There are thousands of types of parasites that significantly spoil the lives of people and animals. The most dangerous and annoying types of insects are considered to be basement or earthen fleas.
Blood-sucking parasites multiply quickly and survive in almost any conditions. Therefore, it is quite difficult to destroy them. But with the right, long-term, comprehensive approach, it is possible to get rid of parasites.
To do this, you need to disinfect your home using professional and folk remedies.
How to get rid of earthen fleas?
Many people think that fleas appear in houses outside the city. But increasingly, harmful insects are settling in apartments. Parasites enter there through holes in the floor and are carried by pets or other people.
The main methods of fighting earth fleas are carrying out disinfestation measures, which involve the use of special aerosols, solutions, the use of folk remedies, and preventive treatment of the home.
Professional pest control
Those who do not know how to get rid of fleas in a private home should seek the help of a special service. Professional pest control is quite expensive, but it will be effective if there are many parasites living in the room.
Advantages of using insecticides by specialists:
- Harmlessness and effectiveness of the means used.
- Most companies are ready to respond to calls on holidays and weekends.
- After neutralization, the effect remains long-lasting, which does not require re-treatment.
- Many organizations provide a guarantee for their services.
- During the procedure, special equipment is used to eradicate insects forever.
Also, exterminators use special chemicals and can influence parasites through temperature effects. An effective way to destroy earthen parasites is the use of fog, when a generator sprays insecticides containing microparticles of chemicals.
Specialists also carry out manual disinfection, which allows them to treat the most inaccessible places.
After treatment, the house or apartment should be closed for 1 or 3 hours, which will allow the insecticide to have maximum effect. Then you need to open the doors and windows for at least 3 hours, and then wipe everything that household members will touch with a damp cloth.
Flea sprays
To kill earth fleas, various sprays are often used, which have an immediate effect and are easy to apply. To treat 10 m2 you will need one cylinder.
After using such products, adults die within 60 minutes. But after a couple of days, new parasites may hatch from the larvae, which requires repeated disinfestation.
Popular aerosol remedies for fleas:
- Raid;
- Combat;
- Epair;
- Dichlorvos;
- Raptor;
- Effective Ultra and others.
Aerosols or sprays must be used correctly. Before processing, you should put on a protective mask on your face and gloves on your hands. Shake the can, open the cap, press the sprayer, and hold the bottle at a distance of 20 cm from the surface.
Next, it is necessary to carry out a thorough disinfestation of carpets and upholstered furniture, baseboards, and similar places. After 15 minutes you need to ventilate the room.
The procedure can be repeated after 30 days to destroy the hatched parasite larvae. After 4 hours, furniture and surfaces must be wiped, and the floor can be washed only after 5 days.
Solutions against parasites
Those who are wondering how to remove fleas from a large area should use special insecticide concentrates. These products are odorless; the instructions for use state that they are diluted with water and then poured into a spray bottle.
It is noteworthy that this method of disinfestation is much more economical than the use of aerosols.
The best means to combat basement fleas:
| Name of solution | Concentration | Features of application |
| Agran | 0.137% (according to Far East) | The emulsion is used to treat walls (up to 1 m in height), carpets, baseboards, and cracks. The product can be used for disinfestation in basements, private houses, and apartments after preliminary cleaning of the premises. |
| Cifox | You will need 4 ml of concentrate per bucket of water. | When the solution is infused, using a brush, you need to apply it to the walls and floors. |
| Delta zone | 100 ml/m2 – soft, uneven surfaces, 50 ml/m2 – for walls, floors | All surfaces are treated with the solution and the room is left closed for 2-3 hours. Next, the rooms are ventilated. |
The antiparasitic effect of the above agents lasts about 3 weeks. If necessary, repeated disinfestation measures are carried out in compliance with all rules.
Folk remedies for removing fleas
At home, you can kill earth fleas yourself using folk remedies. A simple, affordable recipe against parasites involves the use of salt and soda.
The components are mixed (1:1). The mixture is scattered over baseboards, floors, corners, and rubbed into soft areas. After a day, surfaces that have been disinfested must be vacuumed.
Similarly, you can use a mixture of yeast and garlic, borax powder.
An effective, affordable way to kill fleas is kerosene. 100 ml of the product is mixed with a bucket of water. The solution is sprayed throughout all rooms, and then all windows and doors are closed. After 4 hours, the room is thoroughly cleaned, preferably wet.
You can also place herbs around the house whose smell insects do not like. These are eucalyptus, tansy, pine needles, wormwood.
In the fight against harmful insects, you can use wormwood and mint:
- mint leaves (20 g), wormwood (10 g) are steamed with 200 ml of boiling water.
- The broth is left for 10-12 hours.
- The entire room is treated with the product.
For earthen fleas, wormwood (400 g), eucalyptus, and tansy (200 g each) are used. The raw materials are crushed, steamed with boiling water (200 ml), and left for 24 hours. The infusion is filtered, poured into a spray bottle, and then all places where insects live are treated with it.
Video
How to get rid of fleas using GET Total?
Why do indoor flowers get midges?
The main reason for the appearance of these small insects, as a rule, is constant waterlogging of the soil when watering indoor plants.
