Is there a crawl space or any open space between the first and second floors? I used to live in an old house that had been converted into apartments and was plagued with a reoccurring flea problem, despite the lack of residential pets. The problem always seemed significantly worse in the 2nd floor apartment (mine) than the downstairs apartment, despite repeated pest treatments, bombing, vacuuming, applications of diatomaceous earth, etc. Eventually, my landlord realized that there was a crawl space between the 1st and 2nd floors into which the fleas had managed to migrate (probably after being tracked into the house by either residents, or the feral cats who briefly lived under the building) and subsequently lay eggs. Since this space was not readily accessible from the second floor it had never been treated and provided a safe haven for the flea life-cycle. My landlord bombed the crawl space several times, which seemed to greatly reduce the problem. Unfortunately, I moved out of the apartment shortly after and can not speak to long-term results, but it might be worth noting similar any crawl spaces or nooks and crannies that could shelter fleas, their larva or eggs.
Michelle Crepeau, MSc. Museum Conservator North Carolina Maritime Museums<https://ncmaritimemuseums.com/> NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources<https://www.ncdcr.gov/> [Text Description automatically generated] Office: 252-504-7760 Fax: 252-728-2108 michelle.crep...@ncdcr.gov<mailto:michelle.crep...@ncdcr.gov> 315 Front Street, North Carolina Maritime Museum-Beaufort Beaufort, NC 28516 Twitter<https://twitter.com/NCMaritimes> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/NCMaritimeMuseumBeaufort> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort/> | YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLfbnzwVhIdW10LIEnzUY2Q> | LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/company/north-carolina-department-of-cultural-resources> Email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. From: 'Jan Masterson' via MuseumPests <pestlist@googlegroups.com> Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2022 12:42 PM To: pestlist@googlegroups.com Subject: [External] [PestList] Flea Infestation CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to Report Spam.<mailto:report.s...@nc.gov> Hi, Has anyone here ever had a flea infestation in their historic house museum? If so, how did you eradicate it for good? I am hoping someone here can help with our ongoing flea problem. Some background info… In 2020, we first noticed fleas in one of our historic houses. The house and grounds were sprayed by our Parks & Rec department and a pest treatment company, and we didn’t notice any other fleas. However, that was also at a time when we were closed to the public (Covid) so there was less traffic in the house. (We have no livestock on the property and no live animals in the house.) At about this same time last year, we noticed the fleas had returned. There was evidence of wildlife getting under the pier and beam foundation – the house sits atop bois d’arc posts/piers. We had a fence-like barrier installed around the perimeter of the house foundation just past the bois d’arc posts so it wasn’t as visible to the public and didn’t alter the historic appearance of the house. The house and grounds were sprayed again. We removed all carpets and rugs from the house. We vacuumed on a daily basis. It appeared that the fleas had been eradicated. A couple weeks ago, our House Manager was giving a tour and a guest noticed something crawling on their legs. The fleas were back! Since this discovery, we have closed the upstairs/2nd floor to tours (it seems to be worse up there; we don’t notice much activity downstairs), we’re vacuuming on a daily basis, the house has been treated again (with what we don’t know because the City’s Building Services doesn’t communicate that with us), and Parks & Rec is coming out to treat the grounds again this week. The carpets and rugs were never reinstalled in the house. Yesterday, we put down Enforcer Flea Killer and let it sit for 30 minutes then vacuumed the house. The 3rd & 4th floors, which are not open to the public, were recently deep cleaned. Yesterday, we spread diatomaceous earth over all of the floor surfaces of the 3rd and 4th floors (there’s no carpet up there and very little fabric except on a couple of upholstered chairs). We’re letting that DE sit for 30 days – this was advised on another forum where I asked for assistance regarding this infestation. We’re continuing to vacuum every day, and the city will be spraying the grounds hopefully today. We’ve seen no evidence of wildlife activity around the house or that had penetrated the perimeter barrier under the house. There are no animal droppings inside the house either to suggest they could be getting in another way. Surely there is another historic house museum that has had this similar problem. If so, please share any and all advise and treatment methods. We need to get this problem eradicated before our school tours start up again in September. All advise is appreciated! Thank you, JAN Please take a moment to complete the City of Mesquite customer satisfaction survey<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z8MHD2G__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1097qNWg2BA$>. Download our customer service app myMesquite to submit service requests: [cid:image002.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citysourced.mesquitetx__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1095VlPKDnQ$> [cid:image003.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/itunes.apple.com/us/app/citysourced/id1492530814__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1094rRy0cgw$> [cid:image004.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050] www.cityofmesquite.com<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.cityofmesquite.com/__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1095VxOmHSw$> Jan Masterson Curator of Collections & Exhibits | Historic Mesquite | , TX (972) 216-6472 | jmaster...@cityofmesquite.com<mailto:jmaster...@cityofmesquite.com> [cid:image005.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.facebook.com/mesquitetexas__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1095HZymYoQ$> [cid:image006.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/twitter.com/cityofmesquite__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1096zQxIV1w$> [cid:image007.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.youtube.com/user/cityofmesquitetexas__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1094U1ev71Q$> [cid:image008.png@01D88C8A.CCC90050] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.instagram.com/cityofmesquite/__;!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1094wwCOhDg$> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/SA9PR09MB593313D99657E5D3F733352BB8BA9%40SA9PR09MB5933.namprd09.prod.outlook.com<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/SA9PR09MB593313D99657E5D3F733352BB8BA9*40SA9PR09MB5933.namprd09.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer__;JQ!!HYmSToo!cyE9aOvVjL-c94z9ocYvVYOPxWpjuUdVuxh2NKAWvhbDDIbQR6ZbGsownmPQpF335oF8OetaToHOGx2vusV1097wFQZm9Q$>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/MN2PR09MB5180438E2044EA2F6FBB226786BA9%40MN2PR09MB5180.namprd09.prod.outlook.com.
