flea problem

this forum has experts in everything, so why not ask. 

we have 2 cats and a dog. noticed fleas on cats, got all animals collars, and now there's no fleas on them. that part was easy.

our basement is a finished single room. half carpet half tile. we had all the cat stuff there, but when I realized how many fleas were there I moved everything out. all the furniture is moved to the tile side. I cannot get rid of the fleas in the carpet  I've done 4 bug bombs. I have vacuumed no Les than 18 times. I covered the carpet with diatrimus earth. I sprayed the carpet with flea killer twice. last night after spraying I had 6 fleas on my ankle. I don't get it. to have a company con out it's 175. I can't pay 175 for a 12*18 section of carpet. other than burning the house down, is there a way I'm missing?

Nuke it from orbit.

The flea killing sprays don't affect the eggs.  So you kill the adults but the eggs hatch, mate, and lay more eggs in an incredibly short period of time.  You need to just about soak the carpet with flea killing chemicals so you kill the fleas as they emerge from their eggs before they have a chance to breed.

I lived through this once.  We had lice from the kids, fleas from the dogs, then another round of lice in one year.  I about lost my mind.

When the ex had her cat I used diatrimus earth but you had to do it weekly like four weeks in a row because of the egg thing as pointed out above. I think it was spread it then vacuum it up 24 hours. Repeat weekly. 

Get the insect birth control stuff.  Something regulator.  Comes in a small vial.  Add that to your chemical assault.  For example, mix up pyrethrin to 1% strength, add the birth control vial stuff, spray your carpet.  Repeat AT LEAST every other week.  Every week wouldn't hurt.  Feed the dog and cat(s) ivermectin.  Get it at Tractor Supply in the horse/cattle section.  Give them this (by weight) every other week as well.  You might go a little lighter on the cat dosage.  Say half.

1. First Day:
   1. Steam clean the carpet. Use an actual steamer - you want to kill the eggs (and fleas) with HEAT. Something like this
   2. Diatrimus earth, on overnight.
2. Second day:
   1. Vaccuum up the Diatrimus earth.
   2. (Optional, but for the full effect) Steam clean the carpet again with your steamer
   3. "Steam clean" the carpet. Use a rental from the grocery, or else buy your own or borrow one. Someone you know has one.
   4. Diatrimus earth. Leave it on for 2-3 days before vaccuuming up.
3. Repeat starting with step 1. You'll need to repeat at least once, but to really "kill it with fire" repeating 2-3 times would be best. 

You'll want to do the same thing on any upholstery, even if you've moved it out of the room. 

Alternatively, you can rip up the carpet, steam the floor underneath, throw the DE everywhere, vacuum, repeat as many times as you can.

Ultimately you want to (a) kill the eggs with heat, (b) remove the eggs by vacuum and extraction steam cleaners, and (c) kill any live ones with the DE, and keep repeating as often as you can. They reproduce so quickly that you really need to take an overblown approach to it.

*diatomaceous earth

The tiny crusty dried-up fossilized exoskeletal remains of diatoms that lacerate the exoskeletons of insects, causing them to become dehydrated and die.

Been there.  Done that.  I won't have an animal in the house that doesn't have a "top spot" type flea and tick treatment.  There is also an oral option called "Nexgard" but it's expensive.  I wouldn't rely on collars.  In my experience, they don't last long.  Also, fleas like to hang out on the posterior parts of a dog, so the collar is on the wrong end of the animal.

If you've got a situation in the house, this is the E36 M3 you need:

https://www.amazon.com/Siphotrol-Premise-Control-Spray-16-Ounce/dp/B000KVSTC0/ref=pd_bxgy_199_2/135-8795518-7290245?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000KVSTC0&pd_rd_r=a8ee0714-de81-4394-9e58-feda90b37039&pd_rd_w=FeSuN&pd_rd_wg=nvT78&pf_rd_p=3edd75bb-e36e-488e-b666-80dd1a52c658&pf_rd_r=C57456C2HFS0WJ5RM9QD&psc=1&refRID=C57456C2HFS0WJ5RM9QD

+1 for steam cleaning. 

Demetrius Earth.  Didn't he used to play for the Browns?

I typed all that out on mobile. was hoping for an autocorrect, but wasn't close enough. figured you all would get the point.

thanks for the help. id really like a solution that doesn't involve me doing anything, but it seems that doesn't exist. I'll try the steam cleaning. thank you!!!

You can also make a flea trap.

Get a large shallow pan or platter.    Or a round picnic tray that will hold water.

Fill it with soapy water.  Dish soap is good and you don't need a lot. 

Put a small reading lamp pointed at the center of the platter.    Turn on the light at night so its the only light in the darkened room.

