Help! Fleas from h**l?!?

Question

All of the sudden, the flea population in my house went insane. I have 5 cats and 2 dogs. I cannot walk downstairs in the garage for more than a minute without at least 50 fleas on each leg. I used to use Frontline, until it stopped working.

We tried diatomaceous earth, which did nothing.

We tried borax on the floors, to no avail.

Please help..what really works? I do not want to waste more money on products that have no effect! My pets are starting to scratch all their fur off and get hot spots.

Answer 1

Wow, everyone here is SO helpful.  I only have one word for you...

...NAPALM.

Answer 2

a vacum cleaner   . with a   very strong  sucking  action.. and a  wide   mouth  does it!!

Answer 3

You need to bomb your house and garage big time.  If you get enough bombs, it should get rid of the flea outbreak.  You might want to put two of them in the garage since it sounds like that might be where they're originating.

And, of course, you know me, I have a story to share.  My old neighbor had a HUGE flea problem and she only had one cat, they were all over her apartment and it was horrid, so she got like 4 bombs, and I helped her cover the counters with newspaper and such, and then we wrangled her cat Madison outside so he wouldn't be in the house.

So, 4 hours later we go back to her house to air it out and who comes crawling out from under the bed but her stupid cat.  He must have darted back in at the last second and we didn't see him.  He was all wet from the fogging.  It was gross.  She took him to the vet, he was ok, but he was not quite right in the head after that.  Although, he definitely didn't have fleas anymore.

Answer 4

Id say its time for you to call a pro..Or get rid of the animals.

Answer 5

I had this problem last summer. We had someone come in and spray for fleas, at the same time my husband dusted our yard, you also need to give your pets capstar at this time, it will kill all fleas that they have for 24hour's. Then i vacumed till i was sick, i mean 3 and 4 times a day. We have a 5,000 sq foot home, that was a lot work. We were able to keep the fleas in the basement, but I was so afraid of them getting in the main house I cleaned all the time. Then about 3 weeks after this we sprayed again for fleas, and I was now able to give the animals Advantage...( i had to wait till the frontline wore off). The fleas were gone this time in less than a week. I think it was due to killing them in the yard, and the advantage. I know only use advantage. My cats got immune to the frontline.

I know how you fill....I was in pure h**l for about 7 weeks.

Answer 6

Ewwwww....

You need an exterminator.

Answer 7

I always used Revolution from the vets but I have never had a flea problem like you described. My brother did though. It was terrible. I couldn't walk into his house. He moved not because of the fleas but because he was going to move anyway and I am not sure what my Aunt and her husband did. They moved into his place but they had a hard time getting rid of them. My cousin says there is a pill that you get from the vet that you can give to your pets and it kills all the fleas within 10 minutes and then there is another one that keeps the fleas off of them for 30 days. Then I would ask the vet how to get rid of the ones in the house. I think my Aunt used the flea traps. They plug into the wall or something. I will ask my cousin the name of the pill and e-mail it to you. If I forget just e-mail me and remind me. Hope I helped some. These sites may help as well:

Answer 8

Wow!  I fell for you!  What I would do is clean the garage again, spray it down with a professional grade insecticide and then treat the entire foundation with Sevin Dust.  That is what we had to do many years ago.  Every 4 months, I put out more dust.  I haven't had any problems since.  

Hope that works for because I understand your pain and frustration watching your animals scratch to death.

Sandy  :O)

Answer 9

Vacuum well, call an exterminator, give everybody (pets) a Capstar pill and treat them with Program.  **scratches just thinking about it**

Answer 10

I would suggest hiring an exterminator and having your animals flea dipped.  

Answer 11

I know what to do I'm a flea exterminator I because I take care of my wings I even know when someone try to put fleas on my wings. get a flea fogger it covers the entire room.

Answer 12

advantAGE (not advantix-the X one is bad) works well. and we got rid of a basement nest of them,once,   by using EctoKyl IGR . this stuff is just for using away from the animals, tho. it's got an ' insect grown regulator ' in there, but we still had to spray a few times.

...

natural flea repellents include

peppermint

garlic

fleabane

i used to bring in fresh mint and put it in with the animal bedding.  i don't know if it really helped-but it smelled nice, anyway. :D

Answer 13

Sevin dust will work, will kinda be a pain to vacuum up out of your carpet though.  I would maybe call an exterminator and see if they would come spray.  Lots of them want a 12 month contract but there are a lot of them that will come and do a one time treatment.  It would be easier than doing it yourself and a lot faster too.  Fleas can get out of hand pretty fast sometimes and then you're in a downward spiral!  Good luck!

EDIT:  BTW, don't waste money on bombs to get rid of the fleas, I never found one that worked well and there are new ones hatching every 7 days that the bomb won't kill.

Answer 14

BOMB YOUR HOUSE!!!

