Flea Infected Carpets? Get rid of the pests immediately!
If you find fleas on your carpets, a lot of questions will come to your mind, especially when you have pets in your house. How to get rid of these nasty pests? Vacuum cleaning is definitely a method and so is steam cleaning. Throwing away an expensive carpet may not be a wise decision too. But in the first place, how do fleas come to your carpets? What about the furniture? Are they their next targets?
Go through this article which will guide you, how to remove these fleas from your carpets and a lot more.
Fleas generally to come to your home through pets. The pets may be yours or could be your neighbors. Fleas jumping from outdoor yards are also a reason for flea infection in your home but that is not so common if you have a moderately clean house.
Innocent pets do not realize that they are the bridge for flea infiltrations. Adult female fleas feed on your pets’ blood and they are their soft targets. Adult female fleas can lay about 20 to 50 eggs per day and by nature, the eggs are not sticky and tend to fall off from your pet’s skin, usually when they are having a relaxing time on your carpet.
Within 2 weeks the eggs hatch. The furry surfaces of the carpets give a warm and moist environment to the eggs which accelerate the hatching. In no time you will find a legion of fleas in your carpet which comprise of adults, fleas, and nymphs.
Stay calm. Do not get rid of all your priced belongings, just because they are infected by fleas. If you feel that the dog or the cat is the carrier of fleas then put the poor pet on its bed and keep it away from the infected place for some time. Tie a flea collar on your pet’s neck and apply pesticides like flea removal products on the suspected areas.
Once you get rid of the fleas, do a thorough vacuum cleaning or steam cleaning. Fleas are easier to get rid of, comparing to bed bugs where you really need a professional pest exterminator. But we still suggest, consult a local pest exterminator to get proper guidance and useful result if you have a serious specific problem.
Flea sprays or flea foggers will definitely get rid of the adult fleas but what about the eggs? Flea eggs don’t glue to your pet’s skin and they fall from the skins of your pets on the ground, which could be your carpet, your couch or on any furniture where your pet is acquainted with.
If the surrounding temperature around the eggs is warm and moist they tend to hatch quickly which might take a few days or a week. The flea eggs are not vulnerable to flea foggers or flea bombs because of their outer shells. These products are perfect for adult fleas. In fact, the application of a product containing IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) is always preferable.
These insecticides disturb the hormone growth in insects which prevent reproduction, delay hatching and interrupt in the evolution. Precor is a flea bomb that contains Permethrin as an ingredient which is an insecticide to kill adult fleas. On the other hand (S)-Methoprene is an IGR ingredient that does not kill insects but works as an insect growth regulator.
It restricts larvae to transfer from pupae to be adults. You could always use flea shampoo or fasten a flea collar to your pets to remove fleas from their bodies. This lessens the chance of re-infection. You should also think aloud why your carpet became the easy breeding ground for fleas in the first place? Once you get rid of them, make sure they don’t come back again.
Watch this video to know how to get rid of fleas in 4 easy steps:
When you get to know that your home is flea infected the first places to search for them are your carpets and floors. Below listed are some frequently asked questions (FAQs) by people who realized that fleas are there in their carpets.
As an initial instrument for flea removal, your vacuum cleaner can be useful but keep in mind that the result is momentary. High chances are there that you may overlook the gang of fleas and their eggs in your carpet as you do not know the actual places of their existence.
We recommend that you heal your pets first, wait for some time and apply a flea fogger like the Precor model. Vacuum cleaning is a good initiative but it must be followed by chemical treatment and a pet treatment so that the seriousness of infiltration on carpets diminishes drastically. Keep in mind that flea eggs can find a warmer environment inside your vacuum cleaner too.
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Like the vacuum cleaner, steam cleaning can be the first step to remove fleas from your carpet. They are capable of removing fleas in their all stages, especially for larvae and cocoons which are difficult for vacuum cleaners to eradicate. Chemical treatments on the fleas and your pets are essential.
But you should wait for a week so that few flea life cycles end. Cleaning the carpets in a hurry may disturb the IGR which stops new fleas from breeding. Do a steam cleaning, as the high temperature is a killer itself for fleas. All stages of fleas die at the temperature which exceeds 100.40 F or 380 C.
Once done, use chemicals on the fleas which will disturb the IGR and treat your pets well so that the rest of the fleas fall off from their skins. Steam cleaning may give a pungent smell but it is worth bearing.
Baking soda is the easiest home remedy to get rid of fleas from your carpets. But baking soda alone does not work as a proper pesticide; you have to mix it with equal measures of salt to make the mixture effective. Generally, we all have baking sodas in our kitchen as it is our regular baking agent.
But to use it as a pesticide for fleas you must be sure whether it is fresh and effective. Just add vinegar to a little amount of baking soda, if you see bubbles coming out from the solution, consider your baking soda being operative.
Now, how to apply on the carpets:
Fleas intrude on your furniture for short-term lodging. Your pets bring them to your home who hang out on your sofas, couches, tables and other different corners of your house. Apply a pesticide that contains IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) on your furniture.
These pesticides kill adult fleas and do not allow eggs, larvae, and pupae to grow up to move to the next step. The final step is using a vacuum cleaner. Apply the correct attachments which come with the cleaner to suck these dead insects, eggs, larvae, and pupae from their hidden places.
Use the upholstery tool for sofas, chairs, and cushions and use the crevice nozzle for deep tighter spots. Still, if you are having problems with flea infestations in your furniture, try our search tool, for more effective results.
It is nothing less than a war against a huge army of opponents residing at your home. If your home provides a warm and moist atmosphere, the war worsens, as fleas tend to reproduce thousands in a humid ambiance.
When focussing on your carpets, you should concentrate on your furniture too when fleas infiltrate your home. Treated areas at your home restrict fleas to re-populate on those places in the future. So take precautions!
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