do I have a flea infestation?

Hello. I’ve been getting bitten in my sleep for a week or so and assumed that fleas were living in my bed. After reading some of your questions, I’ve discovered that fleas don’t live in beds, only on hosts (such as a pet, not a human?) Well, since I started getting bitten I decided that my cats were no longer allowed in my bedroom, so a flea has no host to cling to. Also, our cats were treated for fleas not long ago. Could this be fleas or does it sound like something else? Definately not bed bugs as I’ve done thorough research on them and everything I’ve read cancels them out. Many Thanks.

You could have a flea infestation. And what I mean by “could” is that yes, fleas could be reproducing in the home. As you no doubt you understand from reading our article that fleas will commonly infest carpeting and furniture. Once this starts it’s safe to say you’ll have fleas and most definitely a flea infestation but the one thing I can also say about a flea infestation is that one can usually tell. That means if they’re actively living and breeding in your home, it would be easy to find one. Heck, it would be easy to find a lot! And here’s how you can try.

Simply put on a pair of white socks and walk around the home for a while. Do this on a day you plan on being around the house for a few hours. Don’t wear shoes but instead just the socks. No doubt any pupae waiting for a blood meal will hatch at some point or any adults in the living space will surely jump on you and if you’re wearing a pair of long white socks, they’ll end up getting stuck in the fabric and will be easy to see.

Why? Because fleas aren’t active only at night.  They’re active all the time. So that means if you’re experiencing something only when you’re on or in the bed, this pattern could be duplicated anytime of day. And to see if they’re in fact fleas doing the biting, try the white sock approach.

I also recommend setting out some FLEA TRAPS. These will work even better than a pair of white socks because they’ll work 24/7. So if you do in fact have fleas developing in the living area, one of these two approaches will alert you to the problem and from there, you can decide what to do.

The one mistake you don’t want to make is to assume you have fleas because you find some kind of skin irritation. There are so many things that can cause a skin irritation and randomly thinking one insect or another will not prove logical in solving the problem. So for now, you need to find  an insect of some kind before you do any kind of treating. This will enable you to use the right product applied at the right location. More importantly, it will insure you actually need to treat in the first place.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Flea Traps:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/electric/flea-trap

Flea Control Article:  http://www.flea.net/flea-control