Help! My 1-bedroom apartment is overrun w/ fleas! Have already sprayed rugs/mattress & boxspring/ cushions, etc. w/ "Raid" and washed cushion covers & bedsheets w/ bleach. They've come back in less than a week...what can we use besides a "fogger"? I've got allergies (besides to the fleas) & my boyfriend has a lung condition... really don't want to use the chemical stuff if we can help it. Any suggestions are welcome!!
There is an organic flea trap, I believe it can be obtaind through R.C.Steele. Basically, it consists of sticky paper and a night light. You leave the night light on and the fleas are drawn to it and get stuck on the sticky paper. They offer refill packs. You can probably also pick this up at pet centers.
The other reply has good advice but to add to it, vaccuum everyday and throw the bag outside don't keep it in the house. Vaccuum the furniture. Wash the curtains. Don't put them back up until the problem is solved use blinds or a shade. Wash the floors using fleas repellant floor soap. I got this recipe from Clean and Green by Annie Berthold-Bond. slice 4 lemons place in a pan with just enough water to cover and simmer for an hour. Squeeze the lemons and strain. Pour into a bucket add 1tbsp. vegetable oil based soap a few drops penneyroyal and a gallon of water. Mop and let dry on floor and then rinse thoroughtly. Hope this helps
I am a veterinarian and have been battling fleas professionally for 20 yrs. Sadly, there is no truely effective organic solution to a severe home flea infestation. The above mentioned ideas may help some, as well as reducing the relative humidity in the house (air conditing or heating)-the larval stage requires humidity to survive BUT an integrated pest management approach
Infestation of fleas,cont that uses one of the insect growth hormones is the least toxic and effective.I certainly wouldn't spray Raid in my house - that stuff is truely poison!
I had luck with garlic. Sprinkle your rugs with garlic powder or garlic salt. Let it sit for an hour or so (depends on how long you can take the smell) & vacuum. I did this 4 times. It worked so well that I started to give my dogs a garlic glove mashed in their food & never had fleas again. Garlic is good for dogs too, lots of vitamins.
Go the a vet and get a prescription if Advantage and put little dots of the medicine around doors and windows. It's not organic, but it works VERY well. One application last for months
Wear a dust mask and very lightly sprinkle boric acid on your floor and between cushions on all furniture. Be sure to put it in corners and along baseboards.
Wait one day and vacuum while wearing a dust mask.
Keep a light sprinkling on the floor and around your front and back doors at all times. Once it gets wet the boric acid is ineffective.
You can also check with Organic Solution, San Antonio, Texas (800) 862-7482. They have a powder made of diatameous earth and sasafras leaves that I believe can be used in the house.
If you have pets, you should bathe them with a gentle shampoo and rinse them with a solution made from steeping citrus peels in boiling water. Allow the water to cool, strain and rinse pets. You should also add some powdered garlic to every meal the animal eats. It will also help keep the fleas and mosquitoes off.
I would ask the landlord if its ok to rip out the carpet and keep bare wood floors if you havent already done this. Along with all the smart ideas everybody else had, introducing beneficial nematodes will kill fleas in grass. This could be where your dog is picking them up. So order some beneficial nematodes and wait till sundown and spray them on the lawn outside of your apt house. this will help a lot. good luck,
I have house full of pets and live in a flea climate (PNW). Best luck with diatomacious earth on carpet and furniture cushions. If you have pets, use Advantage, no other product works. The best thing I did was get new carpet and leather furniture....
I had good luck with diatomaceous earth. I started by putting a little on the source (dog), then did his bed then the house. It took about 3 days to reduce the numbers, and by 10 days, they were gone.
I have used borax (the only borax I could find was Boraxso laundry powder) and it worked like a charm. I took a mayo jar and put holes in it and just sprinkled it all over my rugs and under furniture cushions. I then took my broom and just swept it in and you can't see it at all. After a couple of days I vacumed. Make sure you get it around the edges good and I never worried about leaving some in the rug. I was always afraid to use anything like Advantage on my dog, living in Florida, fleas were always a problem until I started this.
