It's official, I found a FLEA this morning, I want them out now, how do I make them die?

[bohemianbint]

Eurgh...I've been getting bites on my ankles but I thought maybe it was mosquitos or something as DH is unaffected. Anyway, yesterday I thought I saw something that could have been a flea - and this morning I caught one in my magazine and it is, officially, a flea.

We do have two furry pest carrying bastards cats but we stopped letting them roam the house freely when one of them shat on the floor in the front room where our toddler plays. (We are looking to re-home them as they now just cause us trouble, and expense that we can't cope with with two young children, and this just reaffirms my wish to get them gone.) But anyway, the fleas are still in the house, living merrily on me, and my babies and I need them out of the house right now.

Are floorboards worse for keeping them alive? Is there any sort of repellent (natural) we can put on us while we get rid of them? Is it going to be really harmful to have insectisides in a house with small children?

Eurgh, I feel so twitchy. Tell me what to do!

[edam]

Rach, that's so sad. Did your vet agree the deaths were linked to the spray? If so, think you should call Trading Standards.

[rach0712]

Hi, just a quick warning about the household flea spray from wilkos.
I used once around the house about a month ago as directed on the can and a day later my kitten got really ill and two days following had to be put down at the vets,having not made the connection with the death to the spray unfortunately I used it again on friday and a day later my pet ferret got ill exactly the same way the kitten had-starting with loss of motor functions and then hours later breathing difficulties,sadly she died in my arms yesturday.
It would seem the spray had effected them even though i had followed the instructions and had poisened them both, luckily my bigger animals had not been affected too badly, although they did seem to slow down for a day or two.
I would strongly advise going to the vets to get this sort of thing after my experience with this particular brand.

[blushingm]

i grew up with cats and one was actually allergic to fleas (unbelieveable eh?)

we used this on the carpet and rest of the house nuvan staykill
and we never seemed to get anything

[artydeb]

there's a flea spray for the house you can get from boots that kills fleas/ larvae the lot and keeps treating for 12 months - i used to be blighted with them until I used this. Use a cat flea treatment on the cats too but they're prone to going back to where they got the fleas so will keep reinfesting. This stuff keeps your house / carpets / floors etc clear. Is a chemical but tbh non of us have reacted ever to it - you need to spray then leave a window open and go in another room for a while. I usually treat the house then scarper for the day and air out when back

[ShowOfHands]

Our cats had fleas once. Never bit me or dd. Bit dh a lot.

[jkklpu]

Grim. Our house had fleas when we moved in more than 10 years ago. The previous family had had a really old cat and they'd had Rentokil in while packing up their boxes but it hadn't worked properly. Awful. And they'd moved to Hong Kong so we didn't have any comeback.

[bohemianbint]

I think they were biting every one else, it's just I had a much worse reaction!

[shibsy]

One more thing...has anyone else been bitten while no-one else in their home seemed to be bitten?

[bohemianbint]

shibsy - that sounds shit. Call the council - I ended up getting someone in for £20. Took 5 mins and we had to go out for an hour afterwards. We have two little ones and they said it was fine once the stuff was dry. If you've seen a flea then that's what you've got! I thought we had bed bugs, but I seem to remember they bite in little lines all over the place.

Sympathies, it's absolutely shit dealing with this kind of aggro when you have babies.

[shibsy]

HELLLP! I think the pest control guy is taking me for a ride! I just moved into a new property and am getting bitten everywhere. The landlord says the last tenants had a cat so I assumed it was fleas! Pest control guy says because my 11 week old twins are not being bitten and nor is my toddler (Im a single mum) I must have bed-bugs! He says bed bugs only bite one host with one blood type!? He told me I had to move out of the house for 3 days to do a massive treatment but this is not possible! Yesterday I found a flea on my bed! I thought hallelujah (you know things have hit rock bottom when you are glad to find a flea in your bed). I told the pest control guy, he STILL insists it cant be the fleas because my kids are not being bitten! I spoke to another professional company and they said that the kids may well be being bitten but arent reacting as violently to the bites. He has now agreed to treat the house for fleas but will only use this organic powder cause of the babies. He says he cant use chemical treaments unless I move out for 3 days!!!!! AAARGH! I'm about to tell me landlord to dump this guy so I can hire someone else. I have been so stressed that I have lost 1/2 stone in 5 days and can't sleep for more than a couple of hours a night because this guy has made me so afraid of bed bugs! I am a single mum trying to cope with caring for 2 new babies and a toddler on my own and I feel close to breaking point. Please tell me, did you have your homes treated when your kids were babies? Is this guy taking me for a ride cause I don't have a man to scare him off!?

[kiddiz]

Just to second what Mandragore said. Another vote for the Program treatment. We used to have horrendous problems with fleas before I discovered this. Now our cat goes to the vet about every six months, (I have left it longer with no sign of fleas) has the injection and I haven't seen a flea for years. I'm speaking as the only person in our house who reacted to the bites too...either that or the little buggers only bit me which would be very discrimatory imo!!!

