Possible flea infestation in rented house!

Magnolia

If you have new carpets it could be carpet fleas

dean_wales

Magnolia wrote: »

If you have new carpets it could be carpet fleas

Kidding right?? I dont know what to belive any more!

ic

I don't have fleas, but feel itchy reading this.

mkaibear

dean_wales wrote: »

I will try to summarise as best I can - despite being quite distressed!

A lot of my questions have been answered by searching the forum alread so thanks for that.

Just moved into a rented house 3 weeks ago. The previous tenants were filthy and had cats and dogs. Over several years they made such a mess of the house that it had to be completely redecorated before we moved in. New carpets in every room except the master bedroom.

Partner started getting itches last week and has since had lots of small red bites on legs and arms. It has been particularily bad when in bed or in the bedroom. Initially we suspected a rash of some form.

I have now started to itch lots and feel like I am getting bitten but have no visible bites. This is during the day when I am out not just at home.

I think it must be a flea infestation despite the work done on the house. We have no pets and so I am just going to start treating the whole house with the Acclaim and Wilkinsons spray that the landlord has just dropped off.

My only nagging doubt is that I havent seen any fleas and when you feel bits you can look at your arm/leg and not see anything - should they be visible? Could it be anything other than fleas?

I am worried about the sprays as we have a six month old baby - is it safe? She is always on the floor and putting things in her mouth?

With nearly all the carpets being brand new I presume that will help? Or is there going to be a problem with fleas "trapped" under the carpets?

Seeing as we have no pets, are very clean people and are treating the house with the spray etc the problem will go away fairly quickly...... right?

Will DEET insect repellent help prevent bites at night in the meantime?

Will tuble drying soft furnishings kill them or do they need to be washed and dried?

Thanks in advance. One distressed parent!

Dean.

By far the best treatment for fleas is the vacuum cleaner. Go over *everything*

Twice. At least. And then keep vacuuming at regular intervals for at least a year - that's how long flea eggs can last!

I'm assuming you have no pets - in which case, spray every soft furnishing with a cypermethrin spray (common insect killer). Wait a bit, then vacuum again. and again.

Seriously, I can't stress this enough - vacuums kill fleas. It helped me to visualise the little b*st*rds being sucked into the cylinder and whirled round and DESTROYED. horrible biting things.

keystone

mkaibear wrote: »

By far the best treatment for fleas is...........
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So you are proposing letting the landlord off the hook then?

Cheers

Sagz_2

I wouldn't mess around with products you can buy over the counter, you could end up paying a fortune and not curing the problem. Call the professionals in - your local authority environmental health should be able to advise you who to use. Then pass all the details on to the landlord.... but in you position I'd just want the problem solved and I'd worry about the bill later.

I'm off for a good itch now! Good Luck x

hermum

The chances are they are fleas, the little blighters will more or less hibernate, when there's nothing around to eat but I think they breed during this time & then when a food source comes in they all wake up.
I've had it a couple of times in rented properties & also my own when I forgot to de-flea before a holiday.
I got the council in once, when my daughter was months old & you could see where they had walked over her munching on the way, the other times I used Acclaim or whatever flea treatment vets sold at the time, that are supposed to kill not just the fleas but the eggs as well for 3 months.
Follow the insructions on the can to the letter, best if you have baby in the pram outside & once you've sprayed the house go out. I think from memory that after spraying you have to leave the windows closed for an hour & then open them, do make sure that you do open them if that's what it says as that apparantly helps to activate it.
Do all the edges & any cracks & the vaccuum cleaner, the eggs can live in the cleaner. I've never washed all the bedding after using Acclaim but may with a baby. I would make sure that all babies feeding stuff is put away & wash it well before use.

mkaibear

keystone wrote: »

So you are proposing letting the landlord off the hook then?

Cheers

If they're happy to have the Landlord come in and do their vacuuming for them then of course not, but that's weirder than most people are...

You can bugbomb the house, get the exterminators in, replace all the soft furnishings and still end up with outbreaks a few weeks, months or years later. Flea eggs can last a long time and can be resistant to most pesticides.

Vacuuming is the best way to get rid of them.

...Just looked at the OP and they have a very young baby. In which case, no, I would definitely not recommend using all the sprays repeatedly without some serious research into health effects. Even getting the exterminators in is a risk given that there's a chemical-free way of sorting things out.

keystone

mkaibear wrote: »

If they're happy to have the Landlord come in and do their vacuuming for them then of course not, but that's weirder than most people are...

You have missed my point by a country mile. The OP has moved into a rental property that is, by all accounts, unfit for habitation due to infestation. Of course its the LLs responsbility to get it sorted.

Cheers

mkaibear

keystone wrote: »

You have missed my point by a country mile. The OP has moved into a rental property that is, by all accounts, unfit for habitation due to infestation. Of course its the LLs responsbility to get it sorted.

Cheers

And you have missed my point by the same margin. Whether or not it is the Landlord's responsibility to sort out the infestation (it is, as you say, not arguing with that), the best way to deal with the fleas is through vacuuming. Not calling out exterminator, not spraying poison around. Vacuuming. Which most people would prefer to do themselves rather than have your landlord come and do it.

Especially with a 6-month old baby around. Why expose a 6-month old to the chemicals used by an exterminator? Heck, I can't stand the smell of cypermethrin, it gives me breathing difficulties, and that's a perfectly legal product to buy over the counter (I got mine from B&Q).

(oh, and the Landlord would be well within their rights to call in and pay for an exterminator - it's the simplest thing to do in terms of "returning property to habitable condition" even if it doesn't work first time - and then it becomes the OP's choice as to whether or not they expose their baby to those chemicals. Or, as I said, they could vacuum)