Other reasons include the following:
- contaminated soil. You can bring these pests home in a pot when purchasing a new plant or just a bag of potting soil;
- moisture-absorbing soil. The presence in the soil of a large number of ingredients that can retain moisture during irrigation - high-moor or low-lying peat, coconut chips, sphagnum moss, vermiculite;
- the presence of unrotted remains of leaf or coniferous humus in the soil. In combination with excessive watering, the most favorable environment for the reproduction of pest larvae appears in a pot with such soil;
- open window. Flying fungus gnats can fly into a room from the street and, finding wet soil, happily settle in your flower pots.
Find out in detail how to remove fleas from an apartment and what preventive measures exist.
All the most effective methods of baiting cockroaches are described in this article.
Sciarids (fungus gnats)
| Video (click to play). |
Sciarids are small black midges that fly annoyingly over pots, and in very large concentrations, throughout the entire room.
Adult flying sciarids do not harm indoor plants.
They only cause great irritation to apartment owners by being annoying and constantly getting into cups of tea or water.
But fungus gnat larvae, if there are large numbers of them, can damage the delicate roots of plants.
Also, fungus gnat larvae deteriorate the quality of soil in pots, making it denser and less breathable.
In the ground they can be distinguished as small translucent whitish worms with a black dot on the “head”, usually 2-5 mm in size.
Preparing for home treatment
In order for disinfestation to be as effective as possible, it is necessary to clean the living space and prepare it as much as possible. Before treatment, children and animals must be removed from the house.
You also need to place personal belongings, children's toys, and personal hygiene items in closets. Before eradicating earth fleas from the house, you should cover furniture, household appliances, and paintings with film. Dishes and food must be put in the refrigerator or cabinets.
Furniture should be moved away from the walls, which will allow you to treat hard-to-reach places. Bedding should be boiled and then ironed.
The procedure to help get rid of basement fleas involves the use of chemicals.
Therefore, before carrying out the treatment, you must wear a special protective suit, gloves, headscarf, and goggles.
Appearance and habitats of earthen fleas
Earth fleas are called cat, human, dog or rat fleas. Residential areas are inhabited mainly by blood-sucking parasites.
You can understand what an earthen flea looks like if you study its photo.
Features of the external appearance of parasites:
- body length – 3-5 mm;
- the belly is flattened, covered with a shell of chitin, with a pygidium located at the back;
- head – small in size, males have antennae;
- color – black, brown, yellow, red;
- limbs - three pairs, divided into segments that are stratified at the ends;
- the surface of the body is covered with spiny bristles.
Ground fleas can jump 1 meter in height and 30 cm in length. During cold weather, insects live near a source of moisture, on branches, soil, grass, leaves, where they can exist for a long period without food. Laying occurs in the same places eggs by females.
In spring, parasites become more active - they begin to multiply and look for food.
Moving to the surface, earthen fleas penetrate houses or apartments.
Insects settle on the carpet, floor, pet bedding, under baseboards, in upholstered furniture. Parasites like to live in cool conditions, so they move to basements. An adult can survive for a year and a half without food.
Ground and grass fleas: differences
Sometimes, along with earthen types of fleas, grass insects enter the home. The latter have a different color and microscopic size.
The main difference between grass fleas and basement or human fleas is that they do not feed on the blood of humans or animals. These insects eat only organic food, so they can only destroy indoor plants.
Also, Psyllidae, in comparison with Siphonaptera, have two pairs of wings. Insects have antennae and segments on their heads. The color of the parasite's belly is turquoise, yellow, brown or green. Grass insects are smaller in size than earth fleas.
Why are they dangerous?
In fact, poduras do not pose a great danger to indoor plants, as long as there are not too many of them. Therefore, there is no need to worry if you only find a few insects.
You can even say that springtails are an excellent indicator of soil conditions. An increase in their numbers indicates excessive and regular waterlogging of the soil in the pot. And this can result in root rot and other troubles.
Flea beetles do not harm most houseplants. They feed on soil microorganisms and plant debris. But as the population increases, springtails may begin to attack other parts of the plant: thin roots or shoots.
Prevention of occurrence
Following preventive measures will help prevent the occurrence of fleas in the future.
Moreover, such events are necessary even for those people who wonder whether earthen fleas exist in their home.
But what will repel earth fleas?
Leading preventive methods to prevent the appearance of parasites:
- Every week you need to do a wet cleaning of your home, paying special attention to hard-to-reach areas.
- Brush and wash outdoor shoes regularly.
- Treat pets and let pets outside with a protective collar.
- Periodically wash floors with water and vinegar.
- Every 3 days you need to ventilate the room.
- Clean carpets regularly with special products.
Controlling parasites in the home
Regardless of what type of fleas you have in your home, these parasites must be dealt with. If no measures are taken, they will soon multiply, which will lead to severe infection of the house. Naturally, in this case, the fight against parasites will be difficult and lengthy.
There are special chemicals designed to combat these parasites. Also, in some cases, you can use folk remedies. Regardless of which option you use, you need to make some preliminary preparations:
Determine where fleas are coming from to prevent further infiltration;
Block all routes through which parasites can enter your home;
Wash all items at high temperatures.
