electronics VS fleas

[wip3outguy7]

So my wife and I are dealing with a mild flea infestation. We do not have pets and we are clean people... However, we do live in an apartment complex and nearly everyone around us DOES have a pet. I assume it's coming from someone who doesn't know how to clean their shit.

With that out of the way...

We have been vacuuming and treating the carpet on a daily basis and it is slowly working. However, when I open up one of my many plastic bins in the gaming corner to get a controller, I am usually attacked by a few of the little fuckers. I have the sinking feeling they have gotten into the bins and are nesting in the controllers.

So what should I do? I can't exactly bug bomb the control bins. At least, not without damaging or destroying them. Throwing them away is out of the question as some of them are very difficult to find these days and replacing the entire set would be impossible.

I have a few ideas:

-toss in a few bags of humidity absorbers and hope it dehydrates the fleas to death (hey, it works with carpet)

-grab an empty bin and move the controllers from one to another, shaking the hell out of them and wiping them down with a good cleaning solution, then cleaning the bin.

-setting the bins somewhere, controllers included, for about a month and starving the fleas out. This of course means no gaming for a month. *sigh*

Suggestions? Has anyone dealt with this before? It's really pissing me off.

[yomomma1]

Liquid Nitrogen. However something that wouldn't destroy electronics would be to simply seal everything in a bag, inside of a box inside of a box with plastic wrap all over it until the fleas are gone.

[avrame]

I'd say give this a try:

http://www.petco.com/product/5425/Zodia ... -Cats.aspx

It is meant to kill fleas on pets and carpets. There is a wide variety of flea sprays available at Petco, and many kill on contact, others kill on digestion. It will kill the adult fleas, and their offspring without resorting to 'soaking' the electronics in question.

[heelsinc]

so none of your suggestions would actually work. Just cause you have fleas doesn't mean you are dirty so you don't have to explain that you are clean nor does it mean the people living by you are dirty, yes fleas are gross but that doesn't mean the people dealing with them have to be. A quick trip around the internet and you will find that flea eggs are sealed shut and heat, water, cold and dehydration will not work on them. It may kill the living fleas but it will not get rid of the eggs which once hatched with lead to another infestation. Shaking them will not work at all and will likely allow the fleas to jump out of the bins and move back to the rest of your house. Also fleas are very hard to starve out and can live for up to a year with out feeding. So unless you are prepared to go no gaming for that long that is a bad idea. I once moved into an apartment that was empty for 6 months and my rabbit had fleas that next day. I would suggest opening up the bins putting them in a room and bombing it should not ruin the electronics and will be the fastest way to get rid of them with out directly spraying the controllers which is likely to get more moisture on them then the bomb would. In order to rid your place of fleas you must bomb and then vacuum every single day. The more carpet you have the harder it will be to get rid of them.

[PhilExile]

Uh ya, fleas SUCK. We just got a dog in November and I went to a hippy vet who said not to use Frontline until we needed it. Bad advice. Now we've been fighting the little bastards all summer.

I doubt they are in the controllers. They don't nest that way as far as I know. If you're worried about your bins, buy a few flea collars and put 2 in each bin. Any that are in there will buy the farm, unless they are in pupae stage in which case they are invincible until they hatch.

My advice:

- Steam clean any carpets you have
- Clean and vacuum everything
- Bomb the apartment with a fumigator, not a aerosol fogger (Raid works good)
- Vacuum 2x a week
- Spray ever corner and vent with insecticide
- Get a good dehumidifier - Fleas need the humidity to be between 70 and 90. Knock that down to 40 and they crack apart and die.
- Get a powder called "Fleabusters" and put it everywhere
- Vacuum some more
- Be thankful its not bed bugs

This summer has been perfect for them on the east coast - hot and humid almost consistently.

[heelsinc]

worst part about fleas aside from the fact that you have gross bugs in your house is the amount of money you have to spend to get rid of them. We have spent about 200 recently trying to get them off our cats and out of our house. Luckily they have not made there way into the room that the rabbits and ferrets are in.

[PhilExile]

worst part about fleas aside from the fact that you have gross bugs in your house is the amount of money you have to spend to get rid of them.

Ha!

[heelsinc]

kind of reminds me of a kid. They sit there and feed off you and only go way when you spend money!

[durkada]

Tips:

Borax, Borax, Borax. Sprinkle Borax everywhere. It's a detergent used for clothes and dishes. It kills fleas, and more importantly, kills their eggs. Let it sit in for a day or two, then vacuum.

In regards to areas that just suck, fleas are addicted to light. If you can darken the area and shine a spotlight on a large dish of water with a touch of detergent on the top, they will be attracted to it and drown in the water. The detergent destroys the surface tension.

Those, at any rate, are the only two things I did to combat fleas when we had an infestation. I only suggest the water and light so they are inclined to leave their hidey spots. But Borax made my house safe in less time than I ever thought possible.

[EllertMichael]

reading this is making me itchy.
that really sucks. Good Luck.