Kay asked 8 years ago
Hi there,
First, thank you so very much for such an informative site–by far the best and most thorough information I’ve found and the fact that you answer questions is an amazing service for us unfortunate souls with flea issues.
Here’s my situation: My husband and I moved with our two dogs into a new rental home about a week and a half ago. The home is all slate floors on the first level, and hardwood on the second–no carpets except the few throw rugs we put down. Three days ago as I lay in bed, I noticed a red bump on the bottom of my foot, and then a cluster of three on the ankle. There were three more on the other ankle. I pulled the covers back and found an adult flea (I’m positive it was a flea since it hopped and resembles every picture I find).
Since then, I’ve found two more on our sofa and one on my sock after walking on the tile to the restroom at night, so not sure if that one came from in bed or if I picked it up somewhere along the flooring. The very next morning after finding the bites and flea in bed, we gave both dogs Nexgard (they had lapsed a few weeks since their last dose with the hectic move). I bathed both dogs with regular shampoo since it’s all I had right away, and inspected them and did not see any fleas. By today, 2.5 days later, I’ve gotten a flea comb and didn’t pull a single flea off of them, and don’t see anything that resembles flea dirt (though one dog has some flakiness that I suppose could be eggs, but is more likely dandruff?) I am trying not to treat them topically with chemical drops or sprays because I’m pregnant.
Because of that, I’m not sure if our dogs are the source of the infestation or are prolonging it, but rather that we may have moved into a home that already had an issue. This confuses me though, because the home was supposedly professionally cleaned before our move in, appeared immaculate and is totally tile/hardwood and not carpet. It seems unlikely they would’ve picked it up outdoors since it’s now colder weather (though it’s up and down above and below freezing these last few weeks).
I’m trying to figure out how crazy to go and where to concentrate efforts. Since I found two fleas on the sofa, I’ve been vacuuming that daily. I bought EcoSmart flea and tick killer for carpet and upholstery to spray on our throw rugs and sofa, because I’m pregnant and really don’t want to use anything chemical, including IGRs, just in case. The other problem is that I’m seven months along and tire very easily, the past couple of days I’ve vacuumed the sofa but have not made it upstairs to the bed, though I’ve washed the sheets (not the comforter though, too large for my home machine) in hot water and inspect them nightly. I want to do all I need to without hurting myself/the baby. Do I need to bring it all to a laundromat and also treat the mattress if there are no animals upstairs? I’m having company for the holidays and also want to set up the baby’s nursery and it’s really distressing to think of having this issue to deal with…I really want to remedy it before the baby is born in two months.
Do you have recommendations since I don’t have carpet? I ordered DE if you have any tips on how and where to use it aside from the darker places and cracks and crevices between hardwood. Also do you think it’s unnecessary to really treat the bed with anything, since it’s upstairs and our animals are not allowed up there and do not go in the bed? I wonder if the flea traveled on me to the bed from the sofa. Or I wonder if every room of the house has a problem from prior tenants that I don’t know about. How do you feel about steaming? One pest company I contacted recommended just steaming and vacuuming since I’m pregnant, they would not come to service the house.
From what I’ve described, do you think we have a mild case of some old larvae hatching or a few hitchhikers from outside, or something more? Do you think it’s worth treating outside this time of year? I have noticed a stray cat and tons of squirrels in our new yard. I live in the Catskill mountains of New York and we’re having close to freezing temps at night, with colder nights forecasted around 28 degrees F by this weekend, though it was a balmy 65 degrees the day we moved in a week and a half ago.
Sorry for the novel and thank you so much for the help!
Adam Retzer Staff answered 8 years ago
Hi Kay,
If you’ve only moved into the place a week and a half ago, then those fleas were likely already in the home. It takes fleas 17-26 days to go from egg to adult. So if they were picked up outside, laid eggs on the dogs, and the eggs fell into the home, then they wouldn’t have matured yet. And adult fleas stay on their host once it’s acquired, so those fleas biting you are emerging from the environment.
Even if the home was professionally cleaned, it’d be nearly impossible to remove all the developing stages in the environment. This is why it takes time to end an infestation. All the immature fleas must reach maturity and die before the infestation completely ends. Stopping control efforts early will give the last developing fleas a chance to become adults and begin reproducing.
It sounds like you’re dealing with a mild infestation, the remnants of fleas from the previous tenant’s pet. Cocooned adults are the problem stage that have extended longevity. They can stay quiescent for up to 5 months after maturing. They’ll emerge within seconds upon detecting a host (heat and pressure). Vacuuming, walking around, and your pets wandering the home will help force these fleas to mature.
