DIY Pest Control Products

There is a reason why fleas are real troublesome pests despite their size. Because they cannot be seen easily and are real quick to hop and hide around, they can easily bite, multiply, and infest inside your home. Eventually, you’ll feel truly uncomfortable inside your own space.

A dog owner did once complain about the fleas that kept on attacking and infesting his place. He says he cleaned the house basement to the point that he already kept all of his dogs outside his house and did not allow them to linger inside.  But then, whenever visitors came to visit the basement, fleas would cling on them and the house will once more be full of fleas.  He thinks maybe using a growth regulator would do him good to get rid of those fleas. But then, is it a solution?

We might want to sort out the problem regarding the fleas in the basement area. He claims that the dogs don’t go in there anymore, but once used to be a place they stayed in. Then it’s clearly possible he might have once cleaned all those fleas out but then wasn’t able to get rid of the eggs or the pupae that remained in the basement.

Eggs, larvae, and pupae are usually the hardest to get rid of since you cannot see where they’ve remained hidden. The larvae usually remain on and in the dust or in places or materials where it seems warm and has a lot of organic particles to serve as food. Once it becomes a pupa it prepares itself to become the adult flea. And despite hard cleaning to get rid of the adult ones, the pupae will continue to develop into adult. The trickiest part is the unpredictability of the pupae’s maturity.  While most  mature within 3 weeks time some may take months, about 3 to 5, in order to start acting and adapting the characteristics of an adult flea. This is mainly why fleas can seem to "reemerge" when you least expect it.  Moreover, during the pupae stage, the fleas are immune to all sorts of insecticides and make all sorts of purge cleaning impossible to get rid of them.

What probably happened in that man’s basement was that the fleas from outside hid under his dogs’ fur.  When the dogs sat and lingered down the basement perhaps a number of them fell off once the dog shook his fur. Having been dropped off, into the ground, they sought refuge on the dust piles and rugs found in the basement and started producing eggs all over that basement. The eggs themselves may have fallen off from the fur when the dogs were resting in the basement.

Now if you decide on cleaning the area, it is best you choose wisely what type of insecticide or pesticide you will use. Some insecticides will not even be able to kill the pupa and others may not be labeled for use indoors. Thoroughly read the product label before you apply any pesticide. You may want to use some known pesticides like Suspend SC, Diatomaceous Earth, and Dragnet SFR to get rid of the fleas. The effect actually varies depending on their solution. Suspend lasts for a couple of weeks while the Diatomaceous Earth has a solution quite potent enough that could last a lifetime.  However, make sure first that the solution does not become too harsh on your house surfaces. Some might affect your furniture or cause discoloration on some items about your place, thus, before using them you must read the warning sign for safety precautions. The Dragnet SFR is specifically made to be applied on cloth material such as your carpets, rugs, etc. An IGR, on the other hand, should be used regardless. This will interrupt the developing cycles of larvae and eggs of fleas. This means that this will help with controlling reproduction and the population of the fleas that have infested your home.

After all the spraying and sweeping is done you must use a vacuum cleaner to suck out all the dust, organic materials, and litter, including the actual parasites from your home. Focus on vacuuming the rugs, carpet, window sills, and doorstep. Do not miss places like the corners of the room and all the cracks and crevices that are by the walls.  Make sure you also vacuum your couch and underneath the couch because fleas find it really comfortable, especially when it is constantly sat on by people and is cozy and warm to hide in and under.  Vacuuming is a crucial part of flea control and you want to do it as frequently as daily during the treatment of the infestation.

In general, getting rid of fleas at home is a tricky deal. However, if you consistently vacuum and spray, soon enough you will get rid of those fleas. You cannot blame your pet from carrying them because fleas are the parasites they voluntarily cling and feed on your pets thus; you can only resort to constantly bathing them and trying to use medicines that will prevent a flea infestation. It's actually finding the initiative to trace the source of fleas, vacuum your house and make sure you consistently make it clean, giving no opportunities for fleas to thrive inside and bother the household.