I can't take it anymore! Please help.

[Matak]

My wife & I moved out of an old farmhouse and into a basement apt. About two weeks after we moved I checked back into the brick-oven farmhouse. I walked from the front door to the kitchen & back. In that short distance, my pant legs were crawling with at least 50 fleas on each leg. I didn't notice til I got outside but man, I stripped down to my scivvies in a real hurry! Apparantly with the high heat in the trapped farmhouse the eggs were being laid like crazy. I was told that it is vibration that causes the eggs to hatch and my footsteps were the first signs of motion in that place for two weeks. ...

 

[ryknier]

ahh yes, the flea stories, we had an outbreak in our house witha new farm cat! we went through many many washings, we had 4 cats, and 2 dogs, mind you living ina 1500sq foot house, we bathed the cats and dogs twice a day, and bombed the house twice, both worked very effectivly! needless to say the cats didn't puke up hairballs for WEEKS after

We had to buy a bomb can for every room, and we had a three story house, we probably spent 200 bucks on bombs, but didn't have any fish tanks at the time, ask your vet what to do with tanks...

We also were waking up itching our legs raw, they would love to bite during the night when we slept, how about that for a morning wake up call ehh!

Whatever you do, GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[Blinky]

Leopardess, I have no idea if this is safe for birds or not but here's something you might try...
Diatomaceous earth (silicon dioxide - diatom poweder, same stuff used in Vortex filters). Safe for dogs and cats, safe for fish, safe for people (just don't inhale the dust). At a microscopic level, it's got sharp edges that slice into the waxy coating insects need to survive. It works on roaches, might work on fleas. Apparantly you can rub it onto cats and dogs without harming them. It's used internally as a cattle wormer - this stuff seems to have a thousand uses. You can get it at aquarium stores, pool supply stores (I think) and farm supply stores

 

[Max]

I don't know if this would work either . Pennyroyal is an herb that is will repel flease and other pests . It has a nice smell and shouldn't hurt anything that's not an invert pyrethrum might work for you as well.
just a thought.

 

[Leopardess]

I thought I might update briefly.

We ended up buying 4 bottles of that spray the vet had. Its called Mycodex Plus. We cleaned the whole house top to bottom and vaccumed each room meticulously (under everything) several times during an hour. We bought trash bags and used duct tape to seal off all of the aquariums and shut the filters off as well. It was warm (50F) out so we opened all the windows and doors and herded the animals into the bathroom and left the fan on in there.

We sprayed the stuff over all the carpets, linens, and furniture and holy cow I almost died. It was sooooo hard to breathe. I kept having this feeling like I couldn't breathe at all and had to run outside. I put a wet rag over my nose/mouth and that helped some.

We frontlined the cats that night, too.

No fish were affected as far as I can observe - that was a main concern of mine since they are the only thing that isn't portable.

So, we'll see how this goes. If it is successful, I'll let you know as it was cheaper than an exterminator. I also am kicking myself because I looked up the product online after we were done and I found places that sell it for 11$ a bottle instead of 20$. I haven't seen a flea yet (hope I didn't jinx it)...