Fleas have infested my home... need help!!!?

Question

Ok, so I am going to bomb my house tomorrow but need some advice on what to do. I haven't bought the bombs yet and was wondering which brand really works. Also, do I need to wash and dry all of my clothing, even the stuff that is in mine and my daughters dresser. Should I dry and/or wash the clothing that is hanging in our closets and in the laundry baskets (waiting to be put away?). How about all her plush toys? After I bomb the house will she be ok to crawl on the floor once I have vacuumed? I know I will need to wipe down all of my surfaces afterward but will I need to shampoo couches, chairs and rugs? Please help me get rid of these pests safely and efficiently. Thank you.

Answer 1

If the cat had fleas, they would have been dropping eggs off him all the time. These will have fallen to the floor and then hatched out to become disgusting looking larvae (miniature maggots) which crawl around looking for stuff to eat. The larvae love places like carpets, upholstered furniture, cracks in floorboards or anywhere else that is dark, warm and not too dry. Their favourite food is the f***s of adult fleas, but they will also happily eat stuff like dead skin cells that we are all dropping all the time. If they have a good diet, they can develop, spin a cocoon and then hatch out to become adult fleas in a month or so. If conditions are not ideal, the can hang around for literally months slowly growing.

The length of time they're in the cocoon is also variable. I've heard that their emergence is actually triggered by vibration, so the developed flea stays in it's nice little house for weeks or months waiting for some possible host to pass by. When it senses something large moving outside, it splits the cocoon and starts jumping toward any warm body in the area.

As was said earlier, flea bombs mainly kill the adult phase. They might get a few of the larvae, but I wouldn't rely on this.

We had a flea infestation many years ago and getting rid of the things was not a lot of fun. Our approach was to firstly make sure that the cats were clear of fleas and then to be really obsessive about vacuuming. We thoroughly vacuumed all carpets and all upholstered furniture at least once a day. We paid special attention to all the corners along the baseboards and we took off all the cushions on the furniture and vacuumed all the corners and crevices on the furniture.

If you're willing to shampoo upholstered furniture and rugs, I imagine that, if it's done thoroughly, that should be more effective than daily vacuuming. However, I think I'd still suggest you continue with careful vacuuming ever few days.

I don't think I'd worry too much about your clothing unless the cat was sleeping in the drawers or laundry baskets. Adult fleas want to be on a warm body sucking blood and producing eggs, so they will normally try to get off clothing that's hanging or stored in drawers. The larvae also won't hang around too long in a particular site unless there's something for them to eat.

As for the safety of the bug bomb with a small child in the house, there should be information on the package about this. Frankly, I wouldn't do it, because I think that anything that kills insects can't be that healthy for people and, given the choice of a lot of work vacuuming or deliberately introducing toxic substances into our home, I'd rather do the work.

Whatever approach you decide on, I hope you soon sort the problem out. Flea infestations are disgusting.

Answer 2

Bombs tend to kill live active fleas, but not their eggs. Sprinkle your floors and carpets with borax and let it sit for an hour or two. Then vaccume. The borax will destroy the flea eggs and prevent re-infestation. It is safer than diazanon in the house, but that would be good in the surrounding yard areas.

Answer 3

Fleas are a common problem, they can enter the house on pets or humans. Here are some things to remember.

1.Wash and treat pets the same time you treat home.

2.Vacuum before you set any bombs off. make sure you take the bag out of vacuum cleaner and place in plastic bag, dispose to garbage.

3.Check with local hardware or the nearest do it yourself store for the proper types of bombs or total release foggers. Always follow the label.

4.One of the most important things is follow up, if you don't do the follow up you will probably not be successful.

Above is a few of the procedures to follow.

I am a certified in general house hold pest control.

Go here is more detailed information: http://fleas-success.blogspot.com/2008/0...

Answer 4

If you get another cat after the fleas are gone, treat your cat with a dose of Revolution once a month you'll never see a flea. Try flea powder for pet bedding. Just follow the directions which is pretty much just sprinkle everywhere let it sit then vacuum. Also, if you don't want to use any chemicals, put a white towel on the floor with a pot of water. Put a tall candle in the pot of water and turn the lights off. The fleas will jump toward the light and land in the water. This really works if you do this in every room. Vacuum really good after wards to get any of the eggs and then throw the vacuum bag out in the trash. Hope this helps.