I think they are a bit pricey. BUT they work like a charm. When you go to the store look near the RAID section as I call it. I believe they are like possibly $15 a can. And depending how big your house is you may need a few. Animals and their pets must be out of the house while it works its magic. And food much be kept in cabinets or the fridge. This is serious stuff. I would recommend giving insane flea dips away from the home. There is also an exterior spray that you spray around the perimeter of the home. Comes in a gallon size bottle with spray gun attached. This keeps those nasty critters at bay!

I hope this helps!!!

Answer 15

If there is carpet, then you can use a vacuum to get them all away. Or you can use one of those cat hair rollers, or you could use some sort of flea spray that is supposed to go on the animals and spray that around.

If it is floors, then that is another story. It is so simple, just mop your floors with the flea stuff that is supposed to go on the pets.

For the pets, put Advantage on the cats, and use some sort of flea spray for the dogs. And don't let the animals near the place with the most fleas.

Hope i helped!

Answer 16

I like Peace Ninja's response : Advantage is the best flea control for your pets and I think it's only available from a vet  but it works  best. Plus, try one of the flea traps.  I don't know the name but  it's lke a  little night light with  sticky paper  with it like  those really attractive fly strips, except the flea traps are white and more appealing. Fleas are attracted to the  white paper  and the light and  therefor ultimately jump to their death.

On the carpet, try baking soda or salt. It's supposed to suffocate the little ba*tards !  I 've always hated the idea of  using bombs. You have to cover everything up that might come into contact with your food or your pets food. It seems like so much trouble then you don't know how effective it will be or for how long.

After all of this and nothing still works you might have  to try  an exorcism not  an extermination :  they really are the 'fleas from h**l"  .

Answer 17

DUDE!!  I just went through this exact problem.  I did a lot of research and I solved my problem, but I learned the *hard* way haha.

First, the store bombers like Raid and Hot Shot only work to kill adult fleas.  Period.  So, what you have to do is buy a product with an IGR (insect growth regulator).  IGRs ensure that the fleas are unable to develop into adults, and in doing so, prevents them from becoming mature and eliminates their ability to reproduce and lay eggs. The boric acid only works as a desiccant, which means that it dehydrates the eggs, not kills them.  

I researched online and found a place called www.pestproductsonline.com  .. I found a product called Precor 2000plus.  THIS PRODUCT SAVED MY LIFE!!  One can treats 2,000sq ft.  It's a fine aerosol mist that you spray from about a foot and a half off the floor.  It kills the adults on contact. Since you're in CA, you'll have to use something like Drione dust though because they won't ship Precor to CA. Anyway,  I walked around my basement wearing white pants and socks with sandals - not shoes, because you'll not be able to see if there are fleas down deep in the shoe.  Tuck the pants into the socks, otherwise you will have them crawling up your leg.  (I found them in the elastic of my thong -- YUCK, so learn from my error and tuck the bottoms of your pants into your socks!!)  Next step is to wait for about an hour and go back in and re-spray/re-powder the balance of the can.  Then wait a few days and go back down, walk around with your white pants on and rustle up a bunch of noise to coax the cocoons open.  Once they open, they will come into contact with the spray or powder on the floor and will die.  Don't avoid walking through the basement, because it will prolong the time in which it takes for the fleas to hatch.  You want to make as much noise and exhale as much CO2 as possible, because that is what they look for when deciding to hatch from the cocoons.  They are attracted to heat, CO2 and white/light colors.

One way to trap more adults and newly hatched fleas is to place a small lamp on the floor with a small shade.  Cut the bottoms out of five or six 2 liter bottles (like start cutting at the bottom of the label) and fill them with soapy water.  You want them to be shallow enough so that the fleas have no problem falling into them.  Turn off all other sources of heat/light.  Set the shallow little water dishes under/around the lamp.  When the fleas seek out the lamp as a heat source, they will jump at the light and fall in the water and DROWN.  This inexpensive step worked GREAT, and I had about 100+ fleas per container after all was said and done.

After all that (stay with me!), go to the store and buy the fogger.  I used Raid Deep Reach.  Since you have the IGR spray/powder already down, take the foggers with you to the basement and make a bunch of noise again.  Get them all stirred up, and then set off the bombers.  I layed the fogger can on its side and set it off, because my only problem was fleas and I wanted to make d**n sure it coated the floor.  

You have to repeat the foggers about every 5 days for a couple weeks, and this will ensure that you have gotten ALL of the egg laying adults as well as any newly hatched fleas that show up after the previous treatments.  

I had them in my kennel, which is adjacent to my laundry room.  It was so awful that I was afraid I'd have to hire someone.  But, I was persistent and it paid off.  What you need to understand is that total eradication is a multi-step ordeal that has to be well timed over the course of 2-3 weeks MINIMUM.  Good luck, and don't give up.