6 Simple Natural Ways To Get Rid Of Fleas In House and Tips to Prevent Fleas

Rosemary January 06, 2022 | 06:00

Fleas are obviously annoying wherever they are in your house. How to get rid of fleas in your house and How to prevent?

6 Simple Natural Ways To Get Rid Of Fleas In House and Tips to Prevent Fleas

Best Natural Ways To Get Rid Of Fleas In Your House. Photo KnowInsiders

Fleas can be more than just a pesky nuisance; they can affect the health and wellbeing of your pets. Take a look at a few tips to help get rid of fleas.

What do fleas look like?

Fleas are a reddish-brown colour, incredibly thin and have big back legs. They're around an eighth of an inch long, but it's unlikely you'll be able to see them clearly without a microscope.

Adult fleas live on the fur of animals where they will lay their eggs. The average life cycle of a flea is around 100 days, however they can live indoors for up to a year if the conditions are favourable to them.

Photo Getty

They go through four life stages:

Egg

Larva

Pupa

Adult

How long can infestations last?

Fleas are some of the most annoying pests to deal with. They’re small enough to get around easily and agile enough to be called acrobatic.

Fleas generally prefer four-legged hosts to humans. However, if your family pet has fleas, it’s likely that your yard, house, and furniture will be targeted next.

Itching is a telltale sign of a flea infestation. You may even spot the little jumpers. On average, fleas are 2.5 millimeters long, making them visible to the naked eye. Their strong legs allow them to jump as far as 13 inches in distance.

The life cycle of the flea depends on environmental conditions. Fleas flourish in warm climates. The ideal temperature range is 80 to 90°F (26 to 32 °C) with 70 percent humidity.

In these conditions, fleas have a life cycle of 18 to 21 days. If the weather isn’t ideal and there isn’t a host to feed on, flea larvae may remain dormant for months while waiting for better conditions to develop. On average, adult fleas live from several weeks to several months.

Why fleas are hazardous to health

According to the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source, fleas can cause a range of health issues for humans, including minor irritations and allergic reactions and serious diseases and infections.

Cat, dog, or human flea bites can cause skin irritation and itching, allergic reactions, and dermatitis.

Fleas can transmit diseases and parasites, such as tapeworm, to humans.

Bites from a flea from a rodent or other wild animal can cause plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Plague is still a problem in parts of western United States, as well as in South America, Africa, Russia, parts of Eastern Europe, and Asia. Although rare, plague is one of the most cTrusted SourceommonTrusted Source diseases resulting from the bite of an infected flea.

Rat or cat flea bites may also spread typhus, a disease caused by infection of the Rickettsia bacteria. Typhus is present in many parts of the world, including the U.S. While it can be deadly, most people make a full recovery with prompt treatment.

Simple Natural ways to get rid of fleas in your house

1.Sprinkle salt

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Much like baking soda, salt works in a similar way. According to Rentokil, if you sprinkle some salt on your carpet, leave for two days and then vacuum up, it will help to get rid of fleas quickly. How does it work? The salt acts as a dehydration agent, which will quickly and naturally get rid of fleas without the use of chemicals.

2.Lemon spray

Photo Getty

Thanks to its acidic juice, lemons are also a brilliant all-natural way to remove the presence of fleas in the home. To make your own remedy, simply follow the steps below:

1. Cut a thin slice of lemon and place it in a pan over the hob. Add boiling water and let sit overnight.

2. The following morning, decant the lemon-infused liquid into a pour into a spray bottle.

3. Spritz onto any flea-infested areas, such as carpets, sofas, pet beds or chairs. Remember to only light spray and do check against fabrics beforehand. The strong scent will kill the fleas and leave your home smelling fresh.

3.Use rosemary

Photo Getty

Fleas repel rosemary's strong pungent smell, so this technique also works wonders if your dog has fleas. In order for it to work, all you need to do is boil some rosemary in a pan with water and leave it to cool down overnight. Then, drain the liquid into a spray bottle (make sure you separate the sprigs so none fall in). The next time you wash your dog, spray some of the natural solution onto its fur and it will keep the fleas away.

When the infestation is mild, rosemary is your best ally to control the problem and get rid of fleas. The best way to get rid of fleas using rosemary is to prepare a simple remedy. You’ll need:

Rosemary

Wormwood

Fennel

Peppermint

Rue

Coffee grinder or mortar and pestle

How to do it:

Get equal parts of all herbs, and then grind them together until you get a fine powder. Sprinkle the powder anywhere in your house where there is mild infestation (for example, carpet, furniture). After few days, you will notice there are no more fleas in your house.

4. Dish soap

This home flea remedy involves creating a flea trap using dish soap and some water. All you have to do is fill a plate or bowl with a mixture of warm water and dish soap and place it in the rooms of your house which receive the most flea activity.

The water and dish soap solutions act as a glue, trapping the fleas due to the high viscosity of the solution. You should repeat this method with a fresh batch every day.

For this flea home remedy to work effectively it should be conducted at night time. This is because, for the most part, fleas are nocturnal creatures. It has been suggested that placing a candle near the solution will help this natural flea remedy, but this is not advised due to the potential fire hazard a naked, unattended, flame can cause.

