Maggie asked 6 years ago
Please help. We do not even know who to turn to at this point. We had a flea infestation begin in August. We discovered some possums that moved into a space under our house. This was an old addition to the he home and there possums were living in an approximately 10×10 space that we believe is a concrete slab approximately 6 inches below the subfloor and then hardwood. The fleas had been coming up throug the floor or other cracks and air vent. The whole house was infested. We removed the possums in August and treated the whole home. This stopped the infestation in the main part of the home however we have continued to have fleas coming up into the sunroom (the room the source of fleas is under). We have the room plastic sheeted off from the rest of the house. We have done Precor flea bombs and diatomaceous earth in addition to other precor and knockoff IGR sprays. The fleas continue to come out though when the weather is above 50. We assume the pupated ones are hatching from the warmer weather. We don’t know what to do any more besides take up the floor in that room but would like to avoid that given many reasons. Do you have any ideas of what we can do? We are desperate for advice.
Adam Retzer Staff answered 6 years ago
Maggie,
I am sorry to hear about your flea issue. That is a difficult situation. Luckily, with the hosts gone, the problem should go away in time. So, taking too drastic of measures shouldn’t be necessary.
Most of the fleas should emerge as adults by around the 2 month mark. But, as you mention, there may be pre-emerged adults that can stay quiescent for up to 5 months. If fleas keep appearing past 5-6 months, then there is likely a host still around somewhere.
It sounds like you’ve already taken a lot of the actions I would mention. Immature fleas develop in protected micro-environments. So, many of them will be able to avoid insecticide treatments. However, the insect growth regulator (IGR) in Precor is useful for preventing future infestations or re-infestation.
One option that may help would be to place a flea trap or two near where the fleas are emerging from. Generally, flea traps aren’t very useful for control, but in your situation they may be handy in attracting and capturing some of the fleas that are emerging. Then they wouldn’t all be making their way to other parts of the home and biting your family. The traps are also useful for monitoring the population decline, and determining when the infestation is completely over.
Warm regards,
Adam
