How do I get rid of fleas & their eggs from inside my house?

Answer 1

Removal of fleas:

Having your carpets professionally cleaned WILL NOT get rid of the fleas, unless they use something that is meant to kill fleas. However, it will remove much of the eggs, larvae and the food that the larvae feeds on, so it can be useful in conjunction with other methods. Remember that carpets, rugs, and upholstered furniture are the prime places for depositing flea eggs. Some people have success ridding their home of fleas by removing their carpets and replacing with linoleum or hardwood floors. This may not be a feasible option for everyone, though.

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(Natural methods)

These tend to be of the "folk-remedy" type. Some people swear by them, others do not get any results. Some are actually toxic. They tend to work better at keeping fleas away rather than killing or eliminating present infestations.



1) You can buy cedar shampoo, cedar oil and cedar-filled sleeping mats. Cedar repels many insects including fleas.
2) Let outdoor pets sleep on a well-used horse blanket. Equine-l folks have confirmed that horses get ticks but not fleas, and cats using horse blankets in 'current' use seem to have fewer fleas.
3) Fleas love dry skin: prevent dry skin by giving your pet Linatone (or any vegetable oil) with its food and avoiding excessive shampooing.
4) Pennyroyal (the herb and the oil) is often touted as a natural flea repellent: only the fresh or dried leafs are safe. The oil is actually highly toxic to animals and humans.
5) Garlic and Brewer's Yeast: Feed it in small doses to your pet and the resultant body odor may repel fleas. You can get it either in powder form or tablet form, at varying expense.
6) Orange or lemon peel boiled and simmered in water makes a flea dip after it cools. Do not use on cats! (don't know about ferrets). Rinse well.
7) 60 ml of Lavender oil mixed with 2.8 liters of rock salt can be placed under furniture and rugs.
8) Eucalyptus leaves can be left under furniture and rugs. Also, a eucalyptus wool wash [a product for washing wool made from eucalyptus, available in Australia, perhaps elsewhere too] when washing the dog may help.
9) Rub bruised fennel foliage into the dog's coat. Growing it in the yard discourages the establishment of fleas there.
10) You can plant marigolds outside in your garden. This has the additional benefit of repelling a variety of other bugs.
11) A "flea trap" that uses heat to attract fleas to a sticky pad, kind of like "flea paper." Homemade variants, considerably less expensive, include leaving out detergent-laced dishes or jars of water near nightlights at night. This approach works best in severe infestations but is not likely to eliminate the fleas.
12) Food supplements, there are several on the market besides the "conventional" brewers yeast and/or garlic. One is Hop Off. Again, they appear to work for some dogs and not necessarily others.
13) Often useful in conjunction with other methods is to cover up your pet's ears and around the neck with a wet towel and have it lie in a tub of cool water for a while. The towel prevents migration of the fleas to the head. Add just a little detergent to the water (a t. or a few cc's is enough) to make sure the fleas drown. Obviously, your pet must be amiable to lying in water for 15 minutes or so. This can be done as an alternative to dipping; but it will not solve the larger problem of the flea infestation.
14) A similar method is to prepare a warm bath in the kitchen sink (or tub) with just a little baby shampoo and submerge the pet except for the head. Hold the spray attachment about an inch away from your pet (under water) and literally blast the fleas off. By doing it under water, it keeps the fleas from simply being blown to another part of the pet. The head has to be sprayed while out of the water. Fleas will float to the surface but drown because of the bit of shampoo in the water. This may help remove eggs as well. This technique only works on animals that are amiable to lying down in water.

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(Spraying inside)

