A while back I noticed some bites around my ankles and calves. I also found what I assume to be fleas on me. They’d hop away and sometimes I’d kill them, but I never found more than one every couple of days. I have no pets, and no carpet in my apartment. I’d been in the apartment a little over a year so I don’t think this could be the result of a previous owner’s pet. I am in a relatively suburban part of Florida, and all of this started in October, so not the hottest time of year but it’s not freezing or anything. I tried creating a makeshift flea trap with a light overhead a soapy bowl, but never caught any.
I didn’t know what to do so I had pest control come and they did two treatments spread out over a couple of weeks. The pest control guy said he could see no real sign of flea infestation. I’ve been vacuuming a lot, and washed sheets in hot water. A month later and I still saw one or two fleas as recently as last night, although before that it had been a couple of weeks. Anyone have an idea where the fleas could be coming from? Can they hitch in from outside or something, and that’s why I’m only seeing one every now and then?
I’m thinking along the same lines as Jackmanii … or maybe a stray cat or wild animal is coming by regularly … scratching off some “larva” … then when they mature into hungry lil’ bloodsuckers … they feast on steveisoverthere burgers …
There is at least one, maybe more than one stray cat in my apartment complex. I’ve actually seen it by the walkway that leads to my individual apartment and maybe in the bushes around that walkway too. Not sure if it’s the same one, but there’s a stray cat that will hang around the mailbox area too which I see when I go check the mail.
Adopt the stray cat and bring it into your apartment. Get it treated to take cafe of any fleas it has, and any in your apartment that jump onto it. (You’ll probably have to repeat that a month later, to handle any fleas that hatch then.)
But then there won’t be this stray around, to spread fleas in your neighborhood, and you will have a good pet in your apartment.
Ah … we have a “smoking gun” here … any chance you can get your hands on the strays … pet them up and scritch their heads and behind the ears … you’re looking for what seems to be scabs or bumps … if these are what I think they are, then these cats are dropping flea eggs all around the complex … once they hatch and eventually molt into adult forms, the little buggers will hop everyplace including on you …
These cats need the attention of a vet … and it’s your landlord’s responsibility to get them there … he may well understand why this is a good investment already but he just needs a tenant to tell him it’s time to flea treat … stray cats do a great job keeping rodent populations way down … but they do need some attention on occasion …
In the meantime … vacuum often and brush off your clothes before you go in your unit … or flea treat the cats yourself … though that is kinda expensive and you’ll have to order the stuff online and overseas … any product worth a shit is prescription only in the USA …
If there are stray animals or even neglected pets they may have fleas that can infest the yard. Those fleas jump off the host and then look for a new one: you. Cat and dog fleas don’t really like humans as in for a continuous meal source so they typically bite you a couple of times and then jump off looking for a more favored meal. Meanwhile they hitched a ride into your house.
Short of nuking your whole complex inside and out with pesticides or diatomaceous earth the next best thing is to check your legs/pants/socks/shoes before going inside.
There was this one time we were at my folk’s river cabin and they had loaned it out for a month or so to people with pets. We ended up driving home in the middle of the night because we kept getting bit by fleas. We stripped outside our front door and left the clothes outside, went straight to the shower and proceeded to soap off 10-20 fleas each.
An update of sorts. Property manager says I am the only one who seems to be having this problem in the whole complex. Not sure how that is possible. Pest control says to consider other areas where I go regularly as possible places where I’m picking these up, then getting them into my car, then transporting them into the house. Seems a little crazy to think fleas would travel that far, unless they just got in my car once and are staying there and that’s why I bring them into the house.
Well … then best you can do is bug bomb your place … that will kill the fleas and worms but not the eggs … so bug bomb again in two weeks and then two weeks after … that should clear the problem …
It is possible that you are bring in the fleas from someplace else … but it’s a long shot … how much are you getting bitten up? … fleas have to feed and they feed only on blood … if they’re not eating you then what are they eating … and if they’re not eating how are they breeding …
Have you been able to make friends with the stray cats yet? … Cars make terrible vectors for pestilence like this … whereas God created the beasts of the field to be perfect flea vectors … haha … the Old Man has a sense of humor …
Hard to determine how often I get bit because sometimes there are multiple bites and I don’t know when they each got there. Bites are all primarily on my lower legs ankles and feet. I bought some flea traps recently. In the last two or so weeks, the traps have caught about 20 fleas. Have the traps spread out in the living room bedroom and bathroom. Living room and bedroom seem to be the main areas. I read that without an animal host such as a dog, fleas are not likely to produce eggs because they don’t feed on humans long enough. So I’m assuming that I am tracking them from outside…oh well, I will just keep up with the vacuuming
I worked a job cleaning up a rental unit that was fairly heavily infested with fleas … one of the neighbors thought it was cool to kick her dog out at night … somehow this dog got locked in the unit overnight (honest, I have no idea how [giggle]) … anyway, the next morning I let the dog out and the unit was remarkably free of fleas … and the neighbor lady was complaining about how her dog got totally infested overnight …
I tend to eat a lot of garlic … and fleas rarely bite me … and these holistic types claim that’s cause-and-effect … I don’t know but maybe give that a try … your social life will suffer for a bit but if it works maybe it’s worth it … BTW, I know garlic is poisonous to cats, don’t know about dogs …
I think this may be the real problem. Rats or mice. We had this problem when I was a child. Our house and yard were infested with rats, and that led to a huge flea problem. The rats were in the walls, on the roof, in the trees. We didn’t get rid of the fleas until we got rid of the rats (we had to use bait poison ultimately).
You might try setting out some rat traps or have the pest people come back and look for rodents specifically rather than fleas.
I think it’s highly unlikely that you are bringing fleas back at this level from some unknown place. They’re coming from somewhere near you. Rats, or someone in the compound close to you has a huge problem that they simply have not admitted to management (possibly due to an unallowed pet or hoarding or who knows what).
Other than that, you can have the pest people spray regularly, since it seems this problem will not resolve. You may simply have to move, which is a pain, but getting bitten by fleas forever is not worth living there.
I agree with Sunny Daze … to be bringing fleas back with you means you’ve been in a place grossly infested … something you’d notice right off the bat … look for mouse or rat turds in your unit … your apartment manager seems to be yanking your chain, as they just dismissed your complaint out-of-hand … that’s bad business for them …