Sand Fleas from Florida to New Hampshire

[fleasmustflee]

I recently read about someone having sand fleas in her hair. I went to Florida and came home with eggs in my clothes. The eggs hatched, I got bit in the beginning. Later I saw eggs in my bed, under pillow or under me. One day my eyelids seemed rough and dried out. Thought it was strange. maybe dry skin I thought. I felt a small lump embedded in my eyelid and had to dig it out. It was a flea egg.  I thought it laid eggs on top of my eye lid but after doing research found they lay eggs under skin. Since then they have laid eggs in my neck, scalp and possibly back and forearms.  I read rubbing alcohol kills the eggs and tried it and about 100 specks that looked like salt and pepper came out in sink when I brushed hair. Dead...however the problem continues. I had my house exterminated. I had the bugs sent to Path Lab and they came back as a flea but did not state what type.  I have to keep using the alcohol or I wake up with fleas on my body and sometimes biting (usually legs).  Its a nightmare. Have to wash sheets and comforters daily. It always seems like a flea makes it in my clothes and bites me no matter what I do.  I have sprayed alcohol on my body and hope to kill it or flea spray for carpets or flea shampoo for cats. In just 4 weeks I have lost 10 pounds from stress and my doctor doesnt know what to do. I have tried the medicine for Scabies and dont think it did much.  Has there been anything new in treating this strange problem?  I never thought I flea could or would do this. These fleas also lay eggs on furniture when I fog the house.  They lay eggs anywhere. Its really gross. Please help rid me of these fleas...You can see mine.  I also used borox and salt on my mattress cover under my sheets and in the morning there are dead fleas there too. They like the smell of borax from what I have read and the salt dehydrates them while the borax will eventually kill them.  I need something mainly for my scalp. That is where they are the worse...Please help before I have a nervous breakdown....Thanks...I even tried drinking vodka so alcohol would be in my bloodstream.  They didnt bite me much that night. lol....but I dont really drink and had to force myself....I have tried almost every home remedy I have seen and still have them.  Would an infectious disease doctor be able to help?

[hopeama]

Hi,
I hope your problem is gone by now..
If not, here are some tips (These are extreme masseurs):
- get rid of all your carpets "fast".
- apply Gasoline to your arms and legs before going to sleep.
- use Pif Paf as a "perfume" for your clothes, bed covers, furniture and your body.
- use Pid Paf on your hair daily and wash your hair after an hour.
assure you, after a week you won't see a flee, but also you may have a major hair loss ;)

[dorothy2345]

You are clearly insane, nobody puts Gasoline on themselves. I hope nobody listens to this advice! Gasoline is highly toxic!

[dwilder]

Please don't put gas on your skin I would try Diatomaceous earth first it safe for people but bugs its sharp powder will cut up bugs and they die. we use it on our dogs,chicken coup, on our carpet you don't want to breath it but you can put it in the bed .

[kermitt]

Hello fleasmustflee,
It's been a little over a year since you wrote this post about sand fleas. I'm wondering whether or not this problem ended for you and how it did. My partner and I are having a very similar experience. A trip to the Florida Keys over Christmas imported a mystery bug population to our home in Vermont. For about a week we tried to freeze them and fog them out. As soon as it was clear that wouldn't work we called a professional. The exterminator sprayed our house 6 times from February until May 2010. Primarily he sprayed Ultracide (which has an IGR to keep fleas from reproducing) and Suspend (which attacks the eggs apparently). After four sprays the population declined radically and my partner no longer experiences bites and the head crawlies. But I still do. I still get attacked if I go into our house and to a lesser degree I am plagued by them constantly outside of the house. We couldn't get rid of the carpetting because it is a rental but I'm pretty confident this would be much easier to control in a carpet-free environment.

I finally moved completely out of the house two weeks ago. For the last week I have been doing a GP prescribed permethrin treatment which tones them down but doesn't appear to kill them off. My next move is a prescribed sulfur solution. Diatomaceous earth has caused painful skin swelling when I have accidentally gotten some of the garden version on me. Maybe there is a dermatologically safe version.

