The Best Way To Get Rid Of Fleas In The House

I’ve been fortunate enough to never have to get rid of fleas in the house. Let me start over, I’m a Licensed Vet Tech. I’ve been fortunate enough to never have to deal with fleas. I keep flea and tick prevention on them year-round because I never know what I’m going to bring home on me. I’ve heard horror stories and I’ve fixed pets up while their owners go to combat back at home base. Removing fleas from the house is a battle, it’s time to go to war.

The best way to get rid of fleas in the house is to hit them from every angle. Seriously, I’ve had countless hours of classes on flea products and the best ways to remove fleas is to use all of them.

Whatever you decide to do, you must remember that it takes months to kill the entire flea cycle. You can see the adults, which is where our battle begins but the eggs and larvae are microscopic, that’s where our battle continues.

Where eggs can hide:

• Carpets
• Cushions
• Mattresses
• Blankets
• Rugs
• Any fibers or fabrics can hold eggs.

Debris and pet hair can provide hiding places for these tiny creatures. Before going forward eliminate all that you can with a vacuum.

Get Rid Of Fleas In The House

Protect your pets

Eliminate and prevent fleas in the house. Remove all adults from your pets with a good dawn bath and get a product on them that will continue to kill the adults. Check out different products and how to give the most effective flea bath here.

Drown them

Wash anything that can go in the wash. Some of them can stick, but they’re not like lice nits where they stick in the hair. So anything that can go in the wash needs to. Don’t use fabric softeners, just detergent or vinegar. Fabric softeners can help the eggs stick in the fabric and that’s not something we want. We want to dry the little boogers out, not condition them.

Bomb the little bloodsuckers

There are good and bad things about foggers and flea bombs. The good thing is that they kill on contact and it covers the entire house. The bad is that it only covers a surface, so carpets or rugs under tables and couches where flea eggs are hiding don’t get touched and end up leaving fleas in your house. You and your pets should really leave the house for like 48 hours too, so no one inhales the fumes it puts off.

The bombs are cheap enough that I still recommend them. We can get the areas that the bomb didn’t get with an area spray.

Create Barriers

Now that we’ve eliminated probably about 75% of the flea situation we need to start preventing the future population. A juvenile flea can lay hundreds of eggs. We need to eliminate these eggs and babies that we didn’t get as they hatch.

Area sprays are great for the second round of the flea lifecycle. They continue to prevent flea infestations from developing for 7 months(depending on the spray). The Siphotrol Area Spray stops flea eggs and larvae from developing into adult fleas as well.

Vacuum, Vacuum, Vacuum.

Vacuuming does more than you think. Flea eggs can stay dormant for upwards of 5 months. In order to eliminate all fleas from your home as quickly as possible, we want to erupt these fleas from their eggs. In order to do this, we need to vacuum.

To get the flea eggs to erupt it takes vibration and heat. Like when a dog runs by, their body is warm and the walking causes a vibration. This tells the little flea egg a host is coming by and it will erupt and jump on its new host, or your pet.

The vacuum motor makes warmth and causes a vibration, thus making the fleas erupt and hopefully sucking them up at the same time. So, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum until you think you can’t go anymore. Then vacuum more until your neighbor gets concerned. And then vacuum until the motor gives out.

Other Products to consider:

Other Posts of Interest:

Getting Rid Of Fleas On Your Pet

Kittens with Fleas– for kittens under 8 weeks.

Separation Anxiety In Dogs