Bloodthirsty parasites in residential areas are a real disaster. Such neighbors are dangerous for humans and animals, because they carry various diseases. The human eye is not able to track their movements, and it is not so easy to crush small bloodsuckers. To get rid of them, you need to find out what fleas are afraid of in the house.
What fleas fear and dislike
Destruction or simply repelling parasites is carried out using different methods - using natural substances and toxic artificial drugs. The main methods of exposure are strong odors, temperature changes, and toxic chemicals.
Chemical smells
A feature of fleas is an overdeveloped sense of smell, like all bloodsucking animals. What smells do fleas dislike? In general, these are any evaporations of chemicals in organic solvents, such as acrylic paint, as well as putty, cement mortar and other building materials.
The smell of alcohol is very unpleasant to insects. It should be diluted with water one to one and sprayed around the apartment with a spray bottle. It is also allowed to treat animal hair with the solution, carefully avoiding mucous membranes and areas with broken skin. This method is more applicable to dogs, since they do not lick their fur, but for cats, try to choose a different option.
Chloroform is also a potent drug. Use it with great caution, be sure to use personal protection, and avoid contact with skin.
Attention! It is prohibited to apply chloroform to animal fur. This is dangerous for your pet's health.
Bleach and whiteness
Products containing chlorine have a poisonous effect and are highly effective in killing insects. The fumes of this toxic substance lead to the death of fleas and disinfect the room. When using bleach (bleach) or “Whiteness”, be sure to use personal protective equipment - gloves, a respirator, sealed clothing. Avoid contact of the substance with the skin, mucous membranes or inside.
Important! After disinfection, do not enter the room for about 10–12 hours, take care of your pets.
Kerosene
This substance has a very persistent, unpleasant odor. At the same time, it is quite safe and approved for use for treating animals, but it is necessary to dilute it in a solution with water in a ratio of one to five.
Carefully! Kerosene is highly flammable. Observe safety precautions when using!
Insecticides
Available in the form of a concentrated liquid, aerosol, dry powder or gel. The first two options are the most common and convenient to use.
- Concentrated liquids are more often used by workers of special sanitary services, but are not prohibited for home use. They are applied to surfaces and remain effective for up to 3-4 weeks.
- Aerosols have an instant effect.
Before treating the room, put personal items, dishes, food in the closet and refrigerator so that toxic substances do not accidentally get on them.
Carefully! Be sure to use personal protective equipment - goggles, a respirator, clothing that completely covers the entire body. Insecticides are toxic and dangerous to the health of mucous membranes and skin. If they enter the body, they can be fatal.
Note: Insecticides do not guarantee 100% effect from the first application. Even after treatment, flea pupae and eggs may remain in the cracks of walls and floors. Therefore, it is recommended to repeat the procedure after 1–2 weeks.
Spray Raptor
This type of insecticide is one of the safest for animals and humans. It acts on fleas thanks to the pyrethroids in its composition. These are derivatives of the natural component pyrethrin. The spray has a pleasant aroma and is active for several hours.
Tar
The folk remedy, birch tar, has a specific natural odor that is very unpleasant for fleas. This substance is safe and harmless, so it is well suited for pets. Tar soap is very convenient to use.
Application: apply to the fur of your beloved pet, if possible, leave the foam for 15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly.
If necessary, the procedure can be repeated (it is better to avoid this with cats). Usually after 3-4 baths the problem disappears completely.
Attention! The downside of tar soap is its rather pungent odor, which is unpleasant not only for fleas, but also for pets. If your dog or cat cannot tolerate it, it is better to use another product.
Natural flavors
Nature comes to the rescue in the fight against unwanted insects. For example, phyto-substances secreted by some plants, as well as their essential oils, can repel fleas, completely expelling them from the house.
Organic acetic acid (colloquially known as vinegar) has a distinct odor. Pets cannot tolerate it, so this product is more often used to treat premises. It is necessary to moisten a rag in the liquid and wipe the floor and baseboards in the apartment. It is also recommended to treat all horizontal surfaces at a height of one meter, because fleas jump quite high.
