Where did fleas come from in an apartment is the first question people ask when small biting insects are found. A lot of people think that the reason for the appearance of fleas in an apartment is pets, which, in fact, are carriers for these insects, but this is not entirely true!
You yourself can be their distributor, bringing them home after a walk along with dirt on your clothes and shoes. Or they will get into your apartment from the entrance or basement, or maybe from neighbors. At first, you won’t even suspect that these insects live next to you. You will only become aware of their presence when they become hungry, look for food, and find you and your pets.
Why are fleas dangerous to humans?
Fleas, whether cat, dog or flea, are dangerous to humans. They feed on the blood of animals and people, including those suffering from dangerous diseases. How dangerous are fleas to humans? Because they can carry these diseases! Among the infections and diseases carried by fleas are the following:
- plague;
- salmonellosis;
- typhus;
- relapsing fever;
- anthrax;
- trypanosomiasis;
- encephalitis;
- tularemia;
- listeriosis.
Interesting fact: cat fleas are more likely to attack humans than dog fleas.
Fleas rarely attack humans, mainly due to the absence of other living creatures. It is easier for them to hide in the fur of pets, and humans do not have such a thick coat of fur, so fleas are not able to live on humans, but they can bite.
Review of effective anti-flea products for home and animals
The flea is tenacious. A powerful chitinous shell - an exoskeleton - protects it from mechanical damage and exposure to chemicals. But there are insecticides that affect the nervous system of insects, destroy the chitinous shell and bring inevitable death to them. Such products should contain the following substances:
- Pyrethrins are natural insecticides that are safe for human and animal health. The insect is paralyzed, after which it dies;
- pyrethroids (permethrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, etc.) are synthetic pesticides with a stronger effect than pyrethrins. Negatively affects the nervous system of domestic animals and fish;
- Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid pesticide. Analog of pyrethroids;
- Nitenpyram is a medicine taken orally. Kills fleas in a maximum of 1.5 hours. Safe for humans and animals;
- Selamectin is a semi-synthetic agent. Not used for treating pregnant and lactating animals, puppies, kittens and sick individuals;
- fipronil is a product for treating animal hair.
Why are there fleas in cities?
Fleas are as common in cities as pigeons and crows. They first chose five-story buildings, and then the multi-story apartment buildings that appeared. In cities, fleas are comfortable: they do not freeze in winter, because apartments and basements are warm, they do not have to starve, because there are a large number of stray and domestic animals. And apartment buildings allow them to easily migrate and spread. Even if treatment has begun in one apartment, some of the fleas will have time to move into the next room through accessible exhaust systems or through an open door.
Established comfortable conditions contribute to con in cities and towns.
Where did fleas come from in a private house in the country or in the village?
We've sorted out the cities. Where do fleas come from in a private home? Most often they enter the house through animals - cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits and others. Since it is more comfortable and safer to breed in a warm house than in the grass outside, fleas remain permanently. Earth fleas can get into the house on your shoes and clothes; you just need to walk through an area of soil infested with them, and the parasites will attach themselves to you. There are cases when fleas enter a wooden house on the soles of shoes in the form of larvae or eggs and only after some time, having reached a certain stage of development, they begin to attack the residents.
Why are there fleas in the apartment?
Most often, fleas appear in an apartment for the following reasons from different places:
- a domestic animal carried them on its fur;
- rats running behind baseboards at night are excellent carriers of fleas;
- entered from the basement or from neighbors through the ventilation system;
- got into the house from the attic;
- were brought from a store or warehouse with furniture or other household goods;
- were brought in with clothes or shoes after visiting parks or regular yard areas;
- transferred by a person after contact with a stray dog or cat;
- a cluttered room with unsanitary conditions is perfect for fleas to settle in.
Parasite Habitats
To effectively and quickly destroy parasites, it is important to know its favorite habitats and breeding places:
- Animal bedding, cracks in wood floors and baseboards, behind carpets in places where your pet likes to rest.
- Heaps of uncollected trash in the closet or on the mezzanine.
- Garbage in hard-to-reach corners.
- Carpets and under them (how to get rid of genital fleas in carpets and rugs using pharmaceutical preparations and folk remedies, read more in this article).
