In any case, hopefully the move will do the trick and the bites will heal soon. They are still horrendously itchy and weeping, so I will have to stay covered up.

Thanks for all the replies, advice and support!

Great that you are moving. The infestation must be quite severe if there are that many fleas jumping onto your son's sock.
You can get fleas outside in the garden but they would still have come from a dog or cat originally. Or another animal I suppose.
I don't think these ones are connected to the housemartins nest because they would not be leaving the housemartins to attack you instead, especially not as feroriously as this!
Hopefully you are in your new cottage now and everything is much better.

Definitely fleas. It sounds like it's at the stage where the owner will have to get pest control in.
I always book holiday accommodation that doesn't allow pets because I've heard things like this before.