Rid Your Home of Fleas This Winter
by Stephanie Modkins on Nov 01, 2007 with 6 Comments
Although the weather is cooled down, in-house fleas can still be a problem. Learn how to get them out of your life with this article.
Is your home jumping with fleas? Although it’s cold out, your answer is probably yes if you have pets. During the winter, fleas actually find warm-hosts to live on – especially home-bound ones – so they can survive the change in weather. As a result, you’ll still need to know how to get them out of your home.
Below are a few ways to get fleas of your carpet, floors and upholstery. Each solution is simple and inexpensive. The only thing it’ll cost you is a little elbow-grease.
Dawn. Pour one tablespoon of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid into a sixteen-ounce trigger spray bottle. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake well. Spray it on the carpet, upholstery and floors. Soap dries up fleas and other insects killing them almost instantly. After fifteen minutes, wipe over the areas you applied this solution to with a damp towel and vacuum.
Hartz 2-in-1 Flea & Tick Collar. When you vacuum the floor and carpet, throw a Hartz 2-in-1 Flea and Tick Collar inside the bag. It will kill any live fleas that might latter escape and resume their life.
Lysol. Looking for a quick trick to kill fleas. Pull out a can of Lysol disinfectant and spray down your house. The antiseptic in it kills fleas. Repeat this process for three days straight in order to kill any newly hatched fleas.
Morton Salt. For fleas imbedded deeply into your carpet, sprinkle it liberally with Morton Salt. Wait three hours and vacuum-up thoroughly.
20 Mule Team Borax. Sprinkle a light coating of this product on your carpets and floors. Let it sit for twenty-four hours. Afterwards, vacuum-up. The borax will kill all of the fleas.
Pine-sol. Pour one-quarter cup of Pine-Sol into a sixteen-ounce trigger-spray bottle. Afterwards, fill the remainder of it with water. Shake well and spray it all over your carpets and upholstery. This popular cleanser kills fleas and simultaneously deodorizes your home.
Now that you know how to rid your carpet, upholstery and floor of fleas, it’s important to point out that none of these solutions will last long if you don’t rid your pet of them. If you have a pet that is prone to fleas, you’ll want to de-flea them just as you do your home. This will leave you with the results you truly desire.
Did you know?
- A female flea can lay one egg every hour during her entire life span.
- The common flea measures one-eighth inch in length. Surprisingly, it can jump over thirteen times its actual size.
- If they bite an infected rat or squirrel, a flea can spread typus or bubonic plague.
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Published in: Pets
michelle | Nov 4, 2007 | Reply
Does anyone know if diazanon being put on your yard & wetting it down still works for the flea issue? I have a dog, 3 cats inside and one that stays outside. Every time I comb the baby she has more(19)fleas on her than the other pets. I pulled 19 off of her this morning & flushed them down the toilet. Can anyone give me some solutions to my problem?
Diane | Feb 6, 2008 | Reply
My cat has been itching , he has always been a indoor cat , we have 10 inches of snow on the ground , my son thought he saw a flea when petting our cat , is it possible he has fleas?
Stasia | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
The only thing that has every worked for any of the animals I have owned is advantage. Sure, it’s pricy and you have to keep up with it, and it makes some cats feel sick the first couple of applications, but honestly it protects them more than it harms them or our pockets for that matter. My mom is really into trying every possible solution before turning to meds, for anyone and anything in her household (she still uses borax to rid her house of ants), but we began to swear by advantage when it *worked*. Flea collars only work if your cat can keep it on, and if there are already fleas then good luck with that.
For kittens we have always used a little bit of flea shampoo diluted with water once a month until they were old enough to get the advantage. We had one kitten that ended up foaming at the mouth after this procedure, she was fine but certainly didn’t feel too good for about fifteen minutes. It did get rid of the fleas, though. That was our biggest concern at the time because all you felt when you touched her was fleas all over. It was awful.
Naturally you wouldn’t want to do this to a newborn, or a kitten that looks like it’s too small to bathe.
If you are afraid of watching kittens with side effects then a simple solution is bathing them (not too often cause their skin will get dry and irritated) and then killing any fleas you find. You could do it in the opposite order as well, which may aid you in washing out some of those eggs after killing the big guys. With cats that have fluffy fur I found it easier to wash then kill. But it’s been a long time since I squished a flea.
Tamara Telly | Sep 2, 2009 | Reply
I have recently had my first encounter with fleas. I did nor have a lot of money so I did the following & it has reallt cur down & almost eliminated them. I sprinkled salt on EVERYTHING, wood floors, tiled floors, sofas, beds, chairs. Let it sit over night & vacumed it up. Then followed up w/steam cleaning all sofa’s & chairs w/ steam cleaner. Then mop w/pine sol or homemade lemon juice & dawn dish soap. I then sprayed all home furnishings w/raid flea spray. At night I place plates w/ water & a little dish soap & tea light candle in middle of plate or small lamp to see if fleas are in water in morning u know you still have fleas in those area. I usef advantage on pets along w/ collars & I check them when they come in. I know it’s a lot of work, be perststant. I have been doing it for two weeks and I now know it will be a month or so of this before they ALL will be gone. Ve persistant!!!
Jeritta G. | Oct 10, 2009 | Reply
Most comments are about people WITH pets. I had two cats for 2 yrs, no problems, and did treat the cats with ADVANTAGE once in a while.
Now that they are gone, fleas are ON ME. I have washed all bedding and clothing @ day, vacuumed @ day, bleach-water sprayed all counters @ day, shampooed hair @ week 3x, also had Dr slather my body down w/ Permethrin @ week 2x, now sprinkled flea powder on carpets and cloth chairs that I left 24 hrs now have vacuumed up — will they be GONE NOW ?? I have had this for 6 weeks !!! DO I NEED TO TREAT MY GRASS ? (yes cats were outside) DO I NEED TO TREAT MY GARDEN or BARK AREAS? Not enough info on the internet !!
THANK YOU SINCERELY FOR REPLIES.
sandra ali | Oct 12, 2009 | Reply
Somebody brought fleas into my house no pets.
wash your hair with DAWN dish soap steam everything go buy a steamer if you can not afford to keep it return it afer you used it this is an emergency clothes steamer put boric acid on rgs leave on for hour then vaccumm .make sure you vaccumm a couple times aday wash floors with dawn buy lemmons squeeze a lemmon in water put the lemmon in a pot boil it let stand over night put in a spray bottle with peppermint oil spray furniture etc put peppermint oil on you they do not like it these little creatures would come on me hubby mom & aunt thought i ws flipping out we have no more dogs haven\’t in years &they nrver had fleas i would take them off me put them in a glass of water to show them i think they all should be gone but have to worry about eggs this is not a easy job to do good luck sandra