Homemade flea shampoo

Washing your pet is one of the many ways to get rid of fleas. For this simple remedy, you’ll need:

1 tablespoon of castile soap

10 drops of essential oils

12 ounces of water

Squirt bottle

How to do it:

Mix all the ingredients in the bottle, shake it and you are ready to go. Make sure to leave the lather on when you are shampooing your pet (be sure to avoid the eyes).

5. Flea trap

The easiest and simplest way to catch fleas is by placing a trap within your home. While washing your pet will get the fleas off of his body, a trap will get the fleas completely out of your house.

You’ll need:

Warm water

Dishwashing liquid

Bowls or dinner plates

Night lights

How to do it:

Place either a dinner plate or a bowl in each room of your house. The most ideal position is the middle of the room if at all possible. Fill the bowls with warm water and add the dishwashing liquid to the mixture. Don’t skimp on the liquid. Place a candle in the middle of the bowl/plate.

Place the night lights in the bowl/dinner plate on something so that it is not sitting in the liquid (e.g., a small piece of wood). Turn them on and go to bed. Fleas are attracted to light, and as they jump towards it, they will get stuck in the liquid soap. In the morning, dispose of the traps.

6. Flea bag

One way to get rid of fleas is by placing a small sachet in your home that will drive pests away. For the sachet, you will need the following ingredients:

2-6 inch squares of fabric

Handful of cedar chips

Peel of one lemon

2 teaspoons of dried lavender buds

How to do it:

Cut the fabric and place them together, inside out. To make a sachet, sew all but one side of the fabric and invert it. Fill the sachet with cedar chips, lemon peel and lavender, but make sure to leave enough room at the top. Tie the sachet with a ribbon or sew it shut. Place the sachet under the bed/bedding of your pet. Make sure to change the mixture once a month (although that’s not feasible if you sew it shut).

How to prevent fleas in house

Photo Getty

If you are curious about how to prevent fleas from coming into the home in the first place, then read the following. Because once you get a flea infestation, it can take weeks and weeks to get rid of them and your family and furry friends suffer through will itchy bite marks and possible infection from all the scratching your pet does.

Fog Your House: There are foggers specially designed to control flea infestations in your home. This method might be the most aggressive one, but it will protect your home for up to 7 months. Make sure that the life cycle of the flea is broken.

Not only will a fogger be a great way to protect your home from fleas, but it will also kill ticks, cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, mosquitoes, wasps, and many other insects.

Feed your pets with healthy, natural food. Fleas prey on weak victims. Therefore, the healthier your pets are, the lower the risk that they become victims to fleas. We feed my three poodles a diet of Bil-Jac that I purchase from Petsmart. Yes, it is expensive running me about $60 per month, however when faced with the possibility of a flea outbreak, it is worth it! Plus, if you contact Bil-Jac you can begin receiving coupons.

Keep your pets properly groomed and cleaned. This is very important not only to prevent fleas, but to maintain the health of your pets. Make sure you follow the vets recommendations on bathing frequencies as it may vary per breed. For example, my poodles get bathed once per week which is what is recommended.

Carpet Spray: Carpet sprays are a great way to make sure those fleas never want to live in your furniture, carpets and generally in your upholstery. So, maybe it would be a good idea to buy one either for prevention or for treating your home after a flea infection.

Keep your house clean at all costs. This is the part I struggle with because I have five children at home. Fleas feed on organic matter and debris, so the cleaner your house is, the less food flea larvae will have to eat and reproduce.

Wash the bed and bedding of your pet as often as twice per week. And if you co-sleep with your pets, this means your own bedding as well.

Vacuum thoroughly at least once a week. Your vacuum cleaner is your best prevention from fleas. Pay special attention to dark crevices, the space under the furniture, the corners, the space under the beds, rugs, your pet’s bed, and around baseboards.

Undisturbed and without a blood meal, a flea can live more than 100 days. On average, they live two to three months. Female fleas cannot lay eggs until after their first blood meal and begin to lay eggs within 36-48 hours after that meal.

Trim Grass and Trees In Your Yard: If you have a yard or a garden, make sure they are not too inviting to fleas. Your grass, trees, and shrubs should be regularly trimmed and mowed. This will guarantee your outdoor area doesn’t look too appealing to fleas and ticks.

By trimming the grass, you’re not leaving a lot of space for fleas to hide. On the other hand, trimming trees and high shrubs will discourage wild animals from crawling in your yard and bringing fleas with them.

Also, don’t leave your pet’s food bowls outside because feral pets and wildlife might visit your yard because of food.

Spray Your Yard: If you want to feel extra safe and make sure pests will have no chances of coming even near your home, then buy a good yard flea spray.

This is a great way of making sure that all fleas that might be on your shoes or clothes are destroyed before you enter your home. By doing so, your yard will be both kid-friendly and pet-friendly.

Spray treatment for lawns, trees, shrubs or flowers has proven to be a great way to eliminate pests and repel not only fleas and ticks, but mosquitoes, ants and many other insects too.