How Do Fleas Get Into The House [15 Ways To Get Rid]

Spread the love

Even if your house is spotless, you can still have to cope with a flea infestation. You could discover fleas when they initially enter your home. Here we’ll discuss how do fleas get into the house.

Fleas get into the house when your pet attracts fleas and takes them inside. They might enter with a worn-out item of furniture or clothing and an infected person’s skin.

Fleas do generally not use humans as hosts, but they may enter the house through us. Please read the complete article to learn more about it and how to get rid of fleas from the house.

How Long Does A Flea Live In Your House?

Fleas live for almost 100 days in your house. A flea’s lifespan might vary relatively, although it typically lasts about 100 days. The egg is the initial stage of a flea’s life cycle. Fleas can be pretty prolific egg-layers, depositing their eggs while still attached to their host. In her lifetime, a female flea may lay 500 or more eggs.

These insects can survive indoors for up to a year under the right circumstances! When wintertime temperatures fall below freezing, specifically in the mid-to-low thirties Fahrenheit, outdoor flea populations decline. This explains why a flea would find your home so alluring and welcoming.

Fleas prefer warm environments because most people keep their homes heated and cooled in the summer.

Where Do Fleas Live In Your House?

Fleas frequently live in beds, furniture, and gaps on the floor. Fleas also prefer to remain on an animal’s underbelly, so when your pet falls on your carpet, it can be quickly transported there. Because adult fleas cannot regularly get food, carpets are also not particularly ideal long-term habitats for them.

Fleas can survive for a long time in carpeted regions because they can survive for a long time without an animal host in other life stages. Flea infestations are typically worse in the summer because fleas prefer warm, moist environments to breed.

Although fleas can not live on people, they can nevertheless bite them. Humans don’t have thick hair like animals do, and fleas find it challenging to increase without the protection of fur or feathers. As a result, they cannot thrive on people. Cat fleas are the most prevalent fleas. These can survive on the household’s dogs and cats.

[15] Ways To Get Rid Of Fleas In The House

Baking Soda

To kill any fleas hidden in the fibers of your carpet, sprinkle some baking soda down, give it a thorough scrub, and then vacuum it up. Similarly to this, regularly vacuuming your carpet will help keep bugs away. Pay particular attention to the locations where dogs sleep as well. Fleas can transmit diseases to humans, thus you must thoroughly clean them everywhere.

Sprinkle Salt

Baking soda and salt have comparable effects. Sprinkle salt on your carpet, let it sit for two days, then vacuum it up to get rid of fleas immediately. Fleas can be safely and quickly eradicated without pesticides using natural methods. The salt works as a dehydrator.

Steam Cleaner

Steam cleaning your carpets, furniture, and pet beds is a great idea if you have a flea infestation. Because of the combination of the high heat and soap, the fleas will never go away. Adult fleas, dead fleas, flea dust, and flea dander are the principal items that are eliminated with steam cleaning.

Since a steam cleaner, you use at home is unlikely to reach the high temperatures needed to kill adult fleas, you must call a professional to steam clean your carpets. Similar in function to baking soda is salt. Sprinkle salt on your carpet, let it sit for two days, then vacuum it up to get rid of fleas immediately.

Powerful Vacuum

Although steam cleaning is highly effective, a strong vacuum will help keep fleas out of your house. Floors, upholstery, beds, and those difficult-to-reach corners are a few places to pay particular attention to.

Remember to empty the bag or filter after vacuuming is completed promptly. Fleas will perish in the vacuum bag if cornstarch is added before vacuuming. Immediately take the bag outside, or wash the canister without a bag in hot, soapy water.

Lemon Spray

Lemons are a very good all-natural way to get rid of fleas in the house because of their acidic juice. Use the methods listed below to make a remedy for lemon spray. The lemon should be thinly sliced and put in a pan on the stove.

After adding hot water, leave it overnight. Decant the lemon-infused liquid the following day and put it in a spray bottle. Spray on flea-infested furniture, carpets, couches, pet beds, and chairs. Always use a delicate hand while spraying and check textiles beforehand. The potent aroma will rid your home of fleas while also killing them.

Wash Cloths In Hot & Soapy Water

Wash your clothes, and bed linens in hot, soapy water to eliminate small infestations. The soap will kill fleas, and their eggs and larvae will also be destroyed. Also, think about vacuuming your mattress.

Don’t forget to wash your pet’s bed in the same manner. If there are flea eggs on your pet, they will most likely drown in the drain if you thoroughly moisten its fur and lather up with dawn soap.

