Having to deal with a case of a flea infestation is not an easy job. Your pet may be the one to bring the fleas inside your home, but you still are the one that needs to deal with it before it’s too hard to manage on your own. Usually, fleas would be infesting your carpet and make it their home, so it’s always better to act quickly instead of throwing away a still great carpet.
Through this guide, you can learn about the things you can do to get rid of fleas on your carpet.
How Do Fleas Get Onto Your Carpet?
Although it’s not true with 100 percent of the cases, if you own a pet dog or cat, you’ll ultimately get a case of the fleas. When your pet carries them inside your house (typically by interacting with other animals), your pet becomes the insect’s cargo vessel for its eggs.
Adult female fleas lay approximately 20 to 50 eggs per day. These eggs aren’t so sticky and typically fall off to the ground, and with this, they get onto where your pet commonly lies around comfortably—your carpet. Within a week or two, the flea eggs hatch.
As insulators, carpets secure the eggs in a warm environment, which will significantly reduce the number of days needed for them to hatch and let nature run its course. Over time, there will already be a full-blown flea infestation with a combination of eggs, nymphs, and adults scattered around your carpet or floor.
What To Do With a Flea Infested Carpet?
If you have a flea-infested carpet, you don’t have to immediately throw it out of the way or tear it up. It’s probably best to keep it in place for the time being.
A better strategy would be to treat your pet, place a flea collar on them, and treat the affected rooms and areas with flea removal products. Ultimately, a simple vacuum and steam solution would be perfect for cleaning up everything after the fleas are dead.
And fortunately, unlike bed bugs, it’s much easier to beat fleas without needing the help of a professional. Still, it’s recommended to at least consult one regarding your specific situation.
It’s essential to take some time to learn why your carpet grew to be a flea breeding grounded in the first place to decrease the chance of getting them all over again.
How to Remove Fleas In Your Carpet
When your home becomes flea-infested, it’s essential to consider your carpet when starting your war against these pesky parasites. To have a successful flea control, you must be consistent with its prevention. Medicated pet flea products are the best way to prevent flea infestation in your home when used correctly. If you have a flea-infested home, it’s vital to treat all your pets, even when they don’t go outside. It’s also essential to treat your yard and home in conjunction with the treatment of your pets.
Vacuuming
Fleas infest carpets due to them strongly resembling hair. If you’ve discovered the issue immediately, thorough vacuuming of your home will most likely fix the issue. Throw the vacuum away outside of your house.
Clean Your Pet’s Bedding
Usually, flea infestation begins with your pet, which is why it’s essential to wash your cat or dog and take them out of the area. Vacuum your pet’s bed, steam clean it, and let it dry outside.
Be sure to cover any fish tanks and take out any bird pets if you have. After preparing and removing any possible infestation sources, it’s time to meticulously clean the rest of your house and pay your carpets special attention.
Steam Cleaning
Steam cleaning the carpets will exterminate fleas in every stage. The steam will remove the four stages in the cycle of a flea—egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Fleas die in temperatures that exceed 38 degrees Celsius. The steam that comes from a professional steam cleaner is double the hotness. Steam cleaning will also rid of any fleas in your furniture.
Wash Your Carpets with Shampoo
Another good way of eliminating flea eggs and fleas on your carpet is by washing it with shampoo.
Though, using shampoo isn’t everyone’s cup of tea since you’ll need to take your carpet out and wash it outside. You can’t just bring the carpeting out of your home. So, unless you have time to bring out your carpets to clean them outside, it would help if you book a steam cleaner to have them deal with the problem.
Use Insecticides
Killing the fleas using insecticides is the most effective way to get rid of the pests. Professional pest controllers know precisely how to deal with a pest-infested home.
Additionally, steam cleaning or using shampoo will decrease the strength of the flea-killing pesticide. So any steam cleaning and washing must be done before you apply insecticides to your carpets. However, you can still dry vacuum your carpets since it won’t affect the insecticides’ strength.
Use Baking Soda with Salt
Another home remedy to treat flea infestation on carpets is by putting baking soda. However, just baking soda isn’t effective on its own. So it would help if you mixed it with finely ground salt in even parts.