[MANATEEequineOHARA]

Even though fleas cannot live on humans their eggs can be dormant for ages, so vacuum every square cm of our house.

If you are looking at avoiding harsh chemicals, you could try essential oils...you can make up a carpet powder by using bicarbonate of soda, and putting some oils in, leave it overnight for the oil to mix. Then shake over the carpets, and leave an hour before vacuuming off. Oils to repel fleas include:
Cederwood,
Euclyptus,
Lavender,
Tea Tree,
Geramium,
Rosemary,
Red Thyme,
Cypress,
(and can all be used on you pet, a few drops diluted in cider vingegar.)

Others that repel fleas but should not be used on the pet are:
Pine, bergamot and lemongrass.

Good luck!

[bohemianbint]

Thank you for all the tips! I thought something in my bed was biting me but I wondered why they only got me on the ankles. Makes sense know I know the little bleeders were jumping up from the floor and grabbing on.

[EustaciaVye]

sorry havent read whole thread but we got rid of fleas by using acclaim flea spray (get from vets) all over house, hoovering every day for 2 weeks, spraying again and hoovering for another week. And treat any pets.

Honestly, they are resilient little buggers and you need to keep at it. It can be disheartening to see them a few weeks after your treatment but they do go.

[SueW]

We got rid of fleas last year by simple use of Raid fly spray.

They were attacking me as soon I I walked downstairs in the morning so I slept with a can of raid next to the bedand sprayed it in front of me as I walked downstairs when I got up.

We also treated our cats and I sprayed any places where the cats tended to sleep with the raid too.

I tried Bob Martin's Flea Powder but it was messy and useless.

[bohemianbint]

Blimey - ever heard of walking a mile in someone else's shoes before criticising? You don't really know why we've come to that decision so it's not fair to comment.

DH tells me we have frontline in the cupboard already.

[Technofairy]

I've got two cats, had four until recently, and I haven't seen a flea in years! If you treat your cats regularly with something like Frontline then you won't have a problem.

However we have had flea problems in the past, hot weather seemed to be the trigger when we'd forgotten to re-dose the moggies. I would suggest that you buy flea spray from the vet, it's much more potent that the stuff you can buy in the shops. You just need to spray your carpets and any areas where the cats sleep.

Don't waste your money calling in Rentokill, it's just not necessary nor is leaving the house for a couple of days after spraying. Spray, open your windows and spend a couple of hours with the kids in the garden.

And while I think Redsocks went for the jugular a bit, I agree with her sentiments. If you are a responsible and informed cat owner then having a child is no excuse for re-homing an animal. I managed. It just takes a little work.

And I did say informed. Toxoplasmosis does not cause blindness in children. Yes, it is dangerous to pregnant women and people with serious immuno-deficiency problems but not to anyone else. The majority of people who get it have no symptoms and are then immune for life. You are confusing it with toxocariasis which is found in dog shit and is much, much nastier and can cause blindness. That is a much greater risk than anything your cats could ever pass on. Please check your facts before you dump your cats at the RSPCA or Cats Protection League shelter.

[acebaby]

Poor you - we had fleas when we first moved in to our current house. The landlord got a company to come in and spray. DS2 was just 2 weeks old at the time at the time so it was very stressful, but we were assured that the sprays would do him no harm as long as we stayed out for the afternoon.

We then tumble dried all bedding and clothes. We weren't allowed to mop the floors for 6 weeks while the spray was down. After two weeks the fleas came back but died quickly because of the spray that was still down. We have been flea-free every since

[rachw1]

Another vote for treating the cats and letting them in - we had a flea problem when moving into this house and it was suggested that we borrow a treated cat as the best way to kill them off!

Also they seem to hate lavender - I got a spray from the health food store that was a natural bug repellent and that seemed to help keep them off me.

[bluebump]

We have one at home bohemianbint but it's only a cheap one. I seem to remember there being a thread on here recently where someone had bought one from Wilkinsons for about 17 quid and that's just the sort of one we have.

[bohemianbint]

Thanks M, I feel a bit better about it now. Have spent the day dreading getting into my bed (which is the place I like best in the world at the mo, and I dont' see much of it as it is) because I've been envisaging the little bastards bouncing around on my sheets and gnawing me in the night. Like the steam cleaning idea too, bluebump, did you hire one?

[Mandragore]

Top tip, let the cats in - and treat them - that will see off the fleas quickest. You shoudln't see too many once they have actual CAT blood to eat

[Mandragore]

(though the meds companies want to scare you so you buy more poison! Obviously)

[Mandragore]

Yup they can last a year, but honestly not many of them are likely to - that usually only happens if the house isn't occupied.

If you are there all the time, they will hatch in response to movement, warmth etc and that should mean most of them are gorn within weeks.

I really wouldn't worry. It's not insurmountable at all

[bluebump]

We used a steam cleaner as we got infested by our neighbours cat at about the time we brought our newborn DS home from hospital and didn't want to use anything chemicaly (is that a word??) You can then steam carpets, curtains, bedding etc etc. It took us a day to do our tiny house but that was in August and we've not had any of them returning...YET!