QUESTION:

We have a 6 unit apartment that has a flea infestation. The source seems to be a dirt floor in the basement where the tenants use the washer and dryers kept there, so they are carrying the fleas into their apartments. What method of treatment and/or product would you recommend for this? Thanks for your help.

ANSWER:

You would think that flea control would be a cut and dry process. Bathe the dog, vacuum and spray the home. But, some of the worst flea problems I have seen were in homes or apartments where there were no pets, and in at least two of these the source was traced to the soil in the crawlspace below where some wild animals (raccoons maybe? feral cats?) must have taken up residence at some point in time and for some length of time to have seeded it with so many eggs. A third one was traced to landscaped areas outside the apartment where feral cats were living under thick shrubbery.

So, hopefully my little introduction gave us some hints about where to begin, and that is with determining the source of the problem and eliminating it, meaning eliminating the presence of the animals that have brought these fleas in the first place. Actually, I suppose the program should begin with ensuring they actually have fleas, as the tenants may have made this decision based on one or some of them feeling they were being "bitten". I never pays to take the word of the customer as to what pest they have or where it is occurring, and if YOU yourself have not yet inspected this complex, visually seen the fleas, and determined that the basement is the source, then you should take this step.

Once you know for certain that the basement is the epicenter then you need to determine what warm blooded animal(s) are coming in there and bringing in the flea eggs that began this problem. And, if nothing is done to prevent these animals from continuing to inhabit this area then anything you do today will not stop the problem from continuing to occur in the future. Exclusion must be performed to ensure no more animals can get into the basement, and of course you must decide what animals these are. Do the tenants themselves have cats or dogs that go there, in which case these animals need to be treated for fleas and preferably kept out of the basement in the future. Is it feral cats that need to be dealt with in the proper manner, or wildlife like opossum or raccoons that might be trapped and dealt with accordingly. But, somehow something is entering, and this should be stopped by closing off all possible entry points. If the tenants or the manager are unwilling to cooperate in this then your hands are tied and they need to understand the future implications.

If you are certain the real source of the fleas is the basement and not one of the apartments then all you need to do in the apartments would be to apply a contact product like pyrethrum to kill any adult fleas present. Without pets there should be no egg production and no blood-fecal pellets for the larvae to eat. However, it would be prudent to make certain this is the case, as one or more of the tenants could very well have pets that are infested with fleas, and these apartments could be the actual production. I sure must sound suspicious, but I have no problem believing that a tenant wants to pass the blame onto something else when he might really know his pet is a flea factory. Again, don't take their word for all of this but insist that you be allowed to inspect the units and place glue traps there to monitor for the presence of fleas. There could be some surprises.

But, back again to the IF the source is the basement then you could treat this with the usual lineup - an IGR to affect existing eggs and larvae, a residual insecticide to kill adult fleas now and in the next week or two, and perhaps a pyrethrum added in to give the quick knockdown of adult fleas. There are so darned many products labeled for fleas that I hate to start naming names, but you can view the entire and very long list on PestWeb in the Product Documents resource - go to the tab Products by Target Pest. If you treat the soil areas still ensure no one goes back in until the soil and surfaces are dry. If this is a big issue with the tenants you might go with one of the aerosol products like Precor 2000 or Ultracide. These contain both residual and IGR, and Ultracide also tosses in pyrethrin while Precor has synergized phenothrin, so with either you get knockdown, residual, and IGR as well as almost instant drying.

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