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Old 2008-06-03, 21:53   Link #1
Yakult
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Fleas...

So I just returned from Six Flags Magic Mountain (California), and while typing an instant message to my friend... I felt a little tingling sensation. Usually, these are just weird sensations that appear for no reason, but I knew in the corner of my mind that this wasn't a normal ticklish feeling. I looked at my arm and noticed a black dot at the area where it was itching. I looked very closely and noticed an insect had it's mouth dug into my arm. At first, I thought it was a baby fly that was tickling me, so I called my sister and said, "Hey look! Hurry!" out of fascination. Then I grabbed a piece of tissue and removed it from my skin. I put pressure onto the insect and thought that it was dead, but it somehow "jumped" out of the tissue onto my bathroom floor. I was freaked out... I knew that this wasn't a normal insect. It had to be a flea or a tick. However, I don't think that it was a tick because it was half a millimeter in size.

My home has never had a flea problem, but I fear that the flea that I could have potentially brought from the amusement park may not be the only one. Is it highly likely that I would have brought more than one? If so, would it be a great danger? My mother is a cleaning freak and refuses to not leave any rooms uncleaned. Should I tell her to get our home "sprayed"?

In addition, should I go check if I obtained some horrible disease? I did squeeze the flea (or maybe tick...) until it "popped" and bled.

Currently I have drowned all the clothes that I have worn in hot water. However, I still fear that maybe my backpack may have some on it...
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Old 2008-06-03, 22:18   Link #2
Sokar
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Do you have a pet? Fleas prefer pets over humans. If you have a pet then use Advantage or some other insectide. The pet will act as a trap that will gather and kill all the fleas. Also definitely wash all your clothes and bedsheets. You won't get some crazy disease, well, not likely. I suppose there's always 0.001% chance that you will.
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Old 2008-06-03, 22:26   Link #3
Yakult
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sokar View Post
Do you have a pet? Fleas prefer pets over humans. If you have a pet then use Advantage or some other insectide. The pet will act as a trap that will gather and kill all the fleas. Also definitely wash all your clothes and bedsheets. You won't get some crazy disease, well, not likely. I suppose there's always 0.001% chance that you will.
We have pets but we fence them into one section of our home >_< Do you think that they might live in our carpet? Our home mainly has carpets instead of wooden floors.
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Old 2008-06-03, 22:37   Link #4
Sokar
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Nah, fleas need time and blood to breed, so I wouldn't worried about them setting up shop in the carpet. There's only going to be a few fleas and if you just wash your clothes, bedsheets, and shower a lot the fleas will die since they can't get any blood. It's different if you have pets, since the fleas can live off the blood of the pet and continously infect your house. I would get some drugs like Advantage for your pet just in case, it doesn't harm the pet at all and can only help. Wash your stuff now by the way, don't wait, if you go to sleep and the fleas gets to you it will be a horrible experience. Once I got 30 bites literally on my butt.
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Old 2008-06-03, 22:40   Link #5
Yakult
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Does it take a long time for them to collect enough blood to thrive? or does it only take one bite?
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Old 2008-06-03, 22:47   Link #6
Sokar
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All they need is one, but if you stay clean it shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: Since you happen to be pretty worried here's a good link, some of the measures are pretty drastic, with just a few fleas that you bring home I don't think it's needed. But if you are a clean freak then go crazy with it: http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/health/fleas.html

The easiest way is to just get Advantage for the pet imo. If the pet is in the house for a fair amount of time it shouldn't matter whether it sleeps outside or not. The pet will soak up the fleas and the fleas will get killed by the drug.
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Old 2008-06-04, 00:14   Link #7
Zero Shinohara
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I've had a flea problem in my home, many many years ago. It was a terrible experience trying to rid ourselves of them, and we had hardwood floors. They'd get into the crevaces in the floor, nest there and feed out of my dog when they were hungry. As far as I know, they can make large colonies in your carpet, and don't be foolish to think that just because your dogs are kept in a separate part of the house, that the fleas won't find them.

Do as Sokar suggested and get your pets on some kind of flea prevention treatment. If your mother is a cleaning freak, you guys should have been doing that for a while now. I've had a good first experience with K9 Advantix, which also protects against mosquitoes. It's, however, not for Cats, shouldn't be stored, kept or applied near cats. In fact, if you have a cat, don't even buy it. Go with Frontline and Advantage.
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Old 2008-06-04, 01:26   Link #8
WanderingKnight
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As far as I recall, you can't get a permanent infection of fleas like you can get with lice.

