unwanted house guests.......

spaghetti_monster

Hi there!

I've been reading up on a few of the threads concerning flea infestations and wanted to ask people a few questions.

Tomorrow I've got the whole day off and have a military-style battle plan but I'm unsure about which spray/insecticide to use (which is most effective).

Was reading about a chemical called IGR (insect growth something???) which sounds like the thing to have - apparently the thing you need to do is break the flea life-cycle and this chemical will do it.

I've got a couple of sprays from local pet-shop and DIY shop but I can't tell if they have this stuff in them.

(I've recently re-homed my cat, so there are now no pets in the house to treat)

Thanks guys,

Alex x

Lord_Gardener

If you're infested, get your local pest officer in - Our first house was infested with cat fleas when we moved in and the only thing to work was to have the house fumigated twice - to break flea cycle. He used some sort of incendiary device in each room - had to be out of house all day and rip out all the carpets!

Mrs(no)money

Lord_Gardener wrote:

If you're infested, get your local pest officer in - Our first house was infested with cat fleas when we moved in and the only thing to work was to have the house fumigated twice - to break flea cycle. He used some sort of incendiary device in each room - had to be out of house all day and rip out all the carpets!

Ditto!

Get pest control in, they come in a full length overall type thing with face mask etc so as not to breathe the fumes in......best left to the experts i reckon!

Liney_2

Ring your local council/pest control officer - they come and do it for you. My sister moved into a new place and the carpet was litterally alive with fleas, they came and fumigated it for her.

sue_balu

Hi
I once moved into a flat where the previous owners had cats. It had been empty about a week and when I first went there all the fleas that had hatched jumped on me! I bought the largesttub of powder flea killer I could, put it down everywhere, closed the place up overnight and the next day vacuumed thoroughly.
It worked. It may be worth trying this before more drastic measures. Good Luck

Mrs_pbradley936

I rang the council about this once and was told there was a 6 week wait, so I phoned someone from the Yellow Pages. He told me that he was obliged to tell me that the Council would do it for free but that he would charge £25. I told him had spoken to the Council which was why was phoning him and then he said that he had the contract for doing the Council's work. Anyway I agreed to pay him the £25 and he was there within the hour.

spaghetti_monster

Hi guys,
As I have set aside today for my flea war, have already got the spray and am going nuts covered in annoying flea bites, I will have a go myself.

If it doesn't work then I will call in the professionals as you advise!

Thanks,
Alex x

Agutka

We had this from a visiting moggie. One morning after suffering from a few bites, hubby was sat on the sofa with his feet up on the coffee table and you could see these things jumping on and off. I'm not tasty at all, so I didn't even notice them until then. (We also left a bowl of water on the floor - they jump in and die, and the numbers killed were scary). We were luckily going on holiday the next day, so we got this spray from the vets - £40 can (no idea what it was, but they still sell it) and sprayed all around the house before we left. When we got back it was all clear, having also killed all manner of critters, like giant spiders...

I hope you get it sorted soon.

mrs_baggins

if there is a waiting list try it yourself. I used to work in pest control and this is what we recommended. Get yourself either a flea powder or crawling insect spray. Not the type to treat animals but the stuff to treat your carpets etc. Now depending on the size of your house you may need 2 lots. Even if your animal didnt go in the bedrooms I would still treat those. First of all treat the main rooms, spraying/powdering all round the outside of the carpet then i would move furniture and do under there too as much as you are able. (Whoops forgot to say vacuum first then throw the bag away as there may be larvae/fleas in there and you will spread them about.) Spray or powder all the rooms in the house. I didnt strip the beds as you may be allergic to the powder. Remove all animals and aqautic type pets and to be honest i would also stay out for a while to leave it to settle. What you then do is leave it and dont vacuum for at least a week. Sometimes even with professional treatment it needs another go after 2 weeks. See how you get on with this then if you still have them call out your council although mine charges £50 unless you are in council property and on benefits.

loracan1

Get down to your local vets and get the strong household stuff - Acclaim.