Rosemary

Rosemary’s solid and pungent odor repels fleas, so this method can also help if your dog has fleas. Boil some rosemary in water and let it cool overnight. After that, pour the solution into a spray bottle.

Make sure the sprigs are separated so that none of them falls in. Spray some natural repellents into your dog’s fur the next time you bathe it to keep fleas at bay.

Peppermint Spray

Some manufacturers of peppermint oil sprays claim that their products will rid your home of fleas. A few facts support their effectiveness. Twelve parts water and one part peppermint oil should be combined. You don’t need to make it very potent; you just need a small amount of peppermint oil to make the surfaces of your home unappealing to fleas.

Applying peppermint oil to domestic surfaces has an anti-larval solid effect. They won’t likely damage people or animals, though. Avoid the sprays in this situation, as some people and animals may have severe allergic reactions to the chemicals.

Pet-Safe Flea Spray

Use the flea-repelling spray that is sold in stores. Spray on the necessary region, and repeat applications every third day to remove them. Additionally, this will reduce the chance that fleas will infest your home. When their skin is itchy from having fleas, dogs will scratch, bite, and lick themselves.

Dogs with flea allergies will experience hair loss and crusty rashes. It would be best if you regularly treated your dog and home for fleas to avoid infestations. To kill adult and immature fleas, tablets, powders, sprays, spot-on, and shampoos are available. To get rid of eggs, vacuum the flooring and wash your dog’s bedding.

Natural Remedy Sulfur

It is a characteristic of nature that rotten eggs smell bad. By interfering with their ability to produce energy, it also kills fleas that touch or consume it. Sprinkle sulfur powder over your lawn, bushes, and other outdoor areas where you’re pet likes to hang out. Humans cannot be harmed by it. However, it could be poisonous or even fatal if your dog or cat overeats it.

Boric Acid

Boric acid might be a component of laundry detergent. Purchase boric acid, a white powder, from a drugstore. Then vacuum it up after sprinkling it over carpets and furniture. It is deadly to fleas but harmless to humans and dogs. If you have children, it’s not a wise decision because it could eventually harm your carpet or upholstery.

It takes four to six weeks for boric acid to start working. Until all fleas and eggs are eliminated from the house, it kills them gradually but effectively. The aftereffects last for months after the initial kill.

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth should be used on all home surfaces, including carpets, rugs, hardwood floors, baseboards, and upholstery. You can use diatomaceous earth outside, but you’ll need to use a lot more.

Depending on the weather, the effects might not last very long. DE is very absorbent, so it will suck the pest’s moisture away until it dies of dehydration. Fleas may pass away in as little as 4 hours after coming into contact with the diatomaceous earth, though it is advised to leave the DE on for up to 48 hours to ensure its efficiency.

Cedar Chips, Wax Myrtle Leaves

These potently perfumed evergreens are said to keep fleas away, but there is inadequate scientific proof to back this up. Cedar chips repulse fleas because they detest the smell and will go to great lengths to avoid it.

Purchase two sizable 0.5 cubic foot bags of cedar chips from the garden center, and scatter them about the places where the dogs will be. Spread some around the yard or inside the house to see if they can assist; they won’t harm anything.

Light Traps

Fleas are drawn in and trapped by lights until they die. Fleas are tricked into believing a host or pet is moving nearby when a trap’s yellow-green light is on for 10 minutes and then flashes off for 5 seconds. This causes them to jump toward the trap. That might entice them to leave the carpet and furniture behind.

Flea light traps can draw in and catch fleas, but they can’t get rid of a flea infestation on their own. The explanation is straightforward: since fleas are designed to find a suitable host rather than a light bulb, your pets are far more attractive to fleas than traps.

Electric Flea Trap

Electric flea traps are used to manage the infection of these parasites through electricity. These parasites are drawn to the trap by infrared light. They will be electrocuted immediately as soon as they get close to the heat and light sources.

Conclusion

The most common method for fleas to enter your home is through a cat or dog that attracts them and takes them inside. Fleas can enter, nevertheless, in different ways. They might enter with a worn-out item of furniture or clothing and an infected person’s skin.

A flea’s lifespan might vary relatively, although it typically lasts about 100 days. There are several natural ways to get rid of fleas around the house without endangering pets.

References

Rust MK. The Biology and Ecology of Cat Fleas and Advancements in Their Pest Management: A Review. Insects. 2017