We recently bought and moved into a house that was infested with fleas. We have a dog which we treat with frontline. We have been vacuuming the house every day for 3 months now. In addition we have had a exterminator out to spray twice. I have also sprayed (peremthryn and precor) myself a couple times in the 3 month span. The problem has definitely gotten better and we thought we had finally rid the house of the issue. That was until we found a flea on our dog yesterday. This was the first one we have seen in 3 weeks. I gave him a capstar and washed all his bedding. Should I be concerned that we are still infested?
When it comes to fleas, you should always be “concerned”. As you know, flea problems can be a nightmare. To avoid another fiasco, get some FLEA TRAPS set up. They’ll work for you night and day and no doubt will catch fleas way before a full blown problem gets established. That being said, if you’re only finding 1-2 fleas in the trap per month, I would follow the treatment schedule you’ve been on. 1-2 fleas would be “normal” for any pet owner – especially during flea season – and finding a flea on any pet that goes outside doesn’t mean you’ve got a new situation that needs treatment.
But if you “all of sudden” noticed 2-3 fleas in one week, I’d consider doing something. Surges are usually a sign something is developing inside the home. Since you’re pets seem to be protected, its not likely they’re dropping healthy flea larvae or eggs. That means if something was to develop in the home, it would have to be happening in an area you’ve not treated. And several flea traps set throughout the home will no doubt help to alert you should a new problem start to develop and based on what flea traps capture the fleas, you should be able to isolate the area needing treatments.
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
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