How to Fight a Flea Infestation Without a Flea Exterminator

Monkeys Fight Fleas the Old Fashioned Way.

When I decided to rent my house instead of selling it, I never dreamed tenants would end up costing me more money than a few extra house payments. When I went to evaluate the condition of my formerly immaculate little home, I discovered that they left me a parting gift - a flea infestation to end all flea infestations. Luckily, with time and patience, I was able to get rid of them. Here's how to get rid of fleas in the house.

Things You'll Need

• Duct tape
• Flea bombs
• Carpet powder
• Room spray
• Protective mask
• Gloves
• Rubber boots

Instructions

1. Evaluate the problem. If there is just a single flea on your dog, you may not need to wage a full scale flea infestation war on your home. Simply talking to your vet about the flea preventative that is currently most effective in your area and applying it to your dog may be enough. If you can't take a step without three fleas jumping on for a ride, you need a comprehensive extermination plan.

2. Gather your supplies. You will need to protect your skin as you apply flea killing products, so make sure you grab gloves and a face mask along with everything else.

3. Arm yourself for battle. While you don't need your face mask and gloves quite yet, you don't want fleas jumping on you while you prepare your home for treatment. Put on your rubber boots or use duct tape to keep the fleas at bay. I had a 100 percent success rate with simply wearing shorts and making duct tape "bracelets" around each ankle with the sticky side out. The fleas hopped onto my ankle directly onto the "bracelets" or crawled from my foot onto them and were stuck fast. If you have a very athletic bunch of fleas that jump higher than ankle height, wearing boots with duct tape sticky side out at the ankle and top rim of the boots should keep you pretty much flea free.

4. Move any pets to safety. Be sure they have plenty of food, water and shelter. If you haven't already done so, treat them with a good veterinarian prescribed flea preventative. (If you can't afford to visit the vet, make sure you at least treat dogs and cats with the best store brand product for their size and species, which is usually around $15 for a three dose pack.)

5. Pick up clutter. Leaving kids' toys or pet toys out makes it easier for fleas to hide from bombs and sprays. Be especially careful to look stuffed toys or blankets over for fleas. You may want to wash them in hot water and toss them in the dryer on high heat to be sure they aren't infested.

6. Get ready to set off your flea foggers or bombs. Close windows and turn off fans. Put a layer of newspaper in the center of the floor. Cover any food or remove it from the room.

7. Set off the fogger. Read the directions on the can, follow them and run. Close the door after you exit the room and don't return until it is safe. The cans usually recommend waiting two hours. You can do most rooms all at once or do them a day at a time, but doing them all at once is probably more effective, since fleas won't have a place to run to. Since I was bombing a vacant home, I started in the upstairs far bedroom and worked my way down and out until every room had a fogger behind closed doors in it.

8. Vacuum the floor and rugs. 24 hours after you bomb a room, don your ankle "bracelets" and thoroughly vacuum. Hopefully, you won't see any live fleas as you clean.

9. Treat carpets and upholstery. If you do see fleas still hopping around, you'll need to follow the fogger with a good flea spray for carpets and upholstery. Make sure you treat everything well. You don't want your sofa to harbor fleas!

10. Wait two weeks and re-treat your home. Many foggers recommend doing a second flea treatment two weeks after the first one to destroy any remaining pests or newly hatched eggs.

Tips & Warnings

• There's nothing wrong with calling a flea exterminator if treating flea infestations yourself seems overwhelming. If you decide to hire one, check the company feedback before you commit to a contract. You don't want to have to pay the exterminator and then still have to treat your home yourself!