Fleas

[Kaley]

Anyone have any advice for fleas? I’ve bee. Trying to get rid of them! I live in FL so it’s very hot around this time.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had a very bad flea infestation back in 2004. I hate to tell you this, but it took a couple of months and a lot of work & money to get rid of them. And I live in Illinois. 

You must have your house & yard treated by professionals, and sometimes the house needs to be bombed twice. The do-it-yourself products did not work for me. Your pets may need flea baths in addition to the oral or topical prevents. And you need to vacuum your home constantly, including upholstered furniture. You have to put borax in the vacuum if you have a bagless one, and throw out the bags if you don't.  It was one of the worst experiences of my life, so I sympathize. I even replaced my mattress! But the good news is, the diligence pais off and we did finally get rid of them. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If you've never dealt with a flea infestation, this might seem extreme, but it's not. I found all of the info in this article to be 100% true.
https://www.terminix.com/blog/diy/how-to-get-rid-of-fleas-in-the-ho...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

AND spray your yard!  You can try home bug bombs first - it did work for us. We did it twice 3 weeks apart just to make sure.  Vacuum first  - the vibration of the vacuum  seems to hatch them. Bomb, then vacuum again.  To find out if 1) you have a flea infestation put some white socks on - they will jump onto your socks.  To find out if you got all the critters put those white socks on again. 

The effectiveness of different preventives seems to be by area.  For example, I use Frontline on Charlie and it works here in Southern California, but I've heard it doesn't work in some other areas.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep, the vibrations cause the larvae to hatch. I walked around in white scrubs and white socks for weeks, lol. 

And you're correct that you need to vacuum afterwards too. :)