There are a number of companies that will spray your house and typically they have guarantees such as "flea free for a year" (or they will reapply free of charge). The best known one is probably Flea Buster. Flea Busters applies a product to your carpet that kills all the fleas and eggs. Many people report that the results last for longer than the guaranteed year. Other people have pointed out that the product Flea Busters uses is Terminator and applying it yourself can be a significant savings over what Flea Busters charges.
You can spray your house. There are a number of commercial foggers and other devices which you set off in your home. Generally, you and anything live will have to vacate for a period of time. This can be effective; it depends on if the chemicals involved will kill fleas, flea larvae, or both.
Your vet will be a good source of information on effective brands, or you can have this done professionally. Remember that a hand-held sprayer will be more effective than a fogger-type application simply because you can make sure all the hard-to-reach areas are properly treated. In general, pyrethrins are "low intensity", relatively safe, and break down quickly (some on contact with sunlight). They can normally be used safely with puppies, kittens and in sensitive conditions. Pyrethrins are made from chrysanthemums, and manage to be highly toxic to fleas but not to people or dogs. It's very safe. Permethrins are synthetic pyrethrins and have the additional benefit of a residual effect for several days.
Organo-phosphates are "heavy duty" and last longer. They should be used with caution as they are usually toxic to people and animals. The IGR's (Insect Growth Regulators) do not kill adult fleas, but they have little or no toxicity to non-insects as they very specifically target the flea larvae, preventing its transition to adult stage.
Precor: (methoprene) This is an insect hormone that interrupts the life cycle of fleas by preventing flea larvae from maturing. It is not a poison, even to fleas, but they cannot reproduce. It's used as an environmental spray either by itself (in which case it will take several weeks to show much effect) or combined with adult pesticides (like pyrethrins) for a quick wipeout. Because it's a hormone, it's thought that fleas can't become resistant to it. However, methoprene resistance has been reported in experimental population of fleas.
If you're getting poor results with Precor you might try Fenoxycarb. You can buy the stuff at your local hardware/gardening store, and spray the diluted (according to directions) liquid everywhere in the house. This will not kill fleas by itself unless you combine it with something immediately lethal, but it will break the lifecycle and the fleas will go away in a few weeks as the mature ones die and the immature ones fail to develop. Such an application lasts about 4-5 months. Precor cannot be used outside because it breaks down rapidly in sunlight, but there are new formulations, such as Fenoxycarb, that show promise for outdoor use. Precor is most often combined with other agents, like pyrmethrins.
Currently available are powders, sprays, and foggers all containing the ingredient. It can be difficult to find a source of pure methoprene. One mail-order source is Gardens Alive! It's called Vigren ( concentrate; mix with 1 gallon of water, covers 1500 sq. ft) Sectrol: This is micro encapsulated pyrethrins (low toxicity to mammals). This works well in conjunction with methoprene. Spraying your home with this combination should be good for about 5-6 months before reapplication is needed. Use the Sectrol Pet and Household Flea Spray #1495 for the pure micro encapsulated pyrethrin product (3M has a variety of "sectrol" products).
Duratrol: This comes in both a spray (for the house) and a dip for the immediate problem on your pet. The smell is reported to be minimal and the effectiveness high. You only need to leave the house for 1/2 hour to allow the spray to dry (rather than up to four hours for other sprays and foggers, for example).
Foggers: When choosing a fogger, note that the directions call for one can per X no. of UNOBSTRUCTED square feet. In practice, that means one can per major room. You can increase the effectiveness of the spread of the fogger by setting up fans to move the air around before you trigger the foggers. If you have a forced-air furnace, set the fan to on and thermostat to off (turning the thermostat off ensures that the heaters do not kick in; most fogging sprays are flammable or explosive). Foggers have a real problem in penetrating enough to do any good, though. They just don't reach under furniture and other inaccessible places.

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(Treating outdoor areas)

When treating the area surrounding your house, remember that fleas are not found in your driveway gravel or in the open. The larvae do not survive high temperatures. They are found in shaded areas, like under porches, decks, car ports, at the edges of woods, and especially in places where your pets lay down outdoors.
Dursban: You can use this for ridding the yard of fleas. Home Depot will have the generic stuff. Spray according to the directions on the label. This is fairly toxic stuff. The generic name is Chlorpyrifos.
Nematodes: This is a new product for outdoor treatment. "Bio Flea Halt" and "Interrupt" are two brand names -- probably others exist. Nematodes are bugs that eat fleas. You apply it to your backyard with a pump sprayer; hose sprayers will also work. Toxicity to humans/dogs is non-existent, early studies show a good degree of effectiveness.
For those with outdoor pets: Diatomaceous Earth, Boric Acid and silica aero-gels can be used to treat your lawn for fleas and ticks. These chemicals are listed as some of the least toxic chemicals, sprays and dusts, which are for those people who want to control pests more naturally. These are not poisons, and kill by clinging to, scratching and and destroying the waxy exteriors. These chemicals should not be inhaled as they will irritate or abrade the lungs in the same way (which isn't a big problem once they've settled into your lawn). Diatomaceous earth is an abrading agent (much like borax). Use natural grade rather than pool grade Diatomaceous earth. Boric acid is also an abrading agent. Silica aero-gels are dessicants that kill the insects through dehydration. It is recommended that these chemicals be used in powder form to kill fleas and ticks.

