Should you notice fleas in your house? Shady places such as under carpets or rugs are perfect hiding space for the tiny insects. It is not difficult to find an effective flea control method for pets, yards or house overall. However, if you particularly want to know how to get rid of fleas in carpet, the following tips will be valuable.
6 Tips to Get Rid of Fleas in Carpet
Hot water washing
Fleas multiply rapidly in moist and shady environment, but they cannot stand water and especially high temperature. Therefore, if you suspect your carpet is the breeding nest of fleas, just have it washed in hot water and dried with high heat. This will help to kill all fleas together with eggs, larvae and pupae.
Vacuuming/Steam Cleaning
In case your carpet is too bulky to be removed, vacuuming or steam cleaning could help. Vacuuming will suck up all adult fleas and their offspring. The vibration from the vacuum cleaner will urge flea pupae to leave its cocoon – the protective part that can resist pesticides. Start vacuuming or steam cleaning along the strips of the carpet to make sure you cover the entire carpet. Remember to dispose the vacuum bag right after finishing vacuuming so that fleas have no chance to invade the house again.
Sprinkling DE/baking soda/salt
DE or Diatomaceous Earth is a kind of fine powder that is known to be non-toxic remedy for flea treatment. Baking soda and salt are common ingredients that are easy to find around your kitchen. These substances act as dehydrating agents that dry fleas to death. Simply sprinkle DE, baking soda or fine salt on