Infested home – need help

QuestionsCategory: Flea InfestationsInfested home – need help
Melissa Ruiz asked 8 years ago

bug bits
Hi – We believe our house has a severe flea infestation. We are seeing all the signs of fleas (tiny black specks, tiny white eggs, some small beige brown bugs, one of which i saw crawling across the floor from our bed with a red abdomen, and then a few larger ones. I took a sample to an entomologist and he did ID the bug as a flea. The black specks are throughout the house, even in places like the kitchen cabinets (solo many places where no blood source has ever existed), but the white eggs are quite literally everywhere, they overwhelmingly outnumber the black specks. The white specks are on every bit of clothing, bedding, the bed frames, the furniture and floors. They survive hot washing and drying, you see them on all your clothes. They don’t leave bites per say, but you are always itchy, and you can see them on your body hair (sorry to be gross but especially on your private areas). I spend hours a day vacuuming, and in our bedroom I remove them from our furniture and bedding and  floor with a sticky lint roller, but this has to be done every night. We see the black spots on the bedding and the white spots on the furniture and floor. We have seen what i assume are the cocoons, they are small lint like bits that hang from the ceilings and in corners of walls, they take some work to remove but do seem to collapse slightly when sprayed with water. We have flea bombed the house twice and sprayed and that does not seem to help, they re-double daily in so far as being seen on our white tile floors. The only indication that they might not be fleas is that the small bits which should be flea dirt do not turn red when they get wet. They like to be on me versus my husband, which our vet says is because I am very fair skinned and my husband is dark but this may be a wives tale. Sorry to take too long but after almost a year it is getting ridiculous. I have to keep my clothes in ziploc bags and our food in sealed containers, and they get into our clothes bags after a few days. HELP! It just doesn’t make sense that they are in so many places that no one has been at any time (the inside of rarely used cupboards and drawers). It’s been extremely damp outside and we are now seeing a few bugs that look like tiny mosquitos, but my husband says there’s no way they could be related. I’m happy to do whatever it takes to kill these bugs, as long as I know that I will never again wake up with the white bits in places they should never be! If anyone has ever seen anything similar I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!

1 Answers
Adam Retzer Staff answered 8 years ago

Hello Melissa,

I’m sorry to hear about your problem.

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Despite the entomologist identifying your pests are fleas, many of the characteristics you’ve described are not related to fleas. For example, the black specks (flea feces) would turn red in water. And the flea dirt and eggs would only be found in places where the host wanders, because they both drop from the host. They wouldn’t be found in cabinets or food, and finding them in clothing is unlikely. And the eggs would be destroyed by laundering. Also, the cocoons wouldn’t be hanging from the ceiling or walls. Fleas also don’t live on humans. If they feed on people, they bite and then immediately leave. You would also notice red, welt-like bite marks left behind.

I’m sorry I can’t offer more help. This problem seems extreme, and, if there are fleas, it appears there’s something else going on as well. I’d recommend contacting a professional exterminator.

Warm regards,
Adam

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