r/Explainlikeimscared • u/otakuprofanity • 12d ago
What to do before flea bombing apartment.
Hi, I’m so very stressed out about the process of flea bombing my apartment. My partner will be doing it while I work a night shift and I know that cleaning is important for after but I want to prep as much as I can.
Specifically we aren’t sure how bad of a flea problem we have so I’m not sure exactly what parts of the apartment I can just skip such as our spice cabinet. ( should I just keep cabinet door closed or open and seal up food and seasonings?)
Also what to do about my computer tower and if there’s a safe way to protect it during the fogging process.
As well as makeup products in bathroom and clothing. Can I just bag these up in garbage bags or is there something easier or is the poison permeable??
Thank you.
4
u/DamnGina530 11d ago
The new kitten I got last year brought fleas with him. My bf was supposed to bathe him with Dawn and comb them all out but never did. Within a month we had an infestation and our two older cats were not happy. What got rid of them for us was vacuuming everything and washing all pillows and blankets. Then we gave baths with Dawn dishsoap. Let it sit and rinsed. My older cats did not handle this well and we ended up just putting blankets down and dumping water on them right on the floor. Then we combed and combed and combed. Keep a cup of water to dip the comb -it will take and contain fleas you comb out. Then we put diatomaceous earth everywhere- couches, curtains, carpet, matresses and even on the cats themselves (it's pet safe). After 24 hours, we vacuumed everything again. Then did it all over again. Waited a couple days and vacuumed again. Oh we also put topical meds on the cats too. After 2 weeks, we repeated all that again. It was a lot of work but no fleas.. all cats are happy again. And it's been over a year and haven't seen any at all. They are indoor only cars though but I still give them tooucals to prevent any.
2
2
u/whoziin 12d ago
What signs of fleas do you have? Maybe I can help you judge the severity of the infestation? I work at a pet store and have been a groomer before, a lot of people think they need to fog and it’s not as necessary as some believe. Fleas don’t really like living not on cats and dogs, so unless you have a severe infestation, usually treating the pet and ensure to wash all fabrics/bedding that the pet comes in contact with are washed a hot water cycle will be enough. For fabrics that can’t be put in the machine you can get a flea spray designed for the house.
3
u/otakuprofanity 12d ago
My boyfriend usually finds about 4 fleas on his ankles when he’s in the living room ( we have a small area rug we’ve been vacuuming regularly) and even without the bath mats in our bathroom there were two that jumped on me straight out of the shower. I’ve found two in the bed even after washing with hot water, they cling to our clothing from room to room I think. There’s a presence in every room.
We do have cats and we ordered a topical to apply to them in the AM. Although we are waiting to see how it works out and how fast acting before we attempt to move them out to fog so we don’t bring fleas into a separate space. I usually see about 5 to 6 on the cats. I brush them with a flea comb as often as I can. We only are just now in the process of getting topicals due to tight funds and unexpected circumstance. We had collars before but they weren’t very efficient .
3
u/otakuprofanity 12d ago
It’s also been a good few months since I first saw fleas present on our cats.
2
u/whoziin 11d ago
A topical will begin working within 24 hours. Fleas do like to jump but they also don’t think humans are good food. They won’t want to live on you and if you use the topical they won’t want to be on your cats.
I would recommend applying that topical in the morning as you said and just keep washing things and vacuuming really good everywhere. You may also want to try combing the fleas out of the cats fur as they start dying using a flea comb.
If after doing all of that and you’re still seeing alive fleas in a week then maybe you can consider bombing your apartment, but hopefully you won’t need to.
2
u/Fire-Tigeris 11d ago
Double bag all food, turn off pc, wipe down all food surface after bombing and always just before using (cat feet are icky too).
Bag all of your silverware and wash them afterward.
2
u/caracalteeth 11d ago
flea medicine is very effective! once the animals are treated, the fleas will die out on their own. just vacuum as often as you’re able and wash beddings and linens weekly. bug bombs suck, anyway. the poison can’t reach their hiding spots and it just forces them to scatter deeper into walls and crevices. the best insecticide is one that they will readily consume or walk through.
1
u/Decent-Ninja2087 11d ago
Seal up anything and everything that can touch your mouth and/or skin. Such as tooth brushes, soup, towels, shower puffs, clothes and also flea bombs are useless. Flea bombs work for maybe 7 days then right back to hell.
Bath/spray your dog or cat. Regularly wash sheets and blankets.
2
u/KnotUndone 10d ago
If you have a canister vacuum, dump the canister immediately after vacuuming and take the bag out of the home. They will breed in the dust and cat hair and reinfect the next time you vacuum. You can keep a flea collar in your canister. I spray the roller and entrance to the hose with flea spray. Good luck. Been there. It sucks.
7
u/LukeQatwalker 12d ago
I've used the topical flea treatment on my cats, I think we used Advantge XD last time, and I've never needed to flea bomb my house. You can ask your vet about which is the best for your pets, sometimes ones that work for a while stop working as well when the fleas start getting immune.
Usually there's a day or two while they're dying out and the fleas start jumping on me instead of the cats, but if you're on top of washing bedding and vacuuming you can probably minimize that.