The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Oh crap oh crap bugs in the carpet oh crap
BlochWave
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my cats had been avoiding the carpet like the plague for a few days now. I just figured they were being weird, they could get to the food (on hard floor) and water fine so I didn't worry about it
Well today I was like WTF this is weird, as they would immediately skitter off the carpet onto a table if I took them down. Well I was like "WHY would a cat avoid the ground?" Then I realized the answer, knelt down, and stared hard. Nothing. Put my hand on the carpet. Bugs. Small, so small as to be seen as small dots, black bugs jumping on my hand. They're everywhere, they haven't made it to my room in huge numbers near as I can tell, or my bed.
I live in an apartment, is this something I can deal with on my own or should I tell them? Is this something that's my fault? My cats have never been outside, I've lived here for about 10 months, and as near as I can figure this is a days old problem. I'm not sure the cats are infested yet, they've got good instincts I guess. I was just crap busy this last week and never at home so yah, some dishes piled up, my litter box scooping wasn't on the ball, and it got a little messy, is this infestation my fault? I'm cleaning like a hurricane now and I'll vacuum tomorrow morning before heading to work (one of those weeks that in fact doesn't end >_>)
Also, I'm assuming they're fleas, does that sound right?
Well today I was like WTF this is weird, as they would immediately skitter off the carpet onto a table if I took them down. Well I was like "WHY would a cat avoid the ground?" Then I realized the answer, knelt down, and stared hard. Nothing. Put my hand on the carpet. Bugs. Small, so small as to be seen as small dots, black bugs jumping on my hand. They're everywhere, they haven't made it to my room in huge numbers near as I can tell, or my bed.
I live in an apartment, is this something I can deal with on my own or should I tell them? Is this something that's my fault? My cats have never been outside, I've lived here for about 10 months, and as near as I can figure this is a days old problem. I'm not sure the cats are infested yet, they've got good instincts I guess. I was just crap busy this last week and never at home so yah, some dishes piled up, my litter box scooping wasn't on the ball, and it got a little messy, is this infestation my fault? I'm cleaning like a hurricane now and I'll vacuum tomorrow morning before heading to work (one of those weeks that in fact doesn't end >_>)
Also, I'm assuming they're fleas, does that sound right?
BlochWave on
0
Posts
black bugs that hop and BITE= MOTHERFLIPPING FLEAS
I think they still make flea bombs, check at home depot or lowes.
Wait, crap. I think that only works on ants.
Anyway, if this is an apartment, you need to contact them, but they're probably going to blame your pets and make you pay for anything they do.
If they're that bad what you should probably do is
1) Vacuum everything. Floors(carpeted and not) and drapes, furniture, mattresses and cushions and throw out the bag/dump the container in the garbage dumpster.
2) gather every piece of fabric you have and take it to the laundromat and wash it.
3) Bug bomb your apartment. Take the cats somewhere else, preferably for a day or two if you can, but if not do the bombing in the morning and come back later in the day and shut them in the bathroom or a place where that's not on the carpet so they're exposed to it as little as possible.
4) Treat your cats with Frontline or something similar, and keep up on this.
Fleas are notoriously aggravating to kill...I hate them. They also don't bite just your pets. When we had an infestation our carpet was dark at the place we lived at, so I didn't really notice them until I started looking like I had hives and itching like crazy. I'm not allergic to them, but I'm sensitive to them so I get big welts when they bite me that are as large as a half dollar. My husband apparently didn't get bitten/they had no effect on him so hopefully you'll be that lucky. I had my ferrets and they never went outside either, so I wondered how I we could've gotten them but they can come in on your clothing or shoes if you've been outside, perhaps under your door or window screen if you're on a bottom floor. A vet even told me if you buy cat litter or things like that at a store like petsmart you might end up bringing fleas home(if you have room just put the litter in a freezer for a few hours and that would kill them).
Anyway, there's tons of information about them on the internet...probably much better advice than any of us could give you. All I'll say is that it's a serious problem and get it taken care of fast before it gets any worse.
Possibly the litter
So a bug bomb will work? I can take them somewhere else. How much would an exterminator cost, and how likely does sound?
EDIT ADDITION: Yah they bite me, but it's not bothering me too much, just annoying. I'm assuming like showering and stuff will clean me off sufficiently?
Anyways, how do cat flea treatments work? Like if I give them a once a month treatment type thing, are they protected during that time? If not I'll want to get them cleaned after fixing the apartment, I guess, to avoid immediate flea reinfestation
You'll have to get that powder stuff.
