Do you know fleas have the most flexible life cycles? Not only this, but these pests can live for a long time without food. They can survive for straight one-two weeks without food. As fleas are a hardy creature, getting rid of them is really time-consuming. When tackling an unfortunate infestation, only treating pets is not enough. These pests can lay eggs all over your house like under carpets, floorboards, and maybe in your car.
The flea can also transmit diseases like Plague, Typhus (Flea-Borne Fever) in humans while can transmit cat scratch disease among cats, and then disease might spread to humans too, therefore, treating fleas infestation as early as possible is recommended.
If you know how to check to see if you have these insects your home, then it can help you in spotting the infestation and act quickly to cut down cost and time. Fleas not only stay with your pets but also transport to humans around. As they feed on blood, they suck it from humans too.
Step By Step Guide To Check For Fleas In Your Home
Tools Required:
- Flashlight
- Soapy Water
- White Socks
Check Rugs & Carpets:
This method is tricky and can take a little effort but it works. Start by wearing a pair of white socks and then drag your feet over the fiber of the rug or carpet and the body heat will be enough for the insects to jump onto your socks for a bite to eat. After a few seconds, use a flashlight to check for any live bugs on your socks. If you notice the insects on your socks then they are right there in your carpet and around your home premises.
Looking for Flea Dirt:
Take a round of your home and inspect if there is any dirt to be found. If yes, or unsure about it being flea dirt then you can simply put into soapy water solution and check if the color changes to red. If yes, that is the flea dirt and flea can be somewhere around there.
Scratching:
If you saw your pet scratching more than usual, then examine the fur, skin, and hairs. Upon examining, you may notice bugs moving between the pets hairs or black and red dropping by fleas on your pet’s skin.
Make sure you check your house all the way. You should target the moisture magnet places in your house often because the eggs are laid where moisture is available or else flea eggs usually dry and breakdown. The fleas are huge in numbers during the rainfalls as rainfalls increase the humidity and hence the moisture is perfect for the hatching and development stages.
An infestation can clearly not be eliminated within a span of a few days. The capabilities of fleas are truly impressive and it makes them superior to control methods most of the time. However, it takes less time when you tend to focus on getting your environment and pets treated first because they tend to lay eggs on the body of the host and those eggs end up falling off all over the place.
This is why flea control takes time and we end up focusing on the live adult insects and forget all those eggs they lay every day.
How to eliminate fleas from your home
To understand completely about eliminating fleas from your home, you need to know about their life cycle. These bugs have 4 stages in their life cycles,
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- Egg: The egg stage lasts between 2 days to 2 weeks.
- Larvae: This stage develops over a couple of weeks by feeding on Flea Dirt and organic materials it finds in the environment.
- Pupa: This stage is also known as the cocoon stage. It can last for several days or weeks. Even if the environment is not stable for the pupa to develop into the Adult then cocoon can help in protecting the developing flea for months or even years in certain circumstances.
- Adult: In this stage, they become a fully developed flea and can lay eggs on an average 30 eggs per day but can lay up to 50 a day.
Treatment of Pets:
There are many types of treatments available for treating your pet like Pills, Collars, Sprays, etc. However, it is best to consult the veterinarian before buying a product.
A flea can cause a lot of trouble to your pet like they can experience excessive itching and hotspots on the skin. You can treat them with flea control products listed below
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- Flea Shampoos can be used to give a bath to your dog. You should be allowing the product to stay on the skin for several minutes before rinsing.
- Flea Sprays are another effective control method. It can be sprayed on your pet before you’re giving them the bath so that it can be washed off. The sprays are inexpensive and do their job very well. Near the eyes and head area, spray on the cloth and rub gently to your pet’s hair.
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Treatment of House:
- The fleas are mostly concentrated where animals rest and sleep. The infested animal bedding should be laundered in hot soapy water at around 60 Degree Celsius.
- Vacuuming all the areas of the houses especially like floor areas, rugs, and frames. Make sure the vacuum has a disposable bag. After vacuuming, remove the disposable bag and put it in the plastic bags securely and get rid of it.
- Mop all tiles and concrete floors after vacuuming.
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- If your infestation is severe, we recommend spraying insecticide around your house. Otherwise, you won’t get any control.
- Treatment of Lawn/Backyard:
It is important to treat the lawn or backyard. It’s because these tiny insects sometimes live in your yard and reinfest your pet. Check for bugs near the garbage cans. Treat them with the insecticide product you decided. Again make sure you apply it after carefully reading the label.
Preemptive measures:
There is a chance that fleas can come back. Therefore it is best to adopt the preventive measures to keep fleas away from your home.
Here are some preventive measures to keep fleas away:
- Always keep your home clean. Vacuum regularly if you have carpets and rugs.
- Wash pet’s bedding often. Don’t delay it.
- Check with your Veterinarian about various other ways to keep fleas away from your pet.
- If you notice any live flea or flea dirt then immediately take steps to eliminate.
The most common species of flea are cat flea, which often targets cats, dogs, and humans (Fleas emerged from cocoon). The flea doesn’t fly and they jump from one place to another. Unbelievable but true is that the flea can jump 8” inch high vertically and that is 150 times their own height.
Once a female flea jumps on your pet’s hair, it lays eggs within the next 24 hours and can lay around 40-50 eggs per day. Therefore, it is always essential to treat your pet first.
How Do Fleas transfer From Pet-to-Pet?
The pets usually come into contact with fleas from the infested areas. Mostly, the stray dogs, cats are the first to acquire, and then when they roam on street some of the eggs might fall off and these eggs survive the next three to eight weeks and transform into adult fleas. When the adult insect comes in to contact with a pet and the infestation starts further as they lay eggs.
Treat fleas at the first sign to nip an out-of-hand infestation early!
She has a B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education/English and a Spanish Minor. In addition, she holds a Certificates in Natural Health and Herbology from accredited programs. She pursued these natural wellness certifications due to her love for herb gardening.
Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."
Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.
Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.
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