While being a pet owner is lovely, there are definitely plenty of different nuisances that can tarnish this experience. For instance — your dog or cat could end up catching fleas and messing up your household; the blood-sucking parasites are definitely an issue.
And yes, one of the potential solutions is definitely hiring professional flea removal services. Talking about fleas, we are talking about one of the most common disease-spreading insects. However, that being said — there are plenty of home remedies for fleas that are perfectly natural; without the use of any potentially dangerous chemicals. And we’ll explore some of the most often used ones right here!
Issues with flea bites
So, what is the main problem with fleas? Generally, it’s almost always their nasty biting. Sure, it should be noted that fleas rarely end up biting humans; but they’re still a huge issue for your lovely pets. And while they’re nothing near a bee sting when it comes to pain levels — if a flea does end up biting you, you’ll definitely be aware of it. Swelling and irritation are known to appear around the affected area. Seeing as fleas can be transmitters of dangerous diseases — we’ll cover some of the ways to get rid of them!
Using dish soap
The first flea trap on our list is also one of the easiest ones to come up with. Basically, you’ll be making a flea trap mixture with water and some dish soap. It’s definitely the easiest thing here — you just take some warm water, fill up a bowl or a deep plate, and mix it up with dish soap. If you know which rooms are the most susceptible to fleas in your household — leave this bowl there.
Now, to us, this solution seems completely mild — but it can be deadly to fleas. To be more precise — the relatively small size of the fleas and the solution’s viscosity means that it’s basically a glue to these annoying pests. So, just leave the solution in your room overnight and repeat the process for a couple of days; you will be rid of the nuisance soon enough.
Baking soda solutions
Next up, we’ve got another home remedy for getting rid of fleas — baking soda. Now, this requires something of an explanation beforehand. Mainly, in the sense that most of these pests are known for finding their way into the fibers of your carpet or your furniture. If that happens, there’s one solution that presents itself — and that’s vacuuming. However, baking soda can actually make it more effective.
So, how do you utilize this home remedy? For starters, line your furniture or your carpets with baking soda. And once that is done, grab the hardest brush you have — and proceed to rub the soda into the given fabric as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to handle the rug as hard as you can — it will be fine afterward. Finally, vacuum the surfaces in question and empty your vacuum. This would probably do the trick.
Salt is a good alternative
If you don’t have baking soda, or you don’t want to use it for some reason — bear in mind that salt is a perfectly fine natural home remedy for fleas. And not only is it not harmful to your and your family — but it’s also something pretty much every household has.
This is particularly useful if you need to remove adult fleas from your household. So, take the salt that you have — if you can choose, finely ground is your best option here. Then, proceed to spread it out evenly across all of your carpets in the affected rooms. Don’t worry — the salt won’t leave any lasting trace on your carpeting, and you can easily vacuum it out once it does its job. When you spread it out, though — make sure you give it at least a couple of days to affect the fleas.
Lemon spray
There are all sorts of uses for lemon spray around your home — and one of the less known ones is getting rid of flies. Many people are aware of the fact that it helps with wasp stings, but you’ll find it quite useful against fleas as well.
If you know precisely what furniture pieces are affected by the fleas — squeeze some lemons into warm water and create a mixture. Put this mixture on the stove and allow it to reach boiling point; at that time, put it in a spray bottle — now it’s ready for application.
Just spray all of the parts of your home that have fleas carefully — you’ll see that this spray will quickly send them running. Though, make sure that you don’t soak your furniture with this too much; the acidic properties of the lemon may do lasting damage to wooden furniture finishes.
Rosemary
When it comes to organic materials that repel fleas and send them scattering — there aren’t many of those more useful than rosemary. This product is essential for getting rid of lighter infestations when you think that any other of the methods above would constitute overkill.
So, if you believe that using rosemary is enough — you can make an anti-flea powder from herbs such as rosemary — along with peppermint, fennel, and rue. All of this can be mixed with a mortar and pestle — use these to create a fine powder. Once you’ve got it, feel free to use the powder on all of your furniture pieces where you’ve spotted the fleas. However, bear in mind that this herbal mixture isn’t designed to actually kill fleas, unlike some of the other home remedies above. Instead, it merely drives them away from your household — which may also be enough.
Other Plant Repellants
While plants themselves will hardly kill fleas — they’re probably the least intrusive way to deal with the pests organically in your household. There are very specific plants that are effective at repelling fleas and other insects that bite.
Such plants are effective because of the chemicals, compounds, and certain oils which they contain; the fleas hate these materials and attempt to avoid them at all costs. You will find that spearmint, lavender, and chrysanthemums are also effective in this regard.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, there are plenty of home remedies for fleas — the one you’ll use depends solely on your personal preferences and what you find as the best solution. Sometimes only adding a slight amount of apple cider vinegar to your dog’s water, daily, can help eliminate the pests entirely!
