What are Fleas Attracted To?

A flea infestation is a nightmare that is difficult to resolve. None of us want our pets (or us!) to have fleas, and we all want to avoid infestation. Many wonder what are fleas attracted to?

You can round up the factors that attract fleas to your home into three categories:

Stray or wild animals on your property
Furry pets
Debris and tall grass in your yard

This article dives deeper into these things that may draw fleas into your home and life. Read on to get insights on preventing and managing flea infestation in your home.

Three Things Attracting Fleas Into Your Home

1. Stray or Wild Animals

Wild animals and stray pets can be infested with fleas. So if you bring stray animals into your home (or if they set up a den in your space), you will likely have a flea infestation. The situation worsens if your yard attracts rodents such as squirrels and rats.

These animals carry fleas that can jump onto your furniture or carpet.

When these insects get into a warm and moist environment, they multiply to cause an infestation. Keeping your home free of anything that attracts rodents, stray dogs, or cats is very important. In addition, ensure your home is free of debris and waste, particularly if your home isn’t always inhabited.

2. Fluffy Pets

Fleas love a warm and moist environment; thus, your fluffy pets create an ideal host for them away from the human eye. If you keep a cat or a dog, they might bring fleas to your home. Kittens are a particular problem, as you don’t want to use pesticides on kittens.

Fortunately, fleas don’t survive for a long time on pet rodents like guinea pigs .

Fleas thrive in warm and humid environments.

As you take your dog on a walk, fleas are likely to jump on them, and because your pet creates a suitable feeding environment, they multiply faster.

If not controlled early, these fleas will fall onto your carpets, bedding, or sofa sets, causing a menace.

3. Debris And Tall Grass In Your Yard

Another thing that attracts fleas to your home is an overgrown yard. When a flea falls into your yard with tall grass or debris, it lands in a perfect breeding ground. Additionally, an unkempt yard attracts rodents such as rats and squirrels that are known to carry fleas and worse: ticks.

These animals leave fleas on your property, which in most cases jump on your pets or your clothing and end up inside your home.

How to Manage Flea infestation in Your Home

Now that you know the three major things that attract fleas to your home, let’s look at ways of managing a flea infestation.

1. Schedule Regular Flea-Control Treatment

Managing a flea infestation in your home takes more than one pest treatment. For one, most pesticides do not eradicate all larvae, and thus it is very important to do regular treatments.

Doing this can cover larvae maturing after you have finished treatment.

Secondly, as you and your pets continue to go outside, they bring in fleas; thus, regular treatment is key to managing them from breeding into a menace.

2. Wash and Flea Comb Your Pet

As you know, pets are great carriers of fleas. They are a feeding ground and, thus, the main cause of flea infestations. It is essential to do a routine flea treatment of your pets to get rid of them.

The best way to do this is by giving your cat or dog a bath and a flea comb. Soap has the same effect on the flea as an insecticide, so you want to ensure you use an adequate amount of soap.

After that, use a comb to manually remove the fleas from your pet.

A good comb would be the stainless steel flea comb by Magic Coat. It has tightly spaced teeth to allow you to remove fleas easily.

Apart from regular cleaning, you can contact your vet for topical or oral treatment for heavy infestation. Unlike bathing, medical treatments help to prevent fleas from multiplying further on your pet.

After treating your pets, it is a good idea to limit them from going outside or interacting with stray animals. This prevents them from becoming flea-ridden again.

3. Wash Your Bedding with Hot water

Suppose you share a bed with your pet. It is important to clean your bedding with hot water often, say twice a week. Using a washing machine, you want to set it to the highest heat your fabric can handle.

The heat plus the soap kills any flea that is on your fabric. Using a dryer after that allows you to eliminate any surviving fleas.

4. Regular Vacuum Cleaning

Regular vacuum cleaning ensures that fleas do not multiply in your home. Vacuum cleaning is an effective way of removing flea eggs and larvae from your home. So, even after treating your home and cleaning your pets, it is important to vacuum clean your house to prevent the fleas from multiplying further.

You want to focus more on areas where your pet rests, carpet and rugs, and other places where fleas are most likely to hide.

Also, if you have a specific place for your pets, it is important to prioritize those areas. This way, you can get hold of any flea present before they get out of hand.

5. Cut Grass And Remove Debris In Your Yard

Fleas thrive in warm and humid environments, so tall grass and debris create an ideal ground for fleas to live and breed. Therefore, it is very important always to clean your compound of debris and keep your grass.

Keeping short grass exposes fleas to sunlight, thus minimizing their growth. Also, a clean yard will keep away rodents that drop fleas into your yard.

Spraying your property with insecticides, especially in areas where your pets love to rest, prevents the fleas from multiplying further. These areas include the perimeter of your house, along the fences, and under decks.

6. Steam Clean Upholstery

Steam cleaning is one effective way of managing fleas in all stages. And most people would tell you to steam clean your house when fleas heavily infest you. Steam cleaning is conducted at very high temperatures and is ideal for removing fleas deep in your carpets or furniture. The high heat eliminates adult fleas and destroys larvae and eggs.

Steam cleaning has proven to be very effective, especially when you follow it up with regular vacuum cleaning.

7. Call A Professional Flea Exterminator

If you have tried all of the above ways and still cannot get a hold of the infestation, then it is time to call in a professional. They will help you assess the infestation level and determine its cause.

Then, because of their experience with a flea infestation, they safely use stronger chemicals to manage the infestation.

How Do You Know Your Pet Has Fleas?

Fleas are very tiny and agile insects that are very difficult to notice (it can be hard to tell the difference between fleas and fruit flies). And sometimes, it can be hard to know your pet has fleas.

So how do you know your cat or dog is infested? Here are the things you should look out for:

Excessive scratching in one particular area
Brownish-black dirt that turns red underwater on your pet
Presence of fleas on hair follicles

How Long Does It Take to Get Rid of Fleas?

How long it will take to manage fleas in your home depends on the level of infestation. If you are dealing with a mild infestation, two days of vacuum cleaning and treating your pet will get rid of the fleas.

However, for a substantial infestation, it will take you more time. This is so because you will be dealing with adult fleas, larvae, and eggs for heavy infestation.

How long it will take to manage fleas in your home depends on the level of infestation.

This means that one steam cleaning or insecticide treatment will not be enough. You need regular treatment. The more consistent you are, the quicker you will be over with it.

Why Do You Need to Take Early Action on Fleas?

For one, fleas multiply quickly, making you and your pets uncomfortable. Flea bites irritate and, in some people, cause serious allergic reactions.

Secondly, like mosquitoes, fleas are agents of transmitting diseases from one host to another. Some of the common diseases that flea is known to spread include;

Plague from wild animals
Typhus from cats and rats

Moreover, fleas transmit tapeworms in cases where your child or your pet accidentally swallows. Additionally, flea bites can also cause serious skin conditions such as dermatitis.

Conclusion

Eliminating a flea infestation in your home can sometimes be daunting, but it is possible with good sanitation and treating your pets. If you sense a fela problem, it’s best to take action early before things get too hot to handle. Start vacuum cleaning and chemical treating your home as soon as you notice signs of fleas.

Also, taking your pet to the vet for medical treatment kills the fleas and prevents them from multiplying further.

It is important that every time you treat or clean your house, you also treat your pets to ensure that they do not re-infest your house. Additionally, keeping your yard clean and free from stray animals helps to ensure that your pets do not get fleas anytime they are outside.