Essential oil
The aromas of the following essential oils are very effective in fighting fleas:
- geraniums,
- lavender,
- carnations,
- eucalyptus,
- mint,
- tea tree,
- rosemary,
- coniferous trees (spruce, pine, cedar, fir, juniper),
- citrus fruits (orange, lemon, grapefruit, bergamot, lime, tangerine).
It's difficult to say which scents are best at repelling fleas. All of the oils listed have an excellent effect in the fight against these parasites, since they have pronounced, highly concentrated aromas. Choose the option that you like best.
You can use them in an aroma lamp, maintaining an active concentration of odor in the air for a sufficient amount of time to repel insects.
To wet your home, use the following solution: 20 drops of essential oil per 9-11 liters of warm water. It is great for spraying around the perimeter of the apartment.
Folk remedies
If these jumping insects have not managed to multiply to large numbers, and there are isolated cases, you can try to cope with them using folk methods. The advantages of such methods include their low cost and harmlessness to people (especially important in homes with small children). If insects have multiplied in large numbers, these control methods will help reduce their population, but they are unlikely to be able to eliminate them completely. This is a huge disadvantage of all safe and inexpensive methods.
Fleas do not like the strong smells of wormwood, mint, citrus, eucalyptus and tansy. Place herbs around the house, wipe the floors with their infusions and oils. Place your pet in the bedding. This method is reliable and simple, but its effect is short-lived. You will have to periodically refresh with fresh infusions as the herbal smell fades. As not only preventive measures, but also as an effective means of expelling parasites, decoctions of wormwood, tansy and eucalyptus are used. In a combination of 2/1/1 parts, the settled mixture is sprayed in areas of expected accumulation. Several of these procedures can replace some radical remedies, such as sprays, which are very popular.
A dry mixture of baking soda and salt is another handy and safe remedy. You need to sprinkle it on furniture, floors and carpets. Leave for a day. Afterwards, thoroughly vacuum and wet clean. The mixture copes with both fleas and their larvae. But this method is very time-consuming. Yes, and it will be difficult to clean up all the soda scattered during processing at one time.
Turpentine and kerosene for treating floors are an excellent remedy for fighting fleas. Add one thing to the water for washing floors (150–200 grams per bucket of water) and a little laundry soap. The “bloodsuckers” will die from this solution within a few minutes. True, after washing the floors with this product, you need to ventilate the room for a long time and wash the floors throughout the house, moving the furniture.
Preventing the appearance of fleas in the apartment
Preventing insects from appearing in your home is always easier than getting rid of them later. By following these simple preventive measures, you can rest assured about your home:
1. Regularly carry out wet cleaning, including all the most inaccessible places, especially floor crevices.
2. Periodically wipe all surfaces and floors in the apartment with a decoction of repellent herbs or safe disinfectants.
3. Treat your basement. Often fleas (fleas, cat fleas) move into the house from there.
To prevent infection of animals, apply a few drops of aromatic oils or special insecticides that repel fleas to the withers. Purchase the latter strictly from a pharmacy or certified pet stores, carefully read the contraindications.
How dangerous are flea bites?
Fleas pose a danger to human health. In addition to the fact that bites are painful, itch for a long time, cause swelling and irritation on the skin, they can cause severe allergies. There are many complex chemical compounds in flea saliva. When a person is bitten by fleas, these substances enter the bloodstream, causing a reaction from the immune system. Sometimes the immune response can be very strong and be expressed by symptoms such as:
- elevated temperature;
- difficulty breathing, cough;
- swelling of the tongue, larynx;
- tachycardia;
- rash;
- headache.
For allergy sufferers, insect bites can cause angioedema and suffocation.
Due to the fact that fleas are carriers of pathogens of various infections, the bitten person can get sick:
- anthrax;
- plague;
- salmonellosis;
- typhus;
- encephalitis;
- brucellosis;
- hepatitis.
Frequent bites and incessant itching negatively affect the state of the nervous system. The person becomes irritable, sleeps poorly, feels bites even when no one bites him.
