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Newbie without pets (yet) but with fleas!

harte

Young Bun
Hello all,

I've been lurking these pages for a few days now (great advice). We are due to pick up 2 rabbits this weekend (accidental pregnancy - standard). I have previously kept house bunnies but not for quite some time. I imagine I will be hanging around here quite a lot :wave:

So, 2 weeks ago we had our boiler changed, men come in, place dust sheet down, change boiler, leave. We've been away at a wedding in a field. On Monday I noticed i had been bitten quite badly on my legs, put it down to the field and think nothing more. Tuesday my OH and daughter have both been bitten badly (my daughter wasn't at the wedding) so I start to get suspicious. Today I saw 2 of the things. Black and boy can they jump. So much I couldn't even hit it to kill it.

Start going into panic mode. Googling everything possible (big mistake - I thought I was losing my limbs at one stage). Decide the most likely cause is fleas, god knows how - there has never been an animal in this house. Then I remember they left the dust sheet behind the curtain (we were going to give it back to them), take a look and there are loads of little things on it. Some had wings though (possible midges?)

Run to the vets to get some Indorex and spend the next 4 hours moving every piece of furniture and spraying the whole place. I've just sat down and I have another 4 new bites so I'm assuming this hasn't worked? The vet assured me that I could still get the rabbits once I've treated the house but I'm worried about them contracting fleas on day one! I've hoovered and will hoover everyday. The bunnies will only be in the lounge for the first few weeks due to their size so that is the room I've sprayed a whole bottle on (it's an average size room). The other 2 rooms shared a bottle. The new bites are on my thighs and not my ankles so they could have been in my jeans?

Do you think I should try to put off picking up the bunnies until I'm 100% sure they have gone? (We will need a fumigator if this hasn't worked). Also, does anyone have any tips of how I can get rid of the horrid things. A lot of the bites are on my ankles/shins but I also have them on my thighs, back and a couple on my arms (I'm not 100% sure they are fleas but can't think what else they could possibly be).

Thank you and sorry for the length of this post!!

X
 
:( I'd put the bunnies off, more for the fear of the chemical impact of fumigation than the fleas themselves
 
Oh no, how annoying! Don't know if you've hoovered again since spraying, but you're not usually meant to hoover afterwards, as you'll pull most of the spray up into the hoover. Vacuuming beforehand is a good idea as you want to try and suck up as many of the eggs as possible - these tend to fall into corners and crevices. Indorex should kill the adult fleas, eggs and larvae so I guess it may take a little while before all the stages are killed, so it wouldn't surprise me if you still get bitten for a couple of days before the life cycle gets broken. Personally I would try and put off introducing the bunnies until you're confident that the problem is resolved, as flea infestations can make bunnies very poorly. Hopefully you've only been getting bitten as the final few adults die off, and there won't be any more eggs hatching out. Fingers crossed.
 
Thank you! I've not hoovered since spraying and I left each room after for a good couple of hours for the spray to settle before airing it.

I've not been bitten again since I've posted this so fingers crossed. I am fuming that I left the dust sheet there - its OH's friend and he was just going to give it back. It didn't once cross my mind that its probably been through thousands of houses before coming to ours...

Apparently Indorex is safe for animals but I'll tipple check with the vet tomorrow, all this drama and I don't have the bunnies yet!

thanks again x
 
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