Natural Flea Remedies for the Home

Its gets to be that nasty time of year, every June in the northern hemisphere, when fleas begin to run wild, sucking the blood of every living thing in site. All joking aside and in addition to itching, sores, skin allergies, and nasty bites on ankles and pets, there are better reasons to rid your home and yard of fleas.

Fleas carry several bacteria, parasites, and viruses. In addition to intestinal worms, hook worms, and other worms that will invade the muscular and brain tissue of the fleas next victim, fleas can carry deadly viruses and bacteria such as The bubonic plague, plague, pneumonic plague, and flea born typhus. Fleas can also cause blood loss, anemia, dehydration, and eventual death if left unchecked.

It only takes one pregnant flea hitchhiking in on wildlife, a pants cuff, or the mail carrier to infest a home within days. One female flea in her prime can lay 40 eggs per day and which only take roughly 3 days to full cycle into a new batch of hungry adult fleas.

Natural Flea Remedies - Home Prevention

Take a preemptive strike against fleas and start measures before the first flea is seen. The day after the last frost of the season, start your routine by cleaning house. Rid the year and house of clutter and remove all hiding places the flea and your pets or wild animals could nest.

Next, begin a daily regimen of vacuuming all carpets and damp mopping all hard floors with a mixture of all natural dish soap and water. This drowns any fleas that try to move in the home. At least once per week, move the furniture and vacuum and mop beneath it. Keep the undersides of beds cleared and mop or vacuum beneath them daily. As a bonus this 30 minutes of daily cleaning spurt will keep the home clean and smelling fresh.

Finally, use a mixture of baking soda, salt, and diatomaceous earth made for pest control. Never use the kind made for pools or water filtration as it has been heat-treated and is akin to fiberglass. This mixture can be used inside the home on the carpets and floors once per month hand outdoors after every rainfall. It works by acting as a desiccant, drying up the eggs, larva, and adult fleas. It is safe for pets and kids. Leave the first application on the floors indoors for three days before sweeping or vacuuming up so that it gets into the cracks and deep into the carpet.

Natural Flea Remedies - Yards and Gardens And Pets

Using the powdered mixture above and a grass seed-spreader spread a liberal amount about the property at least after each rainfall. Then plant herbs around the garden the fleas find offensive such as marigolds, lavender, and eucalyptus.

Outdoor pets such as cats, dogs, and livestock can also be dusted with this mixture once per month, but avoid using it on pregnant pets, puppies and kittens under 6-weeks old. If the pets tolerate it and fleas have been found on them, give them a bath with natural dish soap-such as 7th Generation Lavender or Method-at least once per week. After they are dried, dust them with the powdered mixture.

Prevent flea infestations during the winter months by continuing these remedies at least once per week in homes with indoor pets.

Natural Flea Remedies VS. chemical Treatments

While it may seem like more work to treat the home and pets naturally for fleas, it has some advantages. Chemical flea treatments are pesticides which attack the nervous systems of the flea and can do damage to the nervous system of the pet. Each label comes with precautions not to use it if the human is pregnant or nursing. Not to come into contact with the chemical, and that the chemical can cause cancer, illness, nausea, vomiting, and other reactions. By not putting these on our pets we save them form the discomfort associated with putting toxins on them and minimize ours and our children's exposure to dangerous and toxic pesticides.