Flea infestation

[BayLee]

Hi everyone,

I have a bad case of flea infestation at my house. I have bombed the house and had removed my cats for 24 hours and my T's for a week. I still have fleas. I only have have three area rugs. Two in my bed room and one in my office. The house has hardwood floor, linoleum and tiles. My cat Kramer who has cancer but had gone through chemo a year ago has them even after I gave him capstar as well as a topical flea meds. Kato still has a few too.
I am completely at my wits' end with this. I have turned my entire house upside downed and cleaned and vacuum twice a day. I also have set up the flea traps with the lights and I catch them inside there, which is good. But as of today they remain in the house and are not paying!

I have done some reading and my next door neighbor advised me to get Eucalyptus branches with leaves and put them everywhere around the house. I know Eucalyptus is a natural insecticide and can harm the T's, now my question is, and I should know this but I don't. Can I put the leaves and branches in that same room where the T's are? Will this effect them. They will, of course, not come in contact with the Eucalyptus, but can this effect them anyway being in the same room.

I just want to be sure. This is my very last resort before BOMBING my entire house, literally.

[JumpSpidersInc]

BayLee.

Tgirl and Formerphobe may have helpful advice for you, as they are both VTs (Vet Techs).

When I get fleas (and I have NO warm-blooded pets!), normally 2 treatments work... 1st to kill all adult fleas, 2nd treatment 2 weeks later to kill any newly-hatched fleas from eggs that may have survived the first treatment.

FL is bad for fleas, even non-pet owners get them because the fleas infest our yards in waves, and 'ride in' on our shoes, pantlegs, etc.

I already had a small invasion which (amazingly) was stopped simply by spraying a commercial-strength flea-killer around the outside perimeter of my home. (wider area sprayed around entrances).

Keep in mind that an adult female flea MUST have at least ONE bloodmeal before she can lay eggs.

[BayLee]

BayLee.

Tgirl and Formerphobe may have helpful advice for you, as they are both VTs (Vet Techs).

When I get fleas (and I have NO warm-blooded pets!), normally 2 treatments work... 1st to kill all adult fleas, 2nd treatment 2 weeks later to kill any newly-hatched fleas from eggs that may have survived the first treatment.

FL is bad for fleas, even non-pet owners get them because the fleas infest our yards in waves, and 'ride in' on our shoes, pantlegs, etc.

I already had a small invasion which (amazingly) was stopped simply by spraying a commercial-strength flea-killer around the outside perimeter of my home. (wider area sprayed around entrances).

Keep in mind that an adult female flea MUST have at least ONE bloodmeal before she can lay eggs.

Thanks JSI
I know the cats need more teatments and I can give them anothe dose of Capstar, which kills the fleas but they need additional topical treatment.
I am done using chemicals as they don't work.
I have read eucalyptus is poisonous to Cats, Dogs and Horses
if digested. I am planning on putting leaves and branches in jars and
Socks. I am just hoping the fumes will do no harm.
My vet has told me that the last few years have been really great and conditions for fleas and they are thriving and hard to get rid of. 😂

Can you believe it takes 10 days to kill fleas and eggs I freezing condions! That's really awful.
And there are 2000 different species of fleas around the world. 🙈🙊🙉

[KcFerry]

I feel for ya BayLee!
Last summer was the worst flea season we've ever seen here in PA and even my Vet was at a loss as to how to quickly eradicate them. I treat my dogs with "Frontline" every year, but last seasons fleas were immune to it and continued to get worse... Even our Ferrets were infested! I switched to "Advantix", vacuumed everything thoroughly, and misted daily with vinegar between cushions and in every crevice throughout the house. The Advantix worked fast on the pets and the rest disappeared after about a month. I NEVER want to see a flea again after that disaster!!!
I found that the Advantix was far superior to Frontline.
The vinegar was effective to get them out of hiding where they couldn't reproduce and eventually they all died off.
The last fleas we saw were in the kitchen and bathroom where I assume they were looking for water, so we made sure to keep things dry until they were gone.
We were also ready to move the tarantula's out and "BOMB" the house, but I was very worried about any residual chemicals harming the T's.
Our method was slow, but effective.
I'm very interested in learning more methods of getting rid of fleas, so please post whatever you find that works.

Thanks, and sorry you're going through this.

Kevin

[Tgirl1010]

Baylee, you don't need to bomb. Bombs put the poison on the walls. counters, everything. Fleas don't get in all of those places. What I would do is get a professional but if you don't want to go that route, use something like Raid Flea Killer PLUS. Vacuum well first, dump the canister or bag. Then treat all the carpets, furniture (especially where the cats hang out), and any drapes or curtains that touch the floor. I would wash all my bedding and dry with high heat. Then in 2 weeks, repeat. You also need to treat the cats with something good. Good luck. I am scared to death to that I will one day get fleas because I have dogs and cats. So far I've been lucky though. I hope that helps some.

[J!m]

We used to get fleas really bad in San Diego. Try spouring salt around the edges of all of your rooms. Fleas go to the edges of the room to lay and inquibate their eggs but the eggs can't inquibate in salt. It's worked for us many times.

[BayLee]

Thank you all for all of your advise etc. I have had the Eucalyptus up now for a few days. I have not gotten bitten. Continuing to vacuum daily and I mopped tonight. My neighbor says it takes month for them to completely go away. I sure hope so.

[kayls]

I was concerned about flea treatments harming my tarantulas. I got a flea infestation last year. While the kids were at their dads, I sprinkled salt and baking soda on all of the carpets (left it overnight before vacuuming it up and then making sure I emptied the vacuum cleaner straight away), then washed all the bedding and cushion covers, and of course treated the fleas actually on the cat.

I found a flea earlier I hope its just a one off

[***Beth***]

Good luck!

[BayLee]

I am happy to report that all my fleas are gone. I have literally put Eucalyptus branches and leaves all over the house in addition to Eucalyptus oil inside of mason jars. I never thought this would work but it truly does. Even my cats have no fleas and I have not given them any flea medication. The problem was my boyfriend attracting fleas and bringing them over. He was gone for two weeks and I have had no issues, he is back, so far so good. Now if he drags them over again I am not sure what to do.

In the past few days/weeks there have been reports of fleas spreading the plaque in Yosemite Park. Somewhat shocking to find out this is still around, you can read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/health/yosemite-plague/