Flea treatment for Auckland homes, aimed at the carpet not the cat

One or two rooms is $160 to $220. A standard house with full floor coverage runs $250 to $360. Adding subfloor treatment, which is needed when a cat has been living under the building, takes it to $330 to $470. Rental turnover treatments with a written record are $240 to $340.

This is expected and it is the pupal stage. The cocoon shields the flea from insecticide, so pupae present on the day survive treatment and hatch afterwards over the following one to three weeks. They emerge onto treated surfaces and die there, which is exactly the intended outcome. Keep vacuuming daily, because that is what brings them out. If you are still getting bitten after three weeks, call us.

A contact spray will knock down any adult flea it touches, quickly, but nothing ends an infestation instantly, because the eggs, larvae and cocoons in the floor are untouched by it and keep producing new adults for weeks. The quickest real result comes from doing everything on one day: vet, vacuum, hot wash, a treatment with a growth regulator, then daily vacuuming.

Two common reasons. A previous occupant's animal left eggs and pupae behind, and your arrival provided the vibration and carbon dioxide that triggered emergence. Or a neighbourhood cat or rodents are using the subfloor. We check subfloor access as part of the inspection when there is no resident animal.

Yes, in the same week, with a product your vet recommends. We treat the building, your vet treats the animal, and both halves are required. Treating the house alone means the untreated pet keeps laying new eggs into the carpet, and treating the pet alone leaves the larger part of the population that lives in your floor.

Partly. A fogger kills adult fleas on the open surfaces the mist settles on, and most sold in New Zealand now include a growth regulator, but the fog drifts down from above, barely reaches under furniture or into deep pile, and does nothing to fleas still in their cocoons. We have set out what a flea bomb reaches and what it misses in more detail.

Adult fleas live on animals rather than in mattresses, but eggs drop wherever an animal sleeps, so a bed the cat sleeps on can end up with larvae in the bedding and around the base. Hot wash the bedding and vacuum the mattress seams and the floor around the bed. If the bites only happen in bed and there is no animal in the house, the bed itself needs checking for bed bugs instead.

Flea bites are usually at ankle height, come in small scattered groups and can appear at any time of day. Bed bugs feed at night on skin left uncovered in bed, often leaving a short line of bites on an arm or a leg. The other clue is the animal: fleas need a cat or dog in the house now or recently, while bed bugs need nothing but a sleeping person. We have set out how bed bug bites differ side by side.

Yes, where an animal has been living in the subfloor, which is the house plus subfloor price band. Outdoors, fleas concentrate in shaded, sheltered spots where animals rest, such as under a deck or beside the foundations, rather than across an open sunny lawn, so that is where any outside treatment goes.

Products are applied to label directions and the property needs to be vacated until surfaces are dry, normally two to three hours. Fish tanks must be covered and air pumps turned off before we start, and tell us about birds and reptiles because they need to be out of the building. Pets can return once floors are dry.

Plan for three to four weeks from treatment to no bites, assuming the animal is treated and you vacuum daily. Most of that time is waiting out the pupal stage rather than anything to do with the product.