What plants repel parasites
What grass are fleas most afraid of? The most popular herbal remedies for these insects are wormwood and tansy. Their decoction is also suitable for bathing pets.
In addition to them, lavender, geranium, cloves, thyme, mint, lemon balm, bay leaves, bark, eucalyptus, rosemary, hellebore, as well as branches of coniferous trees and plants - fir, spruce, cedar, juniper - have an excellent repellent effect against fleas.
Application: spread fresh or dry branches of the above plants throughout the infected room or prepare a decoction from them for treating surfaces.
Recipe: 3 tablespoons of leaves or flowers per 1 cup of boiling water. Keep on low heat for a quarter of an hour. Leave to sit for at least 60 minutes. Strain the resulting herbal decoction and use it for wet cleaning or spraying in the air.
Where do earth fleas come from?
Ground fleas prefer to make nests in sand or soil. To do this, they often choose the basements of apartment buildings and private houses because of the optimal microclimate conducive to reproduction. Favorable temperature and humidity in the technical room is due to the presence of utilities - sewerage pipes, heating and water supply.
In summer and autumn, the largest number of bites of humans and domestic animals by ectoparasites is recorded. Where do earth fleas come from in apartments? In search of food, adult individuals can climb to the first two floors. They return back to the basement as soon as they have their fill of blood. Adults may also leave the nest if external conditions change to unfavorable ones. Frequent sources of ectoparasites entering an apartment are cats and dogs that have returned from a walk. In country houses, the cause of the appearance of fleas can be rats and mice - frequent inhabitants of attics, basements and outbuildings.
Drugs that cause paralysis in insects
Some insecticides have a paralytic effect on fleas. This occurs due to their ability to penetrate the chitinous scales of insects. Once ingested directly into the body, the toxin is fatal.
Paralytic poisons are used by professional disinfection services. Within 1-2 hours, all insects are completely destroyed.
Attention: after such a toxic treatment, you will not be able to enter the apartment for almost a week.
Main dangers
To understand whether fleas are dangerous to humans, it is enough to find out what diseases fleas carry. Their list is quite extensive and looks threatening. The list of dangerous fleas includes more than 200 serious infectious diseases. Among them, the following are considered the most serious.
- Bubonic plague. Carried by rat fleas.
- Brucellosis.
- Salmonellosis.
- Typhoid
- Encephalitis.
- Helminthiases. Fleas are carriers of some types of tapeworms.
Fleas that carry diseases look no different from ordinary fleas. There is some species specificity, but given the small size of insects, it is impossible to establish it at home.
The list of dangers that animal fleas pose to humans includes an allergy to their bites, which leads to fever, scratching and eczema, especially in children. Scientists have also discovered why fleas do not bite all people. This is due to the blood type (for insects the first is preferable), as well as the structural features of the skin. Those with thin skin suffer more from bites. In addition, people differ in their degree of sensitivity to flea bites. A high level of sensitivity leads to the development of autoimmune reactions, severe itching, scratching and even anaphylactic shock.
The phrase that dog fleas are transmitted to humans is somewhat incorrect. They are capable of biting people, but do not live on the surface of human skin.
Water and sun
Are fleas afraid of water? More likely no than yes. They try to avoid it, but they do not drown or die in it. Thus, giving your pet plenty of water will not kill the parasites. Fleas, finding themselves immersed in water, suffer from a lack of air and quickly get out to a dry place, but after getting hungry after a while, they climb onto the animal again.
These insects also do not like excessive heat and direct sunlight. On hot days, it is recommended to place pillows, blankets, and mattresses in the sun so that fleas leave the textiles.
How long do flea bite marks last?
Skin restoration after flea bites depends on the individual characteristics of the human body. So in children, marks on the skin remain much longer than in adults. This is due to the fact that, firstly, a child’s skin is more delicate, and secondly, it is more difficult for children to resist scratching itchy bites. Bites from allergy sufferers heal much more slowly.
