Well here's the deal. 3 years ago I asked my girlfriend to move into my 5000 sq. ft. home which has 3 floors and a moderate size recording studio on the first floor. The studio's live room is 20x30 with 10 foot ceilings and has 2 iso booths off of that that are 10x10 with a moderate size control room that is 14x18 with 8ft. ceilings.

Now, we live on the 2nd and 3rd floors and it was clear soon after she moved in that she was going to add the womens touch to the house. She did it slowly and smartly and I have come to love the upgrades to the decore and to love her as well. We are getting married in August '06. Then it happened. She asked if we could get a cat. I said yes and the next thing you know we are proud parents of not 1, but 2 amazing kitty's. we have come to love them and after watching them grow from 9 weeks to 3 years old I can definitely say they are part of the family.

Here's the moan!

Fleas!!!
I was opening up the screened porch for the season off the control room which is used as a green room for bands with Sat. TV and a fully stocked bar and a Full size Golden Tee 2k Arcade game when I felt the first little bite on my foot. I figured it was a mosquitto (SP) ,which in NH is very common, so I thought nothing of it. So we spent a wonderful memorial day weekend on the porch with the cats and on Monday night I felt something on my leg. Half in the bag, I looked down and saw 5 tiny black FLEAS on my anckle.

OK. Sorry for the long intro but It is very important to me that they don't get itnto my beautiful studio. So yesterday I was playing my piano in the live room and bang! I got bit on the leg by another FLEA.

So... How do I get the fleas out of the studio and the house both? Can I bomb all the rooms? Do I cover the rack and board? Put the mics in their cases? (I would think so). But with such a huge house and cats that go everywhere I'm not sure where to start. Cats are no longer ever allowed in the studio. (They never were really but they sneak in sometimes). If I bomb the first floor will they travel up to the 2nd or vice versa. How do I make sure that everything is covered if thats what I need to do?

I started the cats on the topical flea stuff (ADVANTAGE I think) but need to stop the spread before I have a client complain and /or leave with a bite on their ass.

Any help at all would be more info that I have.

THANK YOU MUCH!!

Chris

If it is about cat flee then removing is relatively easy, because they do not like humans blood too much. You would then get yourself those anti-flee collars for the cats and the flee would either be poisoned or starve within a short time.

However, it sounds like it could be about dog flee. Those can adapt long term to cats as well as to humans. With these you would be into some trouble I suppose. Room treatment would very likely be in order with them too, but I´m not well informed about adequate measures.

Sorry that I can´t be of greater help, but some here will certainly know more.

Hope you get rid of them soon.

Ruphus

dude when it comes to fleas! its smart to stick one of those bombs in every room-one in the hall way shut all the windows (duhh!!!) and if possible shut all the doors to each room-so you basicly smoke the whole ****in' house out-

get your mics outta there-and any gear you love smoke from cigs kill gear enough-and i'm sure those bombs aren't electronicly friendly-so why risk it you know?

my girlfriend just begged to get a 'kitty'
i gave in....and every night since then my feet have become victim to this 2lb kitty in the middle of the night-

Yea I thought I would have to do that. But to dismantle the entire control room is I think out of the question. Is there a way to cover in any way so I don't have to go to the extreme of unplugging all the gear?

Thanks ruphus. I did have my neighbors dog on the porch earlier in the season and I think that's maybe where they came from.

Sh*t!! Dog fleas.

Chris

You could always put painters plastic over the gear.

Sierously, get them out as soon as you can. They breed like rabbits, and once they get a stronghold on your house they will never leave.

There's nothing I hate more than fleas. My moms house in FL has a ton of them as she has a lot of dirt around her house and likes to take in animals.

ugghh..

Call an exterminator.

nothing makes you feel like a loser more than having fleas in your house.
can't imagine it would make a favorable impression on clients either.

bomb the whole house. a can for every room or get a pro.
covering your gear in plastic should be OK, but don't cover any rugs
toss all your food that is not sealed in a can or the fridge.
have somewhere else to be for the entire day.

use Frontline instead of Advantage,
don't pet the cats for 2 days after applying it.
keep some flea powder around to sprinkle on the door mat and where the cats sleep

Put your mics and pop stoppers in Ziplock bags.

Put visquene sheeting or painter's plastic drops (you can even cut apart garbage bags) and tape them down over your gear, electronics, and speakers.

BOMB AWAY!!!!

a note i keep the fleas down by putting poisson granules in my yard were my dogs are allowed to run.
this has been a big help for keeping them under control.

Right On!!

djui5,

I will start covering everything in painters plastic.

I really have felt like a loser since the ARRIVAL of the fleas. Alright I will Bomb this weekend. A can for every room eh? Even Iso's or can I leave the live room open to the Iso's? Oh-- what about clean up after the fallout? Toxicity (SP)? What should I do after the bombing?? What about my room treatments? They're covered in felt.

Thanks guys,
I'm feeling slightly better about this now.

Joeq,

I read the package and I did use "Frontline Top Spot for cats".
Thanks!

Pan60,

Where would I look for these granules? Hardware store??

Chris

i get it here at a lows hardware store but i have seen it at wall-marts.
their are several brands but i usually get the cheapest.

