NCGal asked 7 years ago
I learned we had fleas after my indoor cat passed away two months ago and I began getting bites. I never saw a flea on him even though we were inseparable his last few weeks. We were never at visible infestation levels. We have only wood and tile floors, no carpet at all.
In the last few months we treated the whole house with Knockout ES, twice, and bombed twice, and treated the yard. We washed bedding and clothing and threw out a few accent rugs. We also set up glue flea traps.
We’ve been vacuuming almost every day and using the crevice tool. This morning I found another flea in a trap. We returned from a 10 day vacation a few days ago and this is the first one. I have no further bites and I’m not seeing any live ones.
I understand fleas can’t live too long just on human blood. Do you think we should do another chemical treatment at this point or just continue vacuuming?
Thanks for all the good information!
Adam Retzer Staff answered 7 years ago
NCGal,
Sorry to hear about your cat passing, and the subsequent flea problem. It sounds like things are resolving. You shouldn’t need to do another chemical treatment, as the insect growth regulator is the most important ingredient in Knockout and it lasts 7 months. You should be fine with just continuing to vacuum. It sounds like your problem is almost over.
Warm regards,
Adam
NCGal
replied 7 years ago Thanks for your kind thoughts. His passing has been tough.
I’m pretty sure I saw a live larvae today. I assume with the IGR that wouldn’t advance to the pupae stage, or if it did, it still wouldn’t produce live fleas? These are remarkably sturdy beings – no wonder they survived the dinosaurs.
Thanks for the quick reply and your help. So glad for your confirmation we’re almost done with this.
Adam RetzerIf larvae are exposed to the IGR, they won’t be able to reach adulthood. If they avoided exposure, they adult fleas wouldn’t be able to lay eggs on human blood. So, you shouldn’t have much to worry about it.
