Recent NewsIt never seems to end, does it? Your pets are clean, your house is clean, but you still have fleas. What gives? Fleas have got to be some of the most annoying, because they seemingly appear out of nowhere and last for ages.
Fleas are a wingless, blood sucking insect that feed on animals. Most fleas spend their time on animals, blood feeding for several days or until they are groomed or knocked off. The cat flea doesn’t infest humans, but can, and will, bite humans for a blood meal.
Fleas have a relatively simple life cycle – the female flea must take a blood meal in order to produce eggs, and then lays her eggs within 2 days of her first blood meal. The eggs are typically found in pet bedding, carpet, upholstery. A single female flea can lay up to 27 eggs per day for around 9 days. The female flea also excretes what she doesn’t use of the blood meal as feces, often termed “flea dirt,” which serves as food for her young. The feces looks just like dirt, and can most easily be seen in the fur of infested animals.
Thankfully, fleas are relatively easy to control.
- All a flea needs to survive is flea dirt. Vacuum wherever fleas are suspected. A flea collar in the vacuum’s bag is an effective way to control new flea growth inside the vacuum.
- Flea bombs are a way to quickly kill adult fleas, but they present their problems – they must be used in a tightly closed area, are designed for specific square footage, and they will not kill adults at all if used incorrectly. Also, there are really only a few pesticides licensed for indoor use.
- Diatomaceous Earth is a great way to kill eggs and larvae, thought it doesn’t work as well on adults, but works a bit. Spread the DE around any areas where fleas are found, wait a bit, then vacuum it up.
- Vacuum at least twice a day, wash bedding, and clean upholstery, and within a month you should have interrupted the life cycle.
Tags: controlling pleas, Diatomaceous Earth, fleas, pesticides