what is the best way to get rid of fleas in the home? I can't afford alot?

Question

I just bought a house and discovered we have fleas BAD
I also have a dog and a hamster

Answer 1

Fumigate. You can do it yourself. You don't have to hire an exterminator.

Go to the hardware store and buy some aerosol flea bombs, one for each floor, including attic and basement. READ THE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY and follow them to the letter.

Make sure no food or water is left out, get the critters out of the house, set off the bombs and go kill time somewhere for a few hours.

While you're at it, treat the critters with something like Advantage, Frontline or Revolution for the dog and the cat, and whatever your vet recommends for the hamster. If they didn't have fleas when you moved in, they do now.

Fumigation is a real pain in the butt, but it works.

You can also buy the spray in a squeeze-top bottle, but I advise against that. It doesn't distribute as well, and you'll give yourself tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome trying to do a whole house with squeeze bottles.

Edit: I like the idea of getting the seller to pay for a professional exterminator!

Answer 2

Eek! Unfortunately when you buy a house you get all of the current inhabitants! Your local pet supply store will give you several options, listed below.

Flea collars typically don't work well for dogs or cats because they protect only the neck area, whereas fleas can be anywhere on the entire body.

If you use a flea shampoo for your dog, keep in mind that you shouldn't bathe your dog more than twice a month (with any type of shampoo) because of the damage all of the bathing and drying does to their skin and fur. Because of this, flea shampoos don't always work the way you want them too. Sure, they'll kill any fleas and ticks that are currently on the dog and maybe any that leap on in the new few days, but if your dog spends a lot of time outdoors, be prepared for more to jump on before it's time to shampoo again.

Flea and tick drops tend to work the best. Stay away from over the counter products like Hartz if you can, as they are very caustic and dangerous to your pet. I have seen many animals with medical problems ranging from burns to seizures because of these products, so be careful.

The safest and most effective products will be the type you can buy from your veterinarian such as Frontline or K-9 Advantix. They are more expensive than the over the counter products, but are much safer and work very well. Ask your vet which would work best for your dog, as they vary due to the size of your dog.

Also, if you have a flea infestation in your home, treating the animals alone won't cut it. Be prepared to spend several days de-bugging the entire house. Start by purchasing a flea bomb (fogger) and following the directions on the cannister. Make sure fish tank filters are turned off and the tanks covered and get all other living critters (humans, children, animals) out of the house for several hours while the fogger is doing its job.

After that's complete, you'll need to use an upholstery spray on your cloth furniture and wash all bedding and linens in the home as well. You may also want to consider purchasing an outdoor flea bomb or spray to help keep the flea count down in your yard until everything calms down again.

Getting fleas in your home is a pain in the butt, but if you keep your dogs and cats on a monthly flea treatment, it should help minimize the chance that you need to do the entire routine again.

PS...unfortunately, there's no flea treatment available to hamsters other than a flea comb!

Answer 3

If you can get the exterminator to write you an estimate that states that the infestation started prior to your arrival at the house, you may be able to go to court and get the seller to pay for the extermination of the fleas.

If, however, you signed off on the pre-sale inspection of the house and no fleas were mentioned, you migth be stuck with the bills yourself.

Fleas cannot live long without a host, so if possible, get everyone out of there and flea-bomb the entire place. Washing surfaces down with bleach also helps (the bleach is a corrosive which can eat through the fleas' exoskeletons).

Answer 4

I had a bad flea problem awhile back. I couldn't even walk through my house without getting like 3 fleas on each foot. (That was one day) So I went to wal-mart and found Hartz Home Flea & Tick Killer. This stuff works! And it's not expensive. I just went through my entire house and sprayed everything! The fleas were gone by the end of the day. But don't think that's all there is to it. You have to spray your pets, too. I have dogs, so I also bought the Hartz 3 in 1 Dog Spray and it also works great! Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Spray the yard with a solution of Malathion. The directions are on the bottle. Raid makes a flea spray in a purple can that you can spray on your carpets and your pets. Make sure your pets are clean before you put the Raid on them. Also. if you have carpets you can put down salt, just buy a box and spread all over and let it stay for about 15 minutes, and then vacuum up. It works. The best way to keep fleas out of your home is to spray just inside and outside your doors with a good flea spray. You will have to do this almost everyday if there is a lot of traffic coming in and out. I would not spray the hamster, maybe just give it a good bath.

Answer 6

Your in all probability bathing your cat too quickly in the previous you placed the frontline on. attempt bathing her in break of day dish liquid, that's going to kill all the fleas present, then after 3 days prepare the Frontline. If it nonetheless looks the fleas are coming decrease back in the previous the 4 week therapy cycle, attempt switching to a distinctive flea product. in no way use flea remedies offered from the keep even with the undeniable fact that, they incorporate hars chemical components that could KILL your cat. purely use products offered from the vets place of work, or a vetrinary furnish keep.

Answer 7

There are many ways to rid of fleas there is one that I have used many times that has gotten rid of them. I take just plain ole rubbing alcohol pour it into several plastic containers leave it each corner of your house on the floor, they will go to it thinking it's an animal. They jump into the container that's it.

You can use an bomb to rid of them. Or to do it naturally also you can fill a spray with water and put in 3 drops of lavender oil in it shake start spraying to get rid of them, Spray your dogs bedding .


Just do not spray him with it.
I use this all the time I like making my own then using store bought some store bought can be rather harmful

Answer 8

I would use something like Frontline on the dog, don't know about the hamster (if he stays in his cage up on a high surface he should be ok). Then treat your house with an economical spray (with a growth inhibitor). You vaccum the house, throw out the vaccum bag, spray every square inch of carpet and around baseboards on hard floors. Wait 1 week, before vaccuming again. It may take a couple of treatments but eventually it will work.

Answer 9

Take the dog and hamster out of the house... leave a flea bomb in the house... use frontline on the dog

Answer 10

You have to treat the animals, house and yard all at the same time. If you don't the animals will simply reintroduce the fleas once any product you use wears off. There are any number of flea products you can buy at the store and all are pretty much equally effective.