Fleas?!

[babyjan]

Ok so we were sat on the sofa and I noticed a bug on my 5 month old head! I tried to grab it but it jumped! Me and OH we're trying to grab it but the thing kept on jumping! I tried to kill it but it jumped so we picked up the fabric seats of the sofa seats and OH tried to kill it to no avail so he quickly caught it with a glass and on examination (google images) it appears to be a flea! He threw it and the glass in the bin out of the house.

I really don't know what to think?? We don't have any pets but having issues with mice? Could it be from them and is it possible to have a one off flea in the house?

I'm already stressed and scared because of the mice problem and to now potentially have a flea problem is worrying me a lot

 

[confused87com]

If you think it is a flea then you can buy a spray for the house that will kill them. Wash soft furnishings and spray the ones that you can't. Fleas can be brought in on clothing. You don't actually have to have a pet. There's never just one flea! The sprays are pretty cheap and you just spray the whole house

 

[confused87com]

The mice could be carrying the fleas though if you are having a mouse problem

 

[Bevziibubble]

Sounds like a flea. Make sure that you vacuum very regularly and empty the vacuum cleaner in the bin outside of the house so that they don't get back out into the house. You can buy flea spray from the pet shop to spray on all soft furnishings and just vacuum vacuum vacuum to get rid of any eggs!

 

[smileyfaces]

Defo sounds like a flea...and unfortunately if you have got one then you have got several and they will.stick around until they are treated. Don't bother with supermarket sprays...go to the vets and get a strong spray for your house. They will go but might take a few careful applications!

 

[SmartieMeUp]

I had a bit of a infestation last year. Everynight before I went to bed, I put a lamp on the floor with a thin tray underneath it with washing up liquid. It was a good trap and sorted the problem. If you only have a black tray (baking one for instance) then place white paper on the bottom so you can see if you've caught anything. I then sprayed all carpets, sofa and mattresses with indorex and then hoovered the day after. DD1 ended up having them in her hair it was that bad.
I did buy flea bombs but never got round to using them as I had the problem under control.

All because OH brought home a cat from an old friend as she was going to dump it.

 

[Lalaloopsie]

the vet offered us indorex at a sully price, got it on ebay far cheaper, spray everywhere and go out for a few hours x

 

[babyjan]

Thanks for all the advice girls

Smartie- OH done the fairy liquid thing but we haven't seen any?

I feel itchy and have what looks like bite marks but we haven't seen any since? I don't know if I'm really itchy or my mind is playing games with me :/

Do you think we should still go ahead with spraying the sofas and the entire house? OH bought a flea spray from wilkinson?

As for the mice situation it seriously ruining my life! I live in a flat and the whole flat is infested but pest control have put poison out and traps etc. OH caught 3 even though pest control said they've closed the holes? I'm really stressing because no.1 I'm petrified of the things (left my house for 2 weeks when first discovered the problem) no.2 I have young kids and I'm so paronoid about hem touching anything just in case a mice has or something and the baby will soon be crawling and I just don't know what to do!

 

[SmartieMeUp]

Did you have a light over the tray? Like a few inches above it. They're attracted to light and warmth. Put it out every night for a week just to be sure. They will be camping around somewhere.

Not all flea sprays kill the fleas. They work in cycles so you need to keep spraying and hoovering until you notice a different (none in trap/no more bites) x

 

[LauraLM]

I know this was a few months ago but I was wondering if the original poster has an update? There was a flea on my hand on the couch a couple months ago (definitely a flea, jumped away), but we have no pets. I set out a couple traps with a light above them (as mentioned above), and caught nothing for 2 weeks straight. Haven't seen any other fleas! A little over 3 years ago when we moved in, there was a flea that jumped into my coffee cup! It was only the one, so I seriously wonder if you CAN have just one flea?

 

[LauraLM]

I wonder if the diatomaceous earth we already had down in the house took care of any that got in here somehow? It's just so strange to only have one flea.

 

[babyjan]

I know this was a few months ago but I was wondering if the original poster has an update? There was a flea on my hand on the couch a couple months ago (definitely a flea, jumped away), but we have no pets. I set out a couple traps with a light above them (as mentioned above), and caught nothing for 2 weeks straight. Haven't seen any other fleas! A little over 3 years ago when we moved in, there was a flea that jumped into my coffee cup! It was only the one, so I seriously wonder if you CAN have just one flea?

Hiya!

I haven't seen anything since my original post thank god! I vacuum daily sometimes 3 times a day, cleaned the sofa but I've not seen a flea again so maybe you can get just the one? I'm really hoping that's the case because I just can't deal with infestations especially with young children x

 

[Bevziibubble]

Glad you haven't seen any since. Fingers crossed that they're gone for good now!

 

[SmartieMeUp]

You won't see them much now because it's colder weather. They come out when it's warm, so once you've had the heating on after a week or so, you may get a couple more.

 

[c1403]

The only thing that stopped mice for us was getting a cat, the cat brings in the fleas....rather fleas than mice lol. TBH though it's only every now and then he gets a few, we aren't living with them day in day out.
We use a good flea treatment from the vet every month....though you don't have pets though soooo I would just hoover and use a spray safe around children obviously. They are persistent though. We have wood flooring thankfully, i imagaine they love carpets and soft furnishing. We have never been bitten by a flea and I have been bitten a lot with mosquitos, bed bugs etc ...hope you manage to sort it out

 

[tallybee]

Indorex spray is really good you can get it from Amazon cheaper than vets. Also as previously mentioned vacuuming regularly helps but empty the vac outside straight away or they come back out!