GM: Rusty Chains (DH Ongoing)
You should be able to get it from the store.
washing everything as well
Flea eggs, or possibly some other stage of their life, are very difficult to kill. Continue cleaning and killing them so that as soon aas they pass into the killable stage, you get them before they lay eggs.
Spray this shit all over, carpets, chairs, even the hardwood floors, give it an hour, and you got dead fleas. I also used Ortho Home Defense inside the house around the baseboards. Again, give it an hour, and the cats are fine around it.
My infestation was rather light, but the combination of those two worked well.
Be careful with the spot on treatment for fleas though, one of my cats developed an allergy to it and it seemed to burn the hair off between his shoulderblades. Fortunately, washing it out with Dawn soap and giving it a couple weeks, his hair came right back.
Good luck man, they can be pesky little buggers.
If you're using a normal vacuum you need to vacuum like everyday because there are likely eggs you missed. I would consider renting one of those wetwash carpet cleaner things and put poison in the corners and edges where the vacuum can't reach well.
If your cats won't spaz when you try to wash them then definitely wash them well with some anti-flea soap.
-Get a flat white dish. It has to be white, as fleas are attracted to lighter colored surfaces for some reason.
-Fill the dish with water, then a few drops of liquid soap on top.
-Leave the dish with the water and soap on the floor in the area with fleas overnight. Might want to make sure the cats don't try drinking from it, although I suppose a cat could probably smell the soap.
-In the morning you will see many, many little fleas drowned in the dish.
The soap breaks the surface tension of the water, which the fleas could otherwise stand on.
As I said, this is ineffective at really controlling flea problems, but it is pretty funny. Serious flea control has been covered pretty well by the other responses.
Check this: My apartment's pest people come every Monday, and I missed them this week so it'll be 7 days. Lame
Anyways, I think I killed the bulk, I'll keep vacuuming and take a look for that spray
You will have to vaccum several times, before and after the treatment and to get any eggs. You will have to throw the bags away each time. Unfortunately, this is not a quick or cheap process. You may want to even consider having a professional carpet cleaner come in and do it, as their shampooing processes will kill anything and everything in the carpeting, including eggs, and suck it out.
It's harder with cats than dogs, but if you can submerge their bodies (neck down, obviously... don't drown them), that will also kill fleas pretty well once the water is nice and soapy.
(animals were gone by then)
- Vacuum the entire place thoroughly, and then throw out the bag outside.
- Put all large fluffy things in the wash (quilts, comforters, stuffed animals, throw rugs, etc) (leave them elsewhere afterwards until your problem is gone)
- Buy flea powder and coat the entire house in it. Start at the baseboards and work inward
- Vacuum AGAIN and then throw out the bag outside.
That was it. That did it for me. They weren't gone immediately, but they all died out or left after about a week.
Get some Advantage and put it on your cats.
Let the cats run around the house and pick up all the fleas.
The fleas on the cats will die instantly.
Do this for a long time, not just til the fleas are gone, since flea eggs can live for months in the carpet.
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
Hmm... well Google says otherwise; stops biting within 5 minutes, starts killing adult fleas within an hour and reaches 98-100% eradication within 12 hours. And the reason it stops them reproducing is that they die before they can reach the reproductive stage of their life cycle. Learn something new every day!
Advantage is what I use for my cat, but for an infestation like the OP's you probably want to get the whole place nuked by an exterminator.
They don't get on the carpet, remember? I bought them Frontline and that seemed to help them with whatever fleas were on them.
Vacuuming would end with me dumping out LOTS of fleas, but not even putting a dent in their numbers. I rented a steam cleaner and did a thorough job. Also dumped billions of fleas in that nasty water that is the result of steam cleaning. That night I could lie on the carpet and not get slaughtered. They were back the next afternoon
Purchased Adam's Plus Flea Carpet Spray. I think it's basically the same stuff you get in a fogger/bomb but in directional aerosol spray form. Tossed the cats in the bathroom, opened the windows, and WENT APENUTS on every square inch of carpet.
When I say the infestation was bad, I mean if I set my hand on the carpet and then lifted it up, there'd be 4 or 5 fleas on it. Where I'm sitting now there'd be dozens coming up my pants. The two days after spraying there were none. Today I held my hand on the carpet for about 30 seconds and picked up one flea. I vacuumed again, and will vacuum every day until I'm satisfied this is done. The spray recommends reapplying in 14 days if it doesn't kill them all, and also kills eggs and the such and sterilizes the survivors and what have you, it's pretty potent stuff so I won't go overboard with it.