We had an unusual enquiry come in on a Saturday at around 2am a few weeks back, asking if l could help stop an infestation of sand fleas and millipedes. Well at that time of the morning, we don’t take those kinds of enquiries too seriously as we have had prank calls before and sometimes we know some people maybe hallucinating, so when we saw the message on Sunday morning l decided to ask for some photos and evidence of these sand hoppers, aka sand fleas. This was to see if it was a serious or prank enquiry, no matter what the enquiry is we still consider them all genuine until proven wrong. Well, within a few hours, a few photos came into our WhatsApp number and there was evidence of these fleas and millipedes!
The next step was to book a survey and investigate further. The address was not even in our catchment area nor was it anywhere near a beach or woodlands. The sandfleas were coming out of a floor via a hole in a block of flats in BS9. The customer was at their wits ends, this had been going on for 2 years and had 2 pest controllers out who managed to spray an insecticide but failed to stop the problem from returning. The customer said l was their last hope and said if l cant stop them then they were going to sell up and move out. They were getting under her front door and into her flat and getting everywhere, causing so much stress it affected their sleep and wellbeing.
Within 20 minutes of being on site, post listening to the customer, it was time to get to work. What have the other pest controllers missed, why can’t anyone source the entry point or is it coming from the thin gap from under the front door? The scattering of these fleas and millipedes was bigger nearer the fire doors than near the entrance. It seemed to thin out as l walked closer to the entrance door to the flats. I had a look outside and around the flats but l couldn’t see any evidence of the fleas or millipedes outside except a few air bricks that could be the entry point to the flats. The cogs were turning in the brain and l was keen to get to the bottom of this problem, l felt sorry for the customer and didn’t want to fail them in my mission to stop them for good.
Well, once l got back into the flats opened up the fire doors and looked at the base under the skirting board, l found a big enough gap for these fleas to be getting in. As l shone my torch at the area it all came clear, l could see loads of them inside. Why and how l don’t know. I then checked the electrical meter cupboard opposite and this was filled with dead sand fleas and millipedes, spiders, and spiderwebs. This was also another point of interest, so l looked around and found a huge hole at the base of the doors by some metal brackets, and inside were even more of these insects. It was something out of a weird film. None of this made sense as to why they were there. I hoovered up all the dead insects in the voids and on the floor then began to seal the holes with white CT-1. I then carried out proofing of the external air brick by putting 0,6mm mesh on it. I let the customer know, the owner of the lower flat, that l believe l have sourced the entry point and had cleared up all the dead sand fleas and millipedes. The customer was amazed l found it so quickly but l said that l need to leave it a few days to a week to see if they returned and to let me know if they spotted one or many in that time. Well, a few days passed, to which l had a notification they had left me a 5-star review on my Google and Trustatrader page. A phone call later was to confirm no more sightings of these fleas have been seen. I checked in a week and 2 weeks later and the customer was so happy to have not seen any new insects anywhere. None had gotten into the flat and now they were able to relax once again, finally get to sleep at 11pm not 3am and not have to constantly keep hoovering them up, putting ant powder down on every corner, and can forget about selling their home. A fantastic result, something so simple to diagnose and fix had such a huge impact on their lives.
It’s not our usual type of insect removal job, but we love solving problems, helping customers with pest issues, and seeing a change from carrying out proofing and solutions that keep us going forward, so we can help others in the same situation. They said we were invaluable to the industry and several other flat owners had taken my details, not that they had a pest issue but if they did they knew who to contact. Amazing result. You can see the video on our social media channels. Here is a link to our Instagram page for the video
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzKWVcFoxX7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
If you enjoyed reading this, then check out the other case studies we have written about helping resolve pest issues and finding solutions others struggle to find.