A sample has gone to our state entomologist and I'm looking forward to hearing the results. Will update post accordingly.

Would love to here where you are at with this whole thing now. Thanks

[kermitt]

The test came back "sand fleas." I have been using food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) with more success than anything else I've tried. I've been dusting it on my body with a large fluffy cosmetic brush and sprinkling it evenly in my surrounding environment. Contrary to popular belief the food grade DE (tan in color) is not dangerous to the lungs unless you have bad lungs. The people who mine the stuff warn that it's only the eyes we need to be cautious about.

It's been about a month of using it and I've felt the largest improvement so far. I occasionally bathe in a bit of Apple Cider Vinegar as well. They don't like the acid and I sleep better if I use it. Our place has wood floors now and our stuff is stored off-site. Many treatments of Ultracide have stopped reproduction but these buggers hold on to me. Hopefully the stuff in storage will be cleansed by a New England winter and hopefully Ultracide and DE can close the rest of the gap.

Any poison that is safe enough for the skin hasn't killed these awful things. They are completely resistant to that stuff. We'll see.

[kermitt]

Another chapter in our fight against sand fleas from the Florida Keys. It turns out our local VT pest control guy and the state entomologist weren't communicating properly. Our sample DID in fact come back sand flea. The pest control guy was spraying Ultracide and later Suspend. Suspend really helped but didn't totally curb the problem. I spoke to the state enotomologist who has been helping coordinate our treatment. He told me he was never informed by my pest control guy that these "fleas" were from the beach in FL. I had been told before that they weren't really fleas but the state entomologist said they are completely 100% NOT fleas. Regardless of their flea-like behavior they are crustaceans and require a whole different pesticide regime. If your home is been generically treated for "fleas" the IGR isn't enough to stop the bugs completely. Your home needs to be treated with something called TalStar Bifenthrin. Suspend SC has also been used successfully in conjunction with the Bifenthrin. You can even buy the chemical and a sprayer and do it yourself. Keeping our fingers crossed.

[muse4you2]

I am trying the hot pepper treatment. I had to go way down on the list but it looks like it has the best success story. I just chugged a beer with a bunch of crushed red pepper and hot sauce and I am feeling relieved all ready. The best I have been in weeks. these micro bugs like sweat so it only makes sense that if they die from hot sauce just do it daily and no worries the carpet and everything can stay cause you are cutting off their food source. You.

[FleaHelpPlease]

having the same problem and I'm about ready to just die because people year me like I'm crazy since I live in PA and they've never heard of such a thing. When I take samples, the doctors smash then in their fingers. I can't get any help because of pure ignorance to tropical diseases here. It's gotten so bad the fleas scratched my eyes so badly I was in the hospital for 4 days, yet they tried saying I did it to myself, what a joke.... I would never.... I'm only 35yrs old and want to have children, but not like this.... I can't live like this and I can't get anyone to help me either! Any thoughts? Please call me 724-312-5234__jodi

[Philsgrl]

I wanted to share this with you. My brother told me that he believed he had sand fleas living under his skin. No doctors would help him. He tried everything including Nair, to get rid of these creatures. His was sever ad lasted a few years.Today he called to tell me that he finally found the answer and is rid of them! He remembered reading that the sand fleas are crustaceans. He began searching to find what  is toxic to crustaceans and discovered that copper kills them. He went to a local health food store and purchased chelated copper. After taking the copper, he is finally rid of them. They died from the copper in his system and he is finally free of the fleas! He wanted me to share this on this forum because I had sent it to him when he was suffering. He was hoping it would help others who have been suffering without answers. I hope this is helpful to you and any others suffering with the flea infestation.

[Allwest2003]

Thank you ♥️ ♥️ ♥️ ♥️ ♥️ ♥️ you just saved my life!!!!

[26_sally]

You may want to try Kleen green natural enzymes it will help rid you of fleas it can be used to wash your clothes and cleanse your body even spray into your hair.
Brilliant stuff and does what it says on the bottle.