Bombs? That sh*t's poison. It'll get on your stuff, & then into you. Do you really want to do that to yourself? For the sake of some animal with a brain the size of an almond, that only sticks around because you feed & scratch it (and now you know why they like to be scratched)?

I say get rid of the source and the fleas will leave too.

And your clients will thank you, your house & studio will smell better, and your vocalists will sing better. Cat allergies are very common, a lot of folks just ignore the congestion or don't make the connection to what's causing it, but it's not good for performance.

Nonesense.

First of all anyone who aquires any pet to shove it around as pleases shouldn´t have ever gotten one in the first place.

Secondly, if these are cat flee they will be removed by the collars, if they are dog flee "getting rid" of the cats will do nothing to the case.

I certainly hope that you don´t have to do with animals.

Ruphus

if you take on a pet you take on a great responsibility, the animal should be treated as though it was a member of your family.
if you are not willing to do so you do not get a pet.

my daughter giving sam her weekly bath!

Read the can.

I think you should call an exterminator after that. Explain that you bombed, but would like some preventive maintaince for the next 6 months just in case.

my dog got them a few years ago, apart from ravaging him (poor thing!) we had to have two full pest-controller sprays of the house to get rid of them. All the off the shelf solutions were USELESS! ALL of them!!!

....nasty nasty business...He was on topical treatments too... The eggs can survive those sprays too and hatch out a surprisingly long time afterwards... Hoovering just wakes them up it doesnt get rid of the eggs. its a serious problem!! Especially if you´re allergic to their bites like me.... I had about 150 bites at the worst point, all with serious allergic reactions.. ARRRGHHH I had to move out until it was sorted!!! good luck!

I got hold of a concentrate liquid that you mix with water and spray with a pump up garden sprayer onto your carpets and furnishings. It's MUCH more friendly than the bombs, and it seems to work well, plus you can direct the stuff where you want it and keep it away from the gear. It also kills the eggs, which is important in keeping them out.

Tim.

actually, although fleas prefer a dog or a cat to a human, if there are no dogs or cats, humans will do. fleas are constantly hopping on and off your pets like bus passengers with a book full of transfers.

I had a dog who was hit by a car. "Suddenly" my house was full of fleas. They were there all along, but never bit me until there was no dog. Just typing about it makes me itchy.

yes poison is bad.

fleas are worse.

dust your lawn with sevendust

not the band heh


avantix works very well

Dude I just read your post and didn't get past the first paragraph. I'm still drooling heh heh heh

Could be hoovering to even prolong the problem.
I had moths in the last house before I moved. Then, in the new house the pest occured again.
It took me a long time to find out that eggs / larvas had been sucked into the vac cleaner where the guys had greatly prospered making it a continous source of moths.

You might possibly be spraying your carpets and contaminate yourself and everybody while the critters are partying inside your vacuum cleaner like in a bunker.

Ruphus

Thank's to all. Great responses!

Tim,

Sounds like this might be a less messy solution. Any name brand that you can remember for the spray?

Toolskid,

I wonder If I should just call an exterminator and let them take care of it.

Ruphus,

Do I need collars if I already applied the Frontline stuff?

Chris

Yup. Gotta get the eggs, or they'll be back...

Hi Chris,

Better not.

The good thing about the collars is that they work quite reliably and also for to work against flee jumping on the pet in the days afterwards.

The disadvantage of means like sprays and powders that are being applied all over the pelt on the other hand is that you have a much higher incontamination, especially with cats as they do lick / clean their entire body several times a day as you know. ( Another reason for lesser primare efficiency as well.)

Now that the frontline stuff has been applied already I wouldn´t go for additional collars though, for chances are that it would make too much poison altogether. ( Could result in whatever consequential deseases and pain from allergies, asthma to cancer that might be breaking your heart and wallet in the future.)

If you don´t experience noticable relief inside the house within say the next 10 days or so then it´s certainly about dog flee, and you should consult a vermin exterminator. ( And it would probably mean that you had to treat the cats again too. )
I suppose there is no chemically `healthy´ way out of it to treat the house, but I´m sure that there occure better and worse ways, so hopefully it shall be a pro who cares for clients´ health and updates himself regularly on his job. ( I mean none of the ol´ fashioned "Naaah, it won´t hurt anyone"-types with craters all over their face skin. )

Ruphus

Thanks Ruphus,

I'm picking up the phone right now to call an exterminator and the cat groomer to see about a shave and a haircut for my friends. And maybe a bath!!

Chris

You´re wellcome, Chris!

Let us know how things will be going.

Best,

Ruphus

Well,

$300 for a one time Termimix trip good for 30 days.
$150 for cat groomers flea dip and hair cut.
$1400 for 2 days work lost in the studio.
No more fleas--Priceless.
They will arrive tomorrow.
They are spraying, not bombing by the way.

Thanks again everyone!
Breathing a sigh of relief,

Chris

Strange how this is one of the most informative threads in the history of Gearslutz. Good work everyone. May my new kitty Kebab reamain flea-free, though, as some of these stories have given me nightmares!

Just don't use Hartz flea control products!

http://www.hartzvictims.org/

Jesus!!

That is some bad Sh*t that Hartz.