New house. Fleas biting me. Advice?

[investor2009]

So my wife and I are moving to acerage, great! It's very tranquil out there and we love it.
The tenants who moved out 1 week ago weren't the cleanest of folks and the place was kept pretty messy. They also had a dog there that was chained up, I'm guessing he runs away or something.

So I was there watering the lawns this afternoon, and had an itch around my ankles, I look down and low and behold. There are 4 fleas biting my ankles!! This was around where the dog was kept, while watering around the back for 45 minutes I was not bitten again.

The place is quite dry at the moment and dusty, and still messy. I think I remember hearing that fleas like dust? Were a bit concerned about this because our dog hasn't had fleas in ages and I don't want to be constantly fighting an infestation.

How do I combat this? Is at as simple as getting a professional pest spray done and then they're gone?

Thank you.

 

[Belbo]

Ankle bracelets by Sentinel?

 

[Propertunity]

How do I combat this? Is at as simple as getting a professional pest spray done and then they're gone.

Yes, they come and spray the dirt where the fleas and flea eggs are.

 

[mr-ed]

Another option could be:

Purchase from a hardware store, a hand pump sprayer. ie fill with water, ad chemical, pump handle to pressurised, then spray.

A vet could advise you on chemical; maybe a pryrethrin or maybe Maldeson.

Then as the eggs hatch, a re-spray as required.

iif the flees get inside the house, flea bombs are very good, (purchase from surermarket) also good for cockroches and spiders etc.

 

[AlmostBob]

aerogard sox

 

[Kristine..]

Mortein Flea Bombs

Set up one to each room. Close all windows and doors

Set off, leaving the room quickly (open and close door to exit!)

Go to town, do some shopping, have coffee.

When you return, open doors and windows. Fleas will be dead.

Three weeks later (egg cycle), do it again but with fewer Bombs this time.

Enjoy the coffee!

Cheers
Kristine

Daughter had feral tenant - fleas were literally jumping out of the carpet!! Mortein Flea Bombs killed every flea but to make sure, we did it again three weeks later

 

[dan75]

I think the fleas are mainly outside at this stage.

How big is the land?

I had a really bad experience with purchasing a property where the land was full of fleas. You think 4 fleas around your ankles was bad? Try 40-50!

As suggested, get a pest professional to spray the yard. Also, as suggested, it wouldn't hurt to set off some flea bombs in the rooms/sheds.

You can then follow this up (also, as suggested) with spraying the place yourself. The pump-pack idea is the best. Don't even bother with the small hand units (like the Windex-type ones) as they are not big enough to cover a decent area and you'll get a sore hand real quick. They sell the pump packs at Bunnings. They hold around 4-5L or more. Not sure how much they cost these days, but definitely worth it! Then just get a few 2L (or larger) containers of flea spray, and continue to spray the areas over the following weeks.

 

[investor2009]

Thanks Dan, I'll take your advice.

I don't think anyone else realises what we're dealing with here.
The dog was not allowed in the house and it has no carpet, it's all tiles.
Fleas like to hide in cooler areas out of the sun and there is SO many places for them to hide and breed there that I wasn't sure how to tackle it. Not just like a normal size yard. Thanks for that Dan, 40-50 is shocking!

The previous dog also had a constantly bloody tail tip when we first looked a the house, second time it had been cut off.. I'm hoping this wasn't simply due to a flea infection/infestation and I also hoped that a competent vet did the operation.

I was ready to have a go at the tenant without asking questions while we were there inspecting the property and he returned home but as soon as he got out of the truck he was straight over to pat his dog so I think I had the wrong idea and may have jumped to conclusions. He was o.k, just a bit of a yobbo, and MESSY! He said to me 'I don't think you have any idea of the work involved with this place' When I can tell that the garden has never been kept, and nothing in the house ever maintained since he's been there. Just goes to show why some people don't excel in life. He was doing a great job in his own reality, while I saw it as very poor.

 

[redwing]

Sounds Nasty...

I've been in places where I've seen ticks crwaling up the walls, but no flea infestations

This advice sounds good clicky link

 

[Ocean Architect]

I hate pulling this card, but Im a pharmacist (and builder).

you need to kill the fleas and potential offspring. If you spray, you kill the live ones, and the eggs can hatch after the initial spray is gone. So you need something longer lasting.

Initial once off sprays are in an aqueous (water) solution. It gets sprayed, kills everything except eggs, then gets washed away or is gone. Eggs hatch, hello problems, start again.

Option 2 is to get an oil based killing pesticide. Oil takes longer to dry up, so it leeches flea/tick poision for months, so when the young fleas hatch, they are greeted by death. Welcome to the property you little bastid.

So go to bunnings. Buy a bottle of some sort of oil based pesticide (usually a pyrethrin, as previously mentioned by some cluey dude) mix it with something oily (like kerosine, petrol, diesel, veg oil etc whatever) put it in one of those herbicide spray bottles (usually roundup bottles made by monsanto, who are a bastid of a company btw kill them) and pump it all over the place. everything dies for months/a year.

I have a shipping container in one property infested by ticks and other nasties. The remainder of the property is a creepy crawly go zone. Theyre all over the place. The container itself is a death trap for anything insect. Clean as. Good investment of 20 bucks and a bit of petrol (my lawnmower jerry can was handy).

note: if habitable areas or fruit growing trees/garden, dont use oils that are poisonous. use something safer vegetable oil if you feel like spraying in a 6 months (vegetable oil breaks down, hence not as long lasting as, say, diesel) since you dont want to be eating mandarins or whatever grown in an area sprayed by diesel.

so yeah. easy and safe to do, and cheap if youre schmaht about it.

cheerios

 

[Belbo]

What, no fertiliser this time? Have you reformed?

 

[investor2009]

Well it's been a few weeks since we had the pest guy spray.
He told me I could bring my dog back the very next day, no worries. So I did. She got fleas and they were still biting me. So he went back and sprayed another 160l on the property. 3-4 days later they were STILL there..! This is 2 weeks ago.

Almost 1 week on since last spray and they look to be almost gone. But my dog still picked up a few last night. The pest sprayer can hardly beliece they're still there. I don't know how good this guy is though. I hope they're all dead soon. I've put an oil based flea killer on my dog from neck to tail base, have used it before successfully. Will keep you posted.