Fleas! Help! ARGHHHH!

Sugarflower · Post by **Sugarflower** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:10 pm

So it would seem we have fleas in our new apartment. Only option I can think of as to how they got here was from hitching a ride with our belongings we had with us while staying at our friends home this past year. They started to get a bad flea infestation in the spring due to letting their house cat outdoors and not bothering to control the infestation.

If anyone can give me any advice it would be greatly appreciated. There are to many insecticides to choose from so I don't know what to decide on. I want something highly effective yet not messy. We don't have pets so hopefully they will die off quickly with pesticide help. I read online that they have a 4 stage life cyle so it can take over a month to get rid of them. Also they can live up to 2 years in a home without a pet host to feed on by turning to humans for their needs.

This is really depressing for me.

~Sugar

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:09 pm

I use a product called RealKill that you can get at Home Depot. It is in a one gallon brown bottle that has a sprayer. It lasts for about four months and has virtually no odor. We used it on a friend's apartment when she moved into something similar and it worked well. Good Luck

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:09 pm

A product called RealKill that you can get at Home Depot ought to work.

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:16 pm

Are you a pest expert Cloud?

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:16 pm

Am I a pest expert you? Only when it matters.

wuchild1 · Post by **wuchild1** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:35 pm

You could try boric acid and backing soda. Mix them about half/half and then sprinkle it in your carpets/sofa and behind the wall sockets. Try to work it into the rug, then leave it for a few hours. vacuum the excess up. It works for a couple of weeks and it is a little better then spraying chemicals everywhere. Plus it kills other bugs like ants, beetles, roaches etc... I think you can find boric acid at walmart, if not then a hardware store will have it.

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:45 pm

Boric Acid is great for roaches, but since it must be ingested to work it will not have the desired effect on fleas. Roaches are actually clean insects that clean themselves something like cats, so they will ingest the poison, unfortunately fleas are not the same

Kata · Post by **Kata** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:05 pm

Get "Raid" the purple bottle of spray to keep it under control by spraying it at places like around door frames and windows. Use "Raid" the purple color Fogger box and use that as instructions tell you on box. You can buy those in Walmart. I got three cats inside and two dogs outside and I had fleas this year due to the dog and cat got close to eachother on screendoor. All three of my cats ended up with fleas and I gave them bath and didn't help. Since it's harder to get rid of fleas when you have pets I had to get some "pill" for them that killed the fleas off on their body and frontline on their neck to kill off fleas and eggs. It took few days to get rid of all, but with vacuum and cleaning the house daily completely (sometimes several times a day) I got rid of the fleas within couple days.

Some of that spray stuff you pay a lot for but it wont always work. Since you got no pets I would go first with the less expensive way and see what happens and if it does not work go with the more expensive way.

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:05 pm

I am surprised it took so long.

graymouser · Post by **graymouser** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:01 pm

If you have mainly carpet in your new place boric acid is probably the best. You can get it at Home Depot or similar stores. It can be messy but you should only need one treatment if you have no pets. It is also relatively cheap and non-toxic. Like what was said earlier; sprinkle it on the carpet. I usually recommend putting on a dust mask and using a broom to sweep it around a little. That lets it settle deeper into the carpet pile where it will be more effective. After that, you just vacuum up the excess. I should stress again that it is pretty important to get the powder into the deeper layers of your carpet. That is where the flea larva tend to hang out and that is the stage that the boric acid works against. The larva eat the debris (skin cells etc) in the carpet and end up eating the boric acid at the same time. It is true it will not kill the adult fleas, but the adults tend to be only the tip of the iceberg. Depending on how well you get it into the carpet, it can be effective for up to a year.

Even though fleas can live for two years in their pupa stage, they probably won't. They are induced to come out of their cocoons by vibrations, so just regular activity around the house (walking, vacuuming, etc) will encourage them to hatch out sooner.

