Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before I put any ideas in your head.

In article , echinosum.a2b1796
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.

definitely fleas. The back legs are definitive.


Janet.

"echinosum" wrote in message
...

Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.




Fleas.


--
echinosum

In article ,
echinosum wrote:

Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.




--
echinosum

"echinosum" wrote in message
...

Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.




--
echinosum

I know you said you didn't think they were fleas but they certainly look
like it to me!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

In article , says...

In article ,
echinosum wrote:

Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.




--
echinosum

Nick's reply hopped off?

Janet

Fleas. You are very lucky.

I once moved into a flat which had fleas. Each night I walked round all the rooms with bare legs and a glass of soapy water. As each flea leapt on to my legs, I picked it off and dropped it in the water. First night there were about 70, fewer on each succeeding night. It only took about a week. I can't remember if I supplemented it by flea powder in likely places. It probably would have been the sensible thing to do.

I was surprised when I got this close-up photo of fleas, because I had felt quite strongly, seeing one alive walking around on me, it wasn't a flea. But I've never actually knowingly seen live fleas before. I've twice caught fleas while travelling, but I never actually saw them, and those ones, both caught off cats at guesthouses, gave me much nastier bites than the present ones. It just shows how important it is with insects, and indeed birds and other animals, to see them in flesh, going about their business, because it is very difficult for photos in books to communicate the look of that.

We don't have a dog or a cat. I think we do have mice at the moment, as I'm catching them at the rate of about once a month when I put out a trap wherever I see some droppings. Though, actually, it occurs to me as I write this, given that I am regularly seeing droppings on an exterior windowsill, near a couple of gaps in the roof tiles, I wonder if we also have bats...

On 17/05/2012 20:18, echinosum wrote:
Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.

Get a can of Johnsons House Flea Spray Extra Guard. This will deal with
the fleas and anything which hatches from their eggs. We don't have any
pets, but brought some of the unwanted guests back with us after we
stayed with some friends who keep cats. It took several weeks to
eradicate the pests!

--

Jeff

In article , kay.a2b6bf6
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

echinosum;958960 Wrote:
Managed to do a bit better with the photography.
'Bugs found in our bed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!'
(http://tinyurl.com/7qghped)

Actually I think I know now, but I'd like to know what you think before
I put any ideas in your head.

Fleas. You are very lucky.

Much easier to eradicate than bedbugs

I once moved into a flat which had fleas. Each night I walked round all
the rooms with bare legs and a glass of soapy water. As each flea leapt
on to my legs, I picked it off and dropped it in the water. First night
there were about 70, fewer on each succeeding night.

Friends of ours returned home (with cats) after a three week absence in
warm weather. R said that within minutes her white trousers were black to
the knees with very hungry fleas :-)

It only took about
a week. I can't remember if I supplemented it by flea powder in likely
places. It probably would have been the sensible thing to do.

I'd recommend overnight flea-powdering all carpets plus the tops and
underneaths of loose rugs; but treating pets with the liquid drop
available from vets. ( I avoid the over the counter one sold in smkts)

Janet.

Jeff Layman wrote:
Get a can of Johnsons House Flea Spray Extra Guard. This will deal with
the fleas and anything which hatches from their eggs. We don't have any
pets, but brought some of the unwanted guests back with us after we
stayed with some friends who keep cats. It took several weeks to
eradicate the pests!

I thought cat fleas couldn't live on human blood for a significant length
of time?

On 18/05/2012 10:28, wrote:
Jeff wrote:
Get a can of Johnsons House Flea Spray Extra Guard. This will deal with
the fleas and anything which hatches from their eggs. We don't have any
pets, but brought some of the unwanted guests back with us after we
stayed with some friends who keep cats. It took several weeks to
eradicate the pests!

I thought cat fleas couldn't live on human blood for a significant length
of time?

From Wikipedia:
"Humans can be bitten, though a long-term population of cat fleas cannot
be sustained and infest people. However, if the female flea is allowed
to feed for twelve consecutive hours on a human, it can lay viable eggs".

It's the "viable eggs" bit which is the problem! The spray I mentioned
- apart from having pyrethrins to deal with the adults - has an agent
which interferes with the development of larvae into pupae, thus
blocking the life cycle.

--

Jeff

Presumably you mean relatively very lucky that it isn't bedbugs, which are far harder to get rid of.

wrote in message
...
Jeff Layman wrote:
Get a can of Johnsons House Flea Spray Extra Guard. This will deal with
the fleas and anything which hatches from their eggs. We don't have any
pets, but brought some of the unwanted guests back with us after we
stayed with some friends who keep cats. It took several weeks to
eradicate the pests!

I thought cat fleas couldn't live on human blood for a significant length
of time?


They can't, but they don't know that, and have a jolly good try before they
snuff it.

--
Kathy

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On 18 May 2012 09:28:47 GMT, wrote:

Jeff Layman wrote:
Get a can of Johnsons House Flea Spray Extra Guard. This will deal with
the fleas and anything which hatches from their eggs. We don't have any
pets, but brought some of the unwanted guests back with us after we
stayed with some friends who keep cats. It took several weeks to
eradicate the pests!

I thought cat fleas couldn't live on human blood for a significant length
of time?

At least long enough to bite :-)

Our 21 year old cat died last week. :-((((


Sorry to hear that, I know how they can get under your skin and into your
heart.

--
Kathy