On average, bite marks become invisible after a few days. But this is a very rough forecast. For some, everything heals within a few hours, for others, the bite site is easy to detect even after 2-3 weeks.
Temperature
Fleas are perfectly adapted to life in indoor conditions. Insects, which often live in apartments, stop reproducing at temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius, and die with further cooling.
To remove fleas, the method of freezing rooms is used. Of course, it applies more to free-standing buildings, especially agricultural buildings, than to ordinary residential buildings.
Too hot temperatures also have a detrimental effect on parasites. Heat above 45 degrees Celsius leads to the death of fleas, their larvae and eggs. You can easily remove annoying insects from upholstered furniture, carpets, and home textiles using hot steam.
Elusive and resilient
So, do fleas bite humans? About 30 species of fleas have chosen nomadic animals (hares, buffalos, large cats) as their hosts. They are permanent residents of their fur, while the rest do not live permanently on their owners, jumping on them only when they are hungry. This feature makes it possible to understand that fleas are not permanent parasites in humans. They only use his blood as food, and their development cycle takes place outside the human body. Bird species cannot stay on other warm-blooded animals for a long time due to the low temperature. Therefore, they quickly die, having lost their owner and are not found in human dwellings.
Thus, the answer to the question of whether fleas live on humans is negative. They only bite humans. But why do fleas bite people? Because they feed on blood and are hungry.
A flea bites a man
Entomologists distinguish types of fleas by their structure and morphological features. Therefore, such a species as the human flea actually exists in the taxonomy, although it is not the most common parasite that settles in human homes. The most common are felines, since it is this species that has managed to adapt as much as possible to life inside and near human dwellings. Are cat fleas dangerous for humans? Yes, like any others.
Fleas are resistant to temperature changes and, thanks to this endurance, are even found in the nests of Antarctic birds. Depending on the species, they suck blood from one minute to several hours, and are also able to accumulate it inside the body or in the form of excrement.
Interestingly, one of the famous entomologists who studied fleas was Charles Rothschild. He collected a rich collection of insects, having visited various regions of the planet. Ironically, this wealthy man who knew all about fleas died after contracting encephalitis during one of his research expeditions. According to his classification, the most common types are the following.
- Feline. Most common.
- Homemade. They settle on domestic animals, in crevices and bedding.
- Canine. They prefer the blood of dogs, but are not picky.
- Human. Preferring scalp hair, they can also live on domestic animals. Length up to 4mm.
- Earthen ones. They live in damp basements, and in apartments they choose fleecy carpets, the space behind the baseboard, and upholstered furniture.
- Bedding or linen. They prefer mattresses and bed linen. They are nocturnal, leaving itching and red spots on the body that appear in the morning.
- Chicken. They do not live on the human body or indoors. The males of this species are quite impressive in size. They parasitize various species of birds.
- Rat. They have an elongated body up to 4 mm. They are most dangerous for people, as they can carry typhus and plague.
- Sandy. Small, about 1mm long. Once inside the house, they settle in the carpet or under the sofas.
In total, more than 2000 species of fleas are known, about 500 are found in our regions, and only 30 live at home.
Natural enemies of fleas
In nature, the enemies of fleas are some living organisms that parasitize their body and pose a danger to life. Therefore, insects avoid such pests in their natural habitat.
In apartments, fleas are not friends with domestic red ants (pharaoh ants). They absolutely cannot stand and are afraid of such a neighborhood. Ants attack eggs, larvae and adults.
Fleas also suffer from fungal microorganisms.
What do flea bites look like on a person?
Once on the human body, the flea pierces the skin, injects an enzyme that prevents blood clotting, and then sucks out the blood. Since the saliva of these parasites, unlike others, does not contain an anesthetic, fleas bite painfully; the bite feels like a very thin needle piercing the skin.
Fleas most often live at a height of no more than 1 m, so both on the street and at home they mainly bite people on the legs. A flea bite looks like a small wound, which very soon turns into a dense tubercle against the background of a pink spot. Usually there are several tracks, they are located chaotically, not far from each other.
Flea bites