(Borax and salt)

Also known as sodium polyborate, sodium tetraborate, sodium borate. The chemical is related to boric acid. This is present in a variety of household products. Sprinkling 20 Mule Team Borax, the kind you use in laundry ('not' the hand soap Boraxo; the added soap can be toxic to your pet) on the carpet and upholstery will dry out the deposited flea larvae. The procedure is to vacuum the house, sprinkle borax or salt using a sieve on carpet and upholstery (and under the pillows, under the furniture); sweep with a broom to settle the borax into the carpet and then vacuum again. Some people leave it on for a few days before vacuuming, but this runs the risk of abrading the surface of the carpet. Don't let your animals eat the stuff. If you use borax, you may need to adjust for this when cleaning your carpets by using less soap. The effects of a borax treatment seem to last about a year or so.
Drawbacks: The chemical borax is abrasive and 20 Mule Team Borax may abrade your carpets. In addition, there are documented cases of long-term low-level exposure to sodium polyborate resulting in conjunctivitus, weight loss, vomiting, mild diarrhea, skin rash, convulsions and anemia and other similar allergic reactions in humans. If you're using borax as flea control, and your pets (or family) are showing loss of appetite, eye or skin problems, anemia or kidney problems, you may want to switch to another flea control method and see if their health improves.
Do not apply it to damp carpets as it can take the color out. Borax is NOT advisable where you have pets which groom themselves (e.g., cats and ferrets.) They can ingest enough to harm them if the borax is not settled deeply enough into the carpet. Symptoms of acute poisoning include diarrhea, rapid prostration and perhaps convulsions (these occurred when borax was scattered openly for cockroach control).
There are various products that are applied in the same way, such as PEST-X. Check these types of products to see if they contain borax or boric acid. If so, the above commentary applies to those products as well. Some people use salt instead of borax. Provided that you do not live in high humidity areas, this is an alternative. Since salt absorbs water, salt in carpet in an non-air conditioned house in Florida (for ex.) would mean a damp carpet -- later rotted or mildewed. A cheap source of boric acid powder is "Terminator". Available in hardware stores.

(Vacuum)

Put flea powder in the vacuum cleaner bag to kill any fleas that you vacuum up, otherwise they will crawl back out. You should change the vacuum cleaner bag after a round of flea-cleaning in any case. Moth balls can be used but are toxic.

Answer 2

If you have a dog that stays inside, make sure that you are bathing him daily and using some kind of flea repelent such as a collar or you can get him dipped at the vet. Summer is a bad time for fleas. You can buy flea spray at your local pet store to spray on your furniture, and you can also buy powder for your carpet. The main thing is to make sure that you cover every inch of the carpet and let it stay on as long as directed. You may have to do this a couple of times before you kill all the fleas, but it does work.

Answer 3

Flea bomb & vacuum like a madwoman. Empty the bag or dust bin into a plastic bag, securely tie & dispose. There is some good flea insecticide at Pet Smart - I can't think of the brand but it is in a blue spray can. This stuff'll work miracles.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How do I get rid of fleas & their eggs from inside my house?

Answer 5

I had this problem sooo bad a couple weeks ago...this is what I did....I got 3 bombs from the pet store and set them off...then I got flea killing carpet pwder and used that on the carpets, then I got flea killing pet shampoo, flea collor and frontline plus.
I haven had one flea since....and if you have indoor cats, then just DONT let them outside anymore

Answer 6

Go to wal-mart and buy some bug bombs. Specifically ones designed for fleas.

Answer 7

Best to vacuum everyday if you have carpet, keep pets outside and spray with a long life surface spray, then go out for the day.

Answer 8

Preset the timer on your own TV to turn off after a couple of hours to remind you to take a step more active.

Answer 9

Call an expert pest control company for best results.

Answer 10

I tried so many things. The only one that worked was sprinkling borax on everything and leaving it for 3 days and they were all gone.

Answer 11

flea bombs they're about $3 a peice one for every room that has carpet...good luck they're some stubborn little bastards!!