Dee added: “People might feel a little embarrassed to find out they have a flea infestation as fleas are often associated with dirty environments – but this is a common misconception. “Fleas will move into any environment and even homes without pets can get flea infestations.
The most common way for fleas to enter your home is when a cat or dog attracts fleas and brings them into your house. But, fleas can also enter another way. They may come through with an old piece of furniture, or clothing and skin of a person who already has been infested.
Myth #3: Can fleas live in a clean house? Unfortunately, fleas can infest even the most spotless home. Fleas usually enter the house on your pets, but they can also hitch a ride on clothing, and have even been seen to jump right into the house on their own.
Fleas are parasitic pests that feed on human or animal blood. A common mistake people make is thinking fleas are only in dirty locations and that a clean home can't have them. Fleas don't actually live in filth. They don't feed on decaying matter as some other pests do.
According to extensive studies conducted at Ohio State University, vacuuming is indeed an effective way of getting rid of fleas! Through these studies, scientists discovered that vacuuming killed 96% of adult fleas from carpets and 100% of the flea pupae and larvae.
Getting rid of fleas is a difficult process due to the long lifecycle of a flea. Moderate to severe infestations will take months to control and require a four-step process for complete elimination: Sanitation. Thoroughly clean areas where fleas frequently breed.
If you love giving your dog a cuddle in bed or on the couch, launder all bedding and blankets to get rid of fleas and eggs. A normal laundry detergent will be enough to kill any fleas on bedding.
Washing up liquid
All you have to do is fill a plate or bowl with a mixture of warm water and washing up liquid and place it in the rooms of your house which receive the most flea activity. The water and washing up liquid solutions act as a glue, trapping the fleas due to the high viscosity of the solution.
Use Certain Plants That Keep Fleas Away
You can do that by planting various plants that produce a natural scent that fleas are deterred by. This includes Chamomile, Citronella, Lavender, and Lemon.
You might be asking yourself will fleas eventually go away? While some could last 2 – 3 weeks, they could also live for up to 12 months on the host it finds, so it is unlikely they will go away on their own. Fleas can also reproduce very quickly by laying eggs in carpet, bedding, or garden prolonging the infestation.
As far as wooden floors are concerned, fleas won't survive on their surface for a long time, as they have nothing to attach themselves to. But, they will probably be hiding in small nooks and crannies in the floor. They can survive there and breed in the dust and debris which is hidden.
Frequently vacuuming the areas where our pets hang out indoors can remove a lot of flea eggs; flea eggs cannot survive the physical trauma of being vacuumed. The thicker or deeper your carpets are, the more difficult it will be to vacuum up all the flea eggs. Vacuum every two to three days for best results.
These insidious hitchhikers can feed within minutes of finding a host and can breed within 24 hours, laying up to 50 eggs a day in your home and yard. So, yes, one flea can—and often does—become a problem.
Fleas are bad for your house and your health
Fleas also sometimes carry diseases such as flea-borne spotted fever, plague, typhus, and cat scratch fever. While this is more likely to become a problem if you do have pets, fleas in a house without pets can cause serious problems for your family.
Citronella, eucalyptus, peppermint, tea tree, and rosemary will all naturally repel fleas. If your dog doesn't mind a spray bottle, dilute a few drops of your chosen essential oil into a 300ml-400ml of water and spray directly onto your dog's coat.
Fleas are so light weight that they can bounce right off the surface of the water because the surface tension of the water prevents them from breaking through. Adding the dish soap reduces the surface tension so the fleas slip through and drown.
Put a dish of warm soapy water under a desk lamp and shine the lamp on the water overnight. Make sure all the other lights in your house are turned off. Fleas are attracted to the light and will drown in the soapy water. Be careful not to leave your trap in reach of curious pets or children!
While you can hop in the shower every time you're in a flea-infested area of your home, doing so will only get rid of those fleas on your skin. Because fleas prefer dogs or cats, these bothersome pests are more likely to hop off of us and go searching for another creature to feed on.
Fleas in any life stage will either be killed in the course of the wash or will ultimately wind up in the sewer. Any insects that might happen to make it all the way to the dryer will be killed off by more heat and turbulence.
Whilst it is impossible to guarantee that all fleas will be killed in the washing machine, as long as you wash at a temperature of at least 35°C, it should kill a good percentage of them.
Combine equal parts water and vinegar and spray over the fleas. Then, sprinkle salt all over the affected area. This helps keep the area dry, which aids in killing the fleas and larvae. Leave the salt overnight and vacuum the next day.
Only treating the fleas you see
Eggs hatch within 21 days and the larvae settle into fabrics like furniture and carpet. Here they will feast on dead skin cells and hair. Since 95% of the flea's life is spent outside the adult stage, flea infestations can take a long time to eradicate.
Vacuum often. All four stages of fleas are killed after vacuuming, with a 96 percent success rate. Homes that are vacuumed often will usually not have a flea problem that persists for long, because the eggs, larvae, pupa and adult fleas will all be killed or removed through the vacuum.
These pests are very hard to get rid of. Fleas have flattened bodies so they can move through the fur of their hosts easily. They also have very strong exoskeletons, making them very hard to crush. They also leap out of danger quickly and are very small, so if they do get away they are hard to find again.