- Parasites rarely appear on clothes, but in the secluded corners of closets it is quite possible to find a source of infection.
Important. Pet hair often accumulates under cabinets and upholstered furniture. If it is not cleaned regularly, it is an ideal breeding ground for fleas.
Any dark, warm place in the house can be infested with fleas. Since these blood-sucking insects can live for a long time without food, up to two months, and their larvae are viable for a year, even old other people’s things stored in a niche or on the mezzanine can serve as a breeding ground for parasites in the apartment.
Why are there fleas in the apartment if there are no animals?
Listed above are the most well-known and common causes of fleas in an apartment, and even if you do not have a pet, they may apply to you. For example, if your neighbors have a pet, he may leave you a “surprise” in the form of fleas on the rug in front of the front door.
If you work in a warehouse or in a room with poor working conditions, where unsanitary conditions are widespread and incoming products are not checked, and the room is not regularly treated, then you can bring fleas on your work clothes. From the same room, fleas will go to the buyer of a new sofa or household appliances, and he will be perplexed - “where do the fleas come from in my clean apartment, where renovations were done just yesterday?”
How to find a flea nest in an apartment?
A flea bite cannot be confused with anything, as it is very unpleasant, and there is constant itching at the site of the bite. If you exhibit these symptoms, you need to look for where these bloodsucking creatures live in your home and get rid of them as quickly as possible. If you observed that fleas are at a height of 40 centimeters above your floor, then somewhere nearby is their nest or source of entry into the apartment, for example through the ventilation system from neighbors. If you have pets, then first of all, inspect them. Most often, they are the carriers and distributors of fleas. After this you can treat all surfaces. And first of all, you need to remove all bedding for further washing, ironing or steaming. Upholstered furniture, mattresses and plush toys should be thoroughly vacuumed and, if possible, treated with a household steam cleaner. Treat the enclosed area, and after a few hours, open the doors and windows for ventilation.
Please note: it is not enough to simply vacuum the furniture and plush dust collectors, it is important to quickly dispose of the collected parasites, so install a disposable paper bag in the vacuum cleaner and after cleaning the room, be sure to pack it in a plastic bag and take it to a street trash bin. Do not use the garbage disposal to avoid spreading fleas throughout your multi-story building!
Most likely, you will not know where the fleas came from in your apartment, but you can prevent their spread. Do not delay the moment of starting their destruction, because if they manage to lay eggs, you will have to fight them for a long time, in a larger space. The newly hatched larvae will lack food - the blood of the animal - and they will move onto the furniture in search of another victim, which may be you. Try to check your pet for bloodsuckers once a week. The flea is easy to recognize - it has a bilaterally flattened body, in the photo it is shown in an enlarged form from various angles.
Preventive measures
To prevent black fleas from appearing in your apartment, you need to block their entry routes:
- Regularly inspect the fur of pets, check for possible accumulation of ectoparasites on the stomach, neck and under the paws.
- Periodically treat cats and dogs with flea repellents and insecticides (Advantix, Barrier, Bars, Dana, Celandine, Frontline). Let animals go outside only wearing anti-flea collars.
- Dry bedding annually in direct sunlight.
- At least 1-3 times a quarter, carry out general cleaning with thorough cleaning and washing of all surfaces.
- Avoid dampness in the room.
- Carefully seal gaps and cracks in floors, walls and under baseboards.
You can verify the presence of parasites using a simple test: place several sheets of stationery paper in the problem area. If after a while small dark insects start jumping on it, you need to urgently start fighting them.
Source
How to get rid of fleas at home?
You can fight fleas in different ways: some prefer folk remedies, while others prefer modern insecticides. The choice is yours. We will tell you about the main ways to get rid of fleas in an apartment, and also support them with reviews from experienced “home exterminators”.
Traditional methods of fighting fleas in the house
To begin with, we can remember what our grandmothers told us: you can fight fleas with herbal decoctions. This is true, but not by all, only by such as wormwood, mint, eucalyptus and pajamas . You can place fresh herbs around the house, or you can use their essential oils by placing cotton wool soaked in them around the apartment.