But I'm not a medical authority, so don't take it without a huge pinch of salt.
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Old 2008-06-06, 04:18   Link #9
mahou_sakura
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Originally Posted by WanderingKnight View Post
As far as I recall, you can't get a permanent infection of fleas like you can get with lice.

But I'm not a medical authority, so don't take it without a huge pinch of salt.
i agree on Wandering Knight said... its ture that this kind of infection is much less severe than lice infection... but flea infection is very rare condition actually....

you now what its kinda wierd actually the more your a neat freak most likely you'll get lice... (well based on what i read in medical books...)
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Old 2008-06-22, 14:55   Link #10
Miko Miko
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Fleas.

Yes mahou_sakura,, lice like clean hair..
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Old 2008-06-22, 15:00   Link #11
Amray
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I think that you should get your house disinfected. That seems most logical in my opinion. Or if your Mother does not approve then just secretly buy some flea spray and drown your house in it while she is out. Probably wouldn't work as well though but whats to lose? XD
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Old 2008-06-22, 20:16   Link #12
Tran225
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careful fleas or ticks or watnot are vectors so they might carry bacteria or virus lol
and then they will mass reproduce in your body and slowly devour you
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Old 2008-06-23, 00:06   Link #13
Spectacular_Insanity
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Yeah, fleas like clean hair (you wouldn't want your home all dirty would you? ).

If your head starts itching, you might want to also get that special kind of flea shampoo that you can get at the drug store, in addition to giving your pets anti flea medicine. And soaking your clothes may not be enough to kill the fleas. Fleas are fairly resilient insects and have to be killed with chemicals.
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Old 2008-06-23, 00:41   Link #14
Potatochobit
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you need to keep the animals on flea medication throughout the summer and all the fleas will die off.

you also need to use carpet flea powder and vacuum regularly in the areas where the pets like to lay down and rest.

the fleas will not live on you, but wash your blankets and sheets regularly.

one other thing u might want to do for fun, get a low light night light and put a small saucer of water on the floor under it. see if any jump in and drown when u wake up in the morning.

HOPEFULLY it is just a few fleas and not bed bugs. how you got fleas by going to six flags is kind of weird, unless youre into furries maybe u got a little too close to mickey mouse or what not. but they could have got on you from seats or upholstery.
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Old 2008-07-05, 10:14   Link #15
Jill Valentine
 
 
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you must be carefull go to the hospital and check your blood if you arent infected, some ppl die when the get bitten by a flea different kind and tell your mum to spray the whole house, and you must vaccinate your pets,hope you are ok
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Old 2008-07-05, 12:56   Link #16
Comrade
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If you never had flea experience before, don't worry. That means your house usually is clean enough so that they can't live for long and neither will the "guests" you brought from your vacation.
A few fleas are not a problem, sure they might bother you a bit for two or three days, but they will soon leave you alone. I know this because I had a dog once and from time to time he got a flea or two, when we forgot to wash him. And even then, fleas "attacked" us very rarely.
So it's nothing to be worried about too much. Just wash your clothes, clean your room and they will soon "leave".
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Old 2008-07-05, 13:32   Link #17
Coe
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Originally Posted by Sokar View Post
All they need is one, but if you stay clean it shouldn't be a problem.
I read somewhere fleas thrive in clean areas rather than dirty.
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Old 2008-07-11, 06:30   Link #18
SweetHoney
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Awhile ago I had a flea & tick probaly in my sisters old room (which become a spare once she moved out)

Bascially it was due to having our animals inside or sometimes cuddling them they jump on and off the head. I'd say to use a proper spray to clean out the house and probaly start your dogs/cats on an anti-flea treatment. I dunno if other countires have it but you could try the following. Flea collers, Frontline (put on dog/cats neck) or give them a tablet called capstar or any flea treatment. Also a nice good flea bath would also help the dogs/cats out if they could still have fleas and bring them in again.

Just remember though there is no excat cure to make fleas go away unfortunately. But the chances of fleas coming in and actually jumping on you again should be less likely afterwards.

Hope this helps you out
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