Comments on: If you see a few fleas does that mean there are 100's on the way?

Question: If you see a few fleas does that mean there are 100's on the way?

abirdinthehand — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:32:51 -0800

I have seen 3 fleas, but not noticed any bites on myself. Is this an indication of some infestation that is about to explode?

Been in a new place for a month, I do not have pets though the previous tenant had cats and there are strays in the neighborhood.

All the times that I have seen fleas, they've been jumping onto me from the floor. Does this mean they are breeding inside the apartment? Or could they be coming in from outside?

I'm not a big fan of spraying chemicals all over the place and I certainly don't want to do anything if there's not a real problem here.

So- should I treat for fleas?

By: ninjakins

ninjakins — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:35:55 -0800

That probably means there's fleas and flea eggs living in your carpet. You don't necessarily need to use chemicals, but you'll need to vacuum and clean the crap out of your place. Vacuum/wipe down any fabric furniture too. Wash all your bedding and laundry on HOT. Clean everyday for a week or two and it should discourage them.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:41:34 -0800

Instead of pesticides you could try sprinkling salt/borax and vacuuming every day. If you have a pair of calf or knee-high white socks I find wearing those while walking around is a good way to determine if there are fleas in the carpet/hardwood. They'll be pretty evident.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:57:29 -0800

Vacuum every day for like a month, and you should probably be OK, since you don't have pets. Since you haven't noticed any bites, you might be one of those people that has very little reaction to their saliva (in other words, they might be biting you, but it's just not causing a skin reaction).

By: SuperSquirrel

SuperSquirrel — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:03:55 -0800

Seconding borax. It's worked really well for us when we've had infestations. (We have 4 dogs and 2 cats, and had wall-to-wall carpeting at the time.)

After vacuuming, get rid of the vacuum bags outside of your house immediately, or the little fuckers will just crawl right out back into your carpet.

By: Frowner

Frowner — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:19:39 -0800

We had some fleas a few years ago. We didn't have carpet, so that wasn't a problem. Here's what I did:

I started washing all clothes, curtains, towels and bedding. While I did this, I vacuumed all upholstery, mattresses and floors with a bag vacuum cleaner and threw out the bag. Then I used a spray bottle of dilute enzyme cleaner (Kleen Free, I think) to spray down most upholstery and the mattresses and used it to wipe down the inside of all drawers and fabric storage. I also set flea traps. Now, we only had fleas in part of our large house, so I only did this in affected areas.

This really cut into the bites and so on.

A week after doing the big clean, I vacuumed the upholstery and sprayed things down again.

The fleas were pretty much gone after that.

I don't think we had a very bad infestation. I used one of those fancy back-of-the-neck flea treatments on our cat and the housemate whose pets had brought the fleas had left anyway, so the fleas really had nowhere to live. (As I understand it, animal fleas don't really like to feed on humans even though they can bite us.)

God willing, we will not get any other infestations!

By: Frowner

Frowner — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:27:12 -0800

(Oh, also- I don't know if enzyme cleaner is a bunch of woo or not - it was highly recommended on several forums. It was pretty concentrated so I just used the rest of it as a regular cleaner...for the next couple of years! It made everything smell very vinegar-y until it dried, but it didn't damage anything or leave a persistent smell.)

By: frecklefaerie

frecklefaerie — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:41:33 -0800

Cat fleas bite people, dog fleas do not. Cite.

Vacuum regularly until they go. You don't need to use chemicals (which are horrid for people!) unless it is really bad. I've found that thorough cleaning is the only way to get rid of them.

By: SpicyMustard

SpicyMustard — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:46:18 -0800

You may not be allergic. I spent all of last year in an apartment that had a light flea infestation that kept my girlfriend miserable. But I never had a bite, though once in a while I would find one on me. Frankly, I don't have much to offer in a way of solution as we tried regular cleaning, diotomaceous earth and more toxic chemicals and nothing worked. And we didn't have carpet.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 14:34:33 -0800

You don't say much about your domestic situation, but... I used to have long grass in my backyard. As it happens, fleas like long grass, and like to leap from it to you or your pet (if any). Since I did away with the grass and went to xeriscaping, no fleas. (And most of my other pest problems dwindled away, as well.)

By: asynchronous

asynchronous — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:00:51 -0800

I'd treat, because just because no bites doesn't mean you don't have an infestation. We recently had an infestation. The little fuckers made a buffet out of me but my partner remained completely unbothered, so they don't necessarily bite everyone or not everyone reacts to bites.

I was also reluctant to use anything toxic in the home. I ended up using a powder called fleabusters RX on the carpet and furniture, and it seems to have done the trick. Normal vacuuming and washing didn't clear it up for us, so I think they can be quite persistent. In our case the fleas no doubt rode in on the dog, so I also treated her with Frontline and washed all her bedding with hot water and bleach.

By: glasseyes

glasseyes — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:09:47 -0800

Since you don't have pets all you have to do is vacuum till you get the last lot of dormant hatchlings.

By: feral_goldfish

feral_goldfish — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 17:20:00 -0800

In lieu of chemicals, you might sprinkle diatomaceous earth, sold in hardware stores. It kills fleas via physical rather than chemical properties: it absorbs oil from, and adds grit to, their exoskeletons.

By: hortense

hortense — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:18:19 -0800

Trap them in a pie pan of soapy water with a small watt desk lamp shining into it.