What will it give? As our ancestors assumed, this method can be used to drive insects out of the apartment, since they do not like the strong smells of herbs. Will this method help? If you live in a private house, it is possible. It will not be possible to smoke them out of an apartment this way; domestic fleas have adapted to many things and are no longer afraid of odors.
Soda with salt for fleas in the apartment
There is another simple folk remedy for fleas - a mixture of salt and soda. To prepare this product you need only three ingredients: salt, soda, water, they are in every home. Equal amounts of water and soda are mixed in water and dissolved. The solution settles for about 12 hours, after which it can be used: sprayed on carpets, soft toys and other fleecy surfaces. The effectiveness of this folk recipe is also not too great. Some fleas will die, and some will hide or run to their neighbors. In addition, this infusion will not help destroy flea eggs.
Folk remedies for fleas are not the most effective, but they will help drive fleas out of a private home when they have just appeared and have not had time to spread.
Modern flea treatments - insecticides
There are also modern methods of flea control designed for self-treatment of an apartment at home. More and more people are recommending liquid products, because they are very easy to use, they are quite effective - dilute them in some water, spray them, ventilate them, and the fleas are gone. Another advantage of modern products is that they leave no smell in the apartment, at least after ventilation there is no smell left. Dichlorvos certainly stinks, but even this product is released with a pleasant floral aroma and no odor at all. It is recommended to wash clothes and bedding at high temperatures using powder. If it is not possible to wash some items or is prohibited by the manufacturer, you can disinfect them with a steam cleaner or a steam generator iron.
You should very well wash the upholstered furniture in the apartment, wash the carpets, rugs and disinfect them along with the floor. But if you choose caustic chemical sprays, you need to familiarize yourself with safe use techniques, because you or your loved ones and pets can get terrible poisoning.
But if you still decide to use them, then you need to follow safety rules. It is imperative to carry out the above-mentioned methods of combating these parasites with gloves, a respirator and goggles. Dichlorvos is a very good remedy and, as a rule, effective, but after it residents need to leave their home for several hours.
It is best to ventilate the room once a day, wash and change bedding, contact a special service at the first sign, if you have a pet, then it is better not to remove the flea collar from it, periodically take pillows and mattresses out into the sun and steam them with a household steamer .
The most famous and effective remedies for fleas in the apartment: Combat, Gett, Raptor, Biorin, Sinuzan, Chlorpirimark, Deltsid, Tsifoks and so on.
You can choose the one that suits you according to price and availability at your nearest store. Pre-read reviews of drugs on the Internet. Here are some of them:
Katya, Moscow
“Fleas appeared on the entire floor of the dorm, they brought wormwood from the park and spread it everywhere - to no avail! We ran to the hardware store, bought Combat SuperSpray for 450 rubles, but there was nothing else. There was just enough for all the rooms on the floor. Due to the slight but pungent smell, we had to evacuate outside. Two hours later they came and ventilated. The next day the fleas were gone. Vacuumed and washed the floors. Now it's clean and fleas don't bite. It’s still not clear why fleas appear in an almost empty room.”
Vitaly Semenovich, Samara
Spray Raptor just saved me on a business trip! They moved me into terrible conditions, I thought fleas would eat me. Well the supermarket had a selection of insect repellent sprays. In terms of price-quality ratio, I chose Raptor; Dichlorvos is too caustic, although cheaper. In general, the aerosol really destroyed all the fleas, a week has passed, I finally got some sleep, the bite marks are almost gone.
Chemical methods of destruction
Chemicals for black fleas are presented in the form of aerosols, emulsions, suspensions, and powders.
Aerosols are the most effective , but the effect of their use is short-term. Four days after the procedure, new parasites appear and the treatment is repeated.
Aerosols are sprayed around the perimeter of the room at a level of one meter from the floor. Wear protective equipment during use, as they harm the respiratory system and cause allergic reactions.
Crayons help kill flea larvae. In relation to adult individuals, they are ineffective, since insects move by jumping and to achieve results you need to apply a thick layer of chalk.
Aqueous suspension and emulsion remain effective for up to 30 days. If precautions are taken, they do not harm animals or people. Wet cleaning is carried out ten days after using contact preparations.
