House I'm buying might have fleas!

[Rowan123]

Originally Posted by Alichia7154

We bought a house in December and late spring early summer we found out that there were Big dogs left in the house and summer they Hit bad. We didn't know this until the neighbors told us. The closing lawyer told us we didn't have a leg to stand on... we have tried everything but taking the carpet up. Any suggestions...

If the fleas are still there you need to treat the yard and the house at the same time. Vacuum the carpets first, spray under the furniture and then throw the vacuum bag away or clean the canister with soap and water (to get rid of any flea eggs that you vacuum up). If you haven't, I'd call a professional at this point.

I'm assuming you don't have pets.

If your neighbors have pets with fleas, it's going to be harder to get rid of them.

[jencam]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Oh fer Pete sake. Y'all are acting like this is the end of the world.

I'm allergic to fleas. If there are fleas around, I get lethargic and want to sleep all day. (I suspect a chemical that fleas use to make their meals sleepy and easier to hop onto and off of.) We've had as many as three cats at a time. In one instance, we had an infestation where my pan of water trick caught sixty fleas in one night. Within three days, the flea population was ZERO -ZIP - NADA using the techniques I described. The boric acid and pre-emergent will MORE than do the job, and will last enough through the vacuuming that even with pets it doesn't need to be re-applied for six months to a year.

As for those flea bombs??? FUGGEDABOUDIT! The combination of EPA rules, liability issues, and idiot homeowners have conspired to make 90% of them worthless. The fleas think of a spraying as a nice shower. Is it any wonder homeowners set of a dozen at a time to try and get them to work? The only thing setting off so many will do is make the house explode if a pilot light is on.

Around here, we have brown recluse and black widow spiders, and ticks. Those are serious, even life threatening, pests. We don't make as much fuss about them as y'all are about a POSSIBLE flea problem that can be eradicated with less than an hour's work. Put it in perspective folks.

I used a different method but I 100% agree on two major points: 1) This is not a big deal. It was like moving when I had a flea infestation because all my furniture and clothes and curtains and on an on. An empty house would have seemed like a DREAM.

Flea bombs are worthless.

I got a spray product from the Vet that interrupts the life cycles that can be interrupted. Capstar into the cat. Cat outside for fleas to fall off. Bathe the cat. Apply the monthly thing to her neck. Back on the patio to protect her from the spray. Spray the entire floor, under cushions, on and on. Leave while it is toxic to breath. Over. In a DAY.

I'm leaving out the part that made it longer: Using worthless crap from the store first. Everything had to be repeated with the correct products.

[jencam]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

How hard can this be? Buy a three pack of flea bombs for about $5. Set them off. Come back in four hours.

Then, a couple of weeks later, do it again in case they laid eggs and they started hatching.

Bombs don't work for fleas. They just run to where the bomb isn't spraying. You can't get 100% coverage.

Anyone who thinks bombs worked for them had another component that actually did the job. For instance, treating the host(s) which actually will work by itself over time.

For the OP, I would not worry very much unless bringing in more hosts (pets) that the pupa (lying in wait for one before they hatch) will pop up and get them. However even then, if the hosts are treated, there should not be a big issue unless this is an epic infestation.