If you have very little carpet in your new place, you may be better off with foggers. Just be sure to turn off the pilot light if you have a gas oven. Also be aware that the name "foggers" is misleading. They work by shooting the insecticide straight up and then letting it settle in the room. You will need to spray under furniture because those areas will not get enough chemical (usually a pyrethrin) to be very effective. Foggers work best against adult fleas. Eggs and larva are less sensitive. They often don't work well against the pupa stage. If you have a heavy infestation its a good idea to repeat the fogger treatment in about two weeks. Pyrethrin treatments do not last very long. Many of them start to chemically break down in UV light fairly quickly.

I realize that you have no pets but I should caution anyone about pyrethrins around animals. Cats are especially sensitive. Some topical insecticides are made with them. I have seen far too many cats come into my emergency room with "seizures" (actually severe muscle tremors) in response to overexposure to pyrethrins. If caught in time, its pretty easy to treat, but it is also pretty expensive. Its best to avoid the problem in the first place.

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:28 am

Thanks Graymouser, I never heard about boric acid working on the pupa. Always good to learn something new

Sugarflower · Post by **Sugarflower** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:22 am

Thank you for the wonderful help everyone. I've found a couple more fleas last night and this morning so I did a little vacuuming for the moment until I can get something for treatment.

The boric acid sounds like the trick I'll need to rid myself of the larva. Thank goodness it's nontoxic cause we tend to sit on the floor alot at the moment when using the computer or playing video games.

80% of the apartment has berber carpet. When I get the boric acid I plan to hand scrub it into the carpeting. Along with the boric acid should I get a pesticide spray to use around the corners of the carpet and where it meets the walls? As you can tell I'm extremely anal about eradicating these pests.

The carpet is fairly new and what bugs me is that just 3 weeks ago when we first moved in we thoroughly shampooed the carpeting.

Now, what should I do about treating clothing, blankets, furniture? I read to wash all linens and blankets in hot water to kill anything that may be hiding or hitching a ride on them. I would like to use a nontoxic spray on the love seat if there is anything out there available. maybe use some boric acid underneath the cushions as well?

~Sugar

Sugarflower · Post by **Sugarflower** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:55 am

I've been reading up on boric acid and borax. Boric acid seems to be used in alot of commercial insecticides and some non oral medications such as medicated eye drops, while borax is used in cleaners. I also read that boric acid can be harmful to human reproductive organs and even cause miscarriages.

It can also cause skin, eye, or sinus irritation.

On the other had I've read alot of positive stuff about boric acid, IE many people use it to get rid of roaches and on their carpets to kill the flea larvae because it's supposed to be nontoxic and safe to use. However like I mentioned a moment ago that others state its dangerous to use and harmful.

I'm really not sure what to do now.

~Sugar

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:16 am

The fleas could have come from the previous residents.

In the meantime, though, you might want to consider taking some vitamin B6 pills.

When I was a kiddie, I loved to play in the tanbark at school...the only problem was that fleas really liked to bit me while playing there. My pediatrician at the time recommended that I take B6 vitamins. After taking them daily, I never had a problem again(although I absolutely hated the taste of mixing them up in milk...blech!).

My guess is that fleas don't care for blood rich in B6.

graymouser · Post by **graymouser** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:52 pm

Hi again. You don't have to worry too much about your clothes and blankets. Just wash them well. I also wouldn't worry a lot about the furniture. Pets often bring the fleas up on the couches and beds when they lay on them, but I doubt there are too many fleas that are going to hop up there on their own.

Boric acid kills because of the way its shaped - tiny sharp edges. For the flea larva its like eating glass. It damages them internally. It can be irritating if you breathe in a lot of it, but wearing a dust mask while you sweep it in will help. If you managed to get some in your eyes it probably wouldn't feel too good, but rinsing them out should be enough. After you vacuum there won't be enough left on the surface of the carpet to cause any trouble.

I refer to it being non-toxic because it contains no insecticide. I don't think you are going to find an effective home flea control product that is less toxic.

As far as the reproduction problems go, I think that only applies if you eat a large quantity of it. Considering what it does to flea larva that eat it, I would be more worried about gastrointestinal problems than reproductive. Just avoid eating it

and I think you'll be fine.