sand fleas from the Florida Keys

I want to try to reach out to people about this issue because it's a tough one. From my months of internet searches I have found many people who have accidentally imported sand fleas home from the Florida Keys. All of Florida is an issue but the Keys have a special epidemic. We believe we accidentally imported the eggs home in our camping gear from a crowded campground known as the Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge or the nearby Bahia Honda State Park. When it comes from Florida the so-called "sand flea" is a crustacean and virtually waterproof/soap-proof entity. In spite of it's flea-like behavior it is not a flea AT ALL. They happily live on regularly bathing humans. This has been an extremely tough invasive scenario for my partner and I... easily the most challenging in our 12 years. It has gone on for 7 months to date. Our lives have been governed by this trying epidemic in a way that I could have never imagined with a pest in this day and age. I am truly concerned about the sheer number of scenarios I have read about online that have gone unchecked because the wrong treatments are being employed.

The real problem for a "northerner" trying to manage this is the real lack of experience a "northern" pest control technician will have with this creature. Some misinformation and a series of trying errors made by our pest control technician have led us to a complicated present. He broadcast a series of chemicals in our home over many months. Ultracide, Suspend SC, Riptide... there are a couple more I just don't know them. Suspend SC had some success but we still battled daily, nay hourly, with the infestation. It turns out this was a chemical regime directed at standard fleas. A massive miscommunication with the state entomologist was finally uncovered and hopefully we can move forward. But before that happened I incurred a couple of serious health issues, including kidney problems, due to the chemicals and stress. I really hope that others can reach a good solution for this issue before chemicals or pharmaceuticals compromise their health. I have encountered many heartrending accounts where this is not the case.

Before the mistake was uncovered we employed food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) with some success. But it's been more than a month and the process has been invariably slow. Our lungs our handling it okay but at least one of our cats appears to have gotten sick due to the constant presensce of airborne DE.

We've finally been informed that Talstar Bifenthrin is often a successful treatment for a REAL sand flea. It is a treatment that works on arthropods. It turns out Suspend SC is sometimes used in conjunction with this which explains why it seemed to be the only thing that helped at all. Hopefully we can finally turn a corner with this and find some peace in our lives. My heart goes out to all the people whose stories I have read over the last 7 months. Some of you have struggled for a very long time (years in fact) trying to get a sample (because no one will tell you anything without a damn sample). Honestly, the truly desperate can log on to doyourownpestcontrol.com and purchase the appropriate chemical and a sprayer. I'm not necessarily advocating this but given all of our pest control dramas I conceed this may be the only option if you can't get a tech to treat for our special crustaceanic friends... Floridians review Bifenthrin as a successful sand flea solution in many customer reviews I've found. But remember to wear proper clothing. Bifenthrin isn't an airborne chemical during treatment. I've noticed that even the most cautious pest control tech did not wear a face mask.