The fleas will leap at the light, bounce off, fall into the water, and drown because the soapy water has a lot less surface tension than plain water.  Otherwise they would stay on top and not drown..     First time I did it I must have captured 50 fleas the first night. 

Personally I gave up on carpeting years ago for various reasons including fleas, dust collection, dust mites eating dead skin, impossible to remove pet or child provided odors and stains. 

Burn carpet.  Send animals to shelter.  Done

Can they be trained to do circus tricks?

Precor is the growth regulator you want to use along with an adulticide. 

I boraxed the berkeley out of my carpet, and flea dipped the cats, then bombed the apartment. I haven't had fleas since. The borax did sit for a solid 3 days. 

Borax power will work. Put up carpet for 24-48 hours then vacuum. It’ll kill what’s alive and any that hatch afterwards 

spitfirebill said:

Precor is the growth regulator you want to use along with an adulticide. 

This man knows what he's talking about!

And so do I.  From the product description on the link I posted above:

Siphotrol Plus II (Premise Spray) contains PRECOR Insect Growth Regulator. This fast-acting formula has a 100% knock out rate of adults in 10 minutes. It can be used in the home and garage to control fleas and ticks, treating about 2,000 square feet. It leaves no lingering odor, no stains and no sticky mess. It prevents reinfestations and flea build-up for 30 weeks. It is a water-based aerosol spray that is easy to apply. Kills fleas and ticks within 10 minutes of use.

does the PRECOR need to touch the fleas or is it in the air ?

So if there are Fleas are in a sofa or under the sofa will they die from later getting in an area that the PRECOR has been sprayed ?

In reply to californiamilleghia :

If memory serves (and it's been over 15 years since I've used the stuff) you spray carpet and upholstered furniture.  So I'm going with "the fleas need to touch it."  You don't spray it in the air, and even so, the mist would settle out quickly.  The residue in the carpet and on the furniture will kill the adults, and also kill any that hatch from eggs already in the carpet.  I found it to be very effective.

Just be sure that whatever you're using on your pet is 100% effective.  If they're living on your critter, the problem will not go away.

IMO, flea collars are a waste of money, and I don't think any of the over the counter products are worth anything more than free.

You're not going to get ahead of this without using an effective product.

Ask your vet what they recommend, here in the South, we deal with this multiple times a day.

Ivermectin has no effect on fleas, and I definitely recommend not using large animal ivermectin on your pets.

Sophotrol is a good product. The permethrins work quickly, but break down rapidly, which is good. You don't want things that will accumulate in the environment, the way DDT did.

The IGR (insect growth regulator) does not kill fleas or any other insect. It inhibits the formation of chitin, which forms the flea exoskeleton and the shell of the flea eggs. If you've ever eaten shrimp or lobster, you've been familiar with chitin.

The problem here isn't the eggs, it's the pupae. Fleas form cocoons like many insects. There is nothing you can use except for perhaps the steam cleaner that will kill them in the cocoon.

I often recommend vacuuming daily. Studies show that a vacuum cleaner will kill 100% of the flea eggs and larvae that it picks up, and 96% of the adults. Again, no effect on the pupae, they are down in the carpet where nothing will affect them.

When an adult flea pupates, it's protected by the cocoon. One it emerges, it's ready to feed. It can go up to a year without a meal at this stage. Once it feeds, the gut becomes activated and then it becomes what we call an obligate parasite. It can't go more than a few hours without feeding. 

One female flea will lay her own weight in eggs every day, or about 500 total eggs in her lifetime. It's no wonder that an infestation can get so bad. The signs are often there long before they are recognized, but then it's really a nightmare.

Situations like this are why I recommend continuously using an effective product. Skipping doses just makes the fleas resistant. When Frontline and Advantage were first released, they worked amazingly well. At least here in Florida now, they're useless. I don't know if flea collars ever worked, certainly not in my lifetime.

 It's a lot easier to keep them out then try to get them out.

1988RedT2 said:

spitfirebill said:

Precor is the growth regulator you want to use along with an adulticide. 

 

This man knows what he's talking about!

 

---

I second this statement.

After this post, I steam cleaned the carpet twice. I tried Jeremy's thought that you need to flood the carpet with treatment, and laid down a gallon of flea killer on a 20x20 carpet with a garden sprayer. I was 100% sure that would work. 3 hours later, absolutely no difference. Home Depot flea treatment is trash. 

Precor 2000 on amazon. 30 seconds of spray, and gone. Not a single flea. If I had known that a 25$ bottle was that effective, I would have had my basement back months ago. THANK YOU!!!!

I love a story with a happy ending. Thanks for the update!