The flakiness on the dog sounds like dandruff. Sometimes this is related to fleas, but probably not in your case, because you haven’t found any evidence of fleas with the flea comb.
As far as hot-spot to target, it would be in places where larvae can develop. As you mentioned, cracks and crevices. The larvae need dark places to hide, as they actively avoid light. And they need regulated temperatures and relative humidity, which occur in protected areas. Lastly, they need food, both flea feces and other eggs. So, viable places would be where both eggs and flea dirt fell from the host, or where it accumulated (it may have gotten brushed into the corners or cracks).
It may help to use multiple fleas traps throughout the home, in order to see where the most fleas are emerging from. Likewise, just walking around and noticing where you pick up the most fleas on your socks can help pinpoint hot-spots.
Vacuuming and other floor cleaning is one of the best ways to deal with fleas, especially the pre-emerged adults. Steam cleaning is a good idea. It’s usually not recommended because it will reduce the efficacy of insecticides. But you aren’t using any, so it’s irrelevant.
Without an animal host, the emerged adults will starve within a week or two. Vacuuming will also help remove them sooner. You shouldn’t need to treat the bed with anything. Laundering bedding is most useful when pets sleep on the bed, and eggs fall onto it. This isn’t a problem in your case. However, ensure the sheets don’t hang low to the ground, or you may be giving fleas a route into your bed to bite you at night. They can only jump to the height of around a human ankle.
I’d assume the flea you found in your bed you picked up while walking, because you mentioned finding the bite and flea around your ankles. If they were in the beds, they would have access to more body areas.
It’s not worth treating outdoors at this time of year. Fleas won’t be able to develop at the colder temperatures now.
To summarize, it would be a good idea to continue vacuuming and maybe steam clean. If you don’t want to exhaustively vacuum the whole home, try to find where the hot spots are with flea traps or walking around. Continue to regularly check your dogs for fleas with the flea comb, even with the Nexgard. The last thing you want is for the fleas to jump onto a dog and begin laying eggs to continue the infestation. If you start noticing increasing numbers of fleas on your dogs, it may be time to use topical flea drops. But, hopefully the Nexgard is sufficent protection.
Hope this was helpful,
Adam
Kay
replied 8 years ago Adam, thanks so much for your reply. We seem to have pinpointed the problem to one area (unfortunately, the master bedroom). My husband has been vacuuming the hardwood in that room extensively at least every other day, and we’ve continued to see a few fleas jump on his socks each time he does. We’ve pretty much been living on the first floor of the house, and avoiding that room except to clean.
We have tiled, radiant heat flooring on the first floor, which means there is no pipework or anything to worry about in the hardwood upstairs, since all the heat is downstairs (we use an electric heater in that room)…so we left all the windows open during the frigid weather of the last couple of days. The first day it was well below freezing outside for 24 hours, and last night it went down to 5 degrees, freezing the tray of soap water I’d left by a nightlight in the upstairs bedroom (though I assume the room was slightly warmer than outside, since some heat from the first floor would rise up). Still, it was 5 degrees outside!! I read your section about cold temperatures and flea survival in various stages and am curious if you think this could have eliminated them, or at least an entire life stage. The lowest temperature I believe you provided stats for was 31 degrees, so I’m hoping that temps as low as 5 would eradicate a higher percentage if not all, and across all life stages, since they are somehow in cracks of hardwood and not more protected by carpeting.
Do you think this is a decent method for dealing with that room, and is 24 hours of below-25 degree temperatures enough or would you recommend leaving the windows open another day or so? Would love to wipe out as many as possible. I might follow up with a dusting of DE and more vacuuming…I’m nervous we might see more emerge after the heat comes back up.
Your help and insight is so much appreciated. Thank you!
Adam RetzerKay,
I can’t say for certain if allowing cold air into the room will kill the fleas there. It’s true that fleas can’t survive below freezing. However, immature stages live in protected micro-habitats that have their own regulated micro-climate. The temperature and humidity in these areas are usually moderate. Oftentimes, these micro-habitats aren’t greatly affected by overall external conditions. It’s probable that the hardwood leaves the fleas more vulnerable than carpeting, but I’m not certain to what degree.
Sub-freezing temperatures should kill all the fleas, at all stages. Most will die within 24 hours, but it may take slightly longer for a complete kill (maybe 2-3 days).
The real issue is if the substrate the fleas are living in will get cold enough. If not, you will likely see fleas emerge again when the heat returns.
