Controlling Fleas Around Your Home

There are many ways that you can help control fleas in and around your home environment; the following tips include:

• Vacuum every day, as this will allow you to remove as many adult fleas, larvae and eggs.  You want to focus your vacuuming tasks on these specific areas: cushioned or upholstered furniture, crevices and cracks in the floors, carpets, basements and along baseboards.
• Strive to steam clean your carpets every once in a while; the soap and hot steam will kill adult fleas and those at any stage of their life cycle.
• When treating your home with certain products or intense cleaning methods, you want to shift your focus to the areas where your pets sleep or lay. Wash their bedding with hot, soapy water every two, three or several weeks, keeping towels across in the meantime to collect any fleas.
• If your flea infestation grows more severe, you may want to invest in brand-new, clean and fresh pet bedding material and discard any old blankets, towels and bedding.
• Suppress adults and eggs with a flea comb; these can successfully help rid fleas, dried blood where the adult fleas feed, dirt and faeces. Ensure you thoroughly comb the tail areas and the neck, as these are the areas many fleas congregate on the pet fur or skin.
• Try to keep your pets indoors as often as possible, as this will prevent them from being bitten by fleas and ticks. If they are already heavily infested, it will prevent the infestation from spreading to other neighbouring pets and rodents.

Vacuuming

Vacuuming is incredibly effective for removing fleas from hard to reach areas and locations, for example, cushioned or soft furnishings, carpets, crevices, floor cracks and pet-play structures.

However, it's best to be aware that vacuuming does not kill fleas but purely collects them, so be sure to place thick tape over the cleaner hose of your vacuum as this will ensure no fleas escape the bag or transfer the vacuum bag outside to a waste bin outdoors.

Laundering

Hot, soapy water is a traditional and highly effective means to kill off fleas at any life stage of development, and it is a method that provides no health risks to people or pets involved in the process. 

It is crucial to continue washing your pet's bedding weekly or as often as possible when treating flea infestations in the home. Ensure you place towels in pet resting areas, making laundering less of an extreme task and more straightforward. 

Fold up pet beds, towels and blankets when moving them to the washing machine or a basin so that any eggs that have hatched or developed do not fall out, land on your furniture or onto the floor. 

Treatment of Premises

Insecticide Application

It's vital to follow the instructions on your container and be sure always to read them carefully. Numerous products are available in the UK for home flea treatment, including the most effective insecticides like dinotefuran, permethrin and imidacloprid. 

These three are known for being lethal to biting adult fleas and are insect growth regulators that prevent the development of larvae and flea eggs, which is helpful for those buildings where fleas are growing at a rapid pace. 

You can often find products like this named Pyriproxyfen and Methoprene.

Household members and those who desire to rid pests from their building must deeply consult the active ingredients of the insecticide products they intend to purchase. 

Popular brands in the UK that include these beneficial ingredients include:

• Flea Killer
• Home Defence
• Flea Insecticide
  
• Flea and Tick Premise Spray
  

Many homeowners tend to find that aerosols are more convenient for regular than liquids; however, it is imperative to be careful when using aerosols openly and ensure you use all the proper protective gear like masks and gloves. It's far better for carpets to treat them with aerosols as they can dry faster.

Any insecticide application must be thorough and careful, ensuring you include all critical areas where your fleas may be developing and nesting. 

Throw rugs, carpets, behind and underneath beds and across all essential furniture must be treated, even the sofa cushions, especially those your pets sleep on. It's paramount to pay close attention to the locations where your pets spend a great deal of their time, as that is usually where most pupae, larvae, and eggs will be.

If the family cat tends to take afternoon naps on chairs or under beds, ensure you treat these well with plenty of product. 

Concrete, tile and hardwood floors often don't need to be treated; however, you should aim to vacuum them as much as possible during times of infestation as vacuuming removes larvae and eggs. 

People and pets must remain treated until your spray has completely dried; this may take hours depending on the application method, carpet type and ventilation.

Flea Traps

One of the best ways to capture adult fleas within the household or establishment property is to utilise a flea trap involving glue boards and a single light. These kinds of traps also allow one to monitor the treatment status. 

They aren't known for eliminating the infestation unless you use them in a skilful combination with various other methods. 

You can utilise an alternating green light that turns on and off as a way to trap the fleas and catch them off guard; this is one of the most common and effective flea trap techniques on the UK market. 

The off and on flickering light imitates the shadows of passing animals that they may attach themselves to. Plenty of research has demonstrated that fleas are more likely to respond to green light than various other colours or wavelengths. You can purchase a wide variety of flea traps of this kind online.