Can Vacuuming Kill Fleas?
According to extensive studies conducted at Ohio State University, vacuuming is indeed an effective way of getting rid of fleas! Through these studies, scientists discovered that vacuuming killed 96% of adult fleas from carpets and 100% of the flea pupae and larvae.
This is fantastic news for those wanting to get rid of fleas in their homes easily, effectively, and in the shortest time possible!
However, things are a little different if you have pets!
What to do before you start vacuuming to get rid of fleas if you have pets. Vacuuming alone will not be effective at ridding your home of fleas if you have pets! It is essential that you first get rid of the fleas on your pets, and keep them flea-free before you take on the job of eliminating them entirely from your home!
Without doing this, no amount of vacuuming will get rid of the fleas in your home, because your pets will be bringing more in daily!
In other words, keeping your pets flea-free and at the same time, vacuuming them from the carpets in your home regularly, is the only way to do the job effectively!
Should I vacuum every day to keep my home flea-free?
Although you would think it necessary to vacuum every day to keep the fleas at bay, the experts recommend that vacuuming every second day is sufficient, when you first start getting rid of the infestation.
This is because flea eggs take 2 to 3 days to hatch after they have been laid, so by vacuuming every second day, you are preventing them from hatching and becoming more of a problem.
Do I need a special vacuum cleaner?
This is a logical question, seeing that professional pest control companies are seen in brochures or television commercials, to be using special equipment. The cleaners these companies use have specially designed attachments and extenders for removing a wide variety of household pests such as dust mites, fleas, ticks, bed bugs, and ants. Pest control companies can afford to buy expensive, specialised equipment that is designed to be used all day, every day.
However, as a private homeowner, you don’t need the heavy-duty, specialised cleaners that are used by professional pest control companies. Your home vacuum cleaner will do the job effectively, provided that it has a powerhead or beater bar. It is also a good idea to have a hand vacuum cleaner or extension wand attachment to reach those awkward corners, cracks, and crevices.
Important!
As soon as you are finished vacuuming, empty the bag or cleaner itself into a plastic bag, seal it tightly, and throw it in your outside dust bin immediately!
Natural remedies to get rid of fleas
These days, most people are in favour of “green” living and will go out of their way to avoid using chemicals to get rid of flea infestations.
Sometimes it takes a combination of vacuuming, together with other methods to get rid of flea infestations entirely.
If you are reluctant to use chemicals in your home or on your animals to kill off fleas, then you will be happy to know that there is a wide variety of natural treatments to use in your home and on your pets, that will in no way do any damage to the environment. Just a few of these include:
For your pets:
Lemon bath
Apple cider vinegar and salt spray
Organic shampoos
For your home:
A flea trap made with dish soap and water
Baking soda
Herbal flea spray
Diatomaceous earth
It’s not just the fact that some people are reluctant to use chemicals, however, but also the fact that fleas will eventually become resistant to the chemical flea control methods available on the market today. This is why researchers are constantly trying to find non-toxic ways to get rid of fleas, even going so far as to study the use of ultraviolet light as a solution to the problem!
In conclusion
As you can see, vacuuming can help a lot to kill off the fleas in your home, but it is important that you do whatever else is necessary too, to get rid of the fleas on your pets as well.
The great thing is though, that you can have a flea-free home without having to use expensive equipment, or toxic chemicals that are not only bad for your pets, but can also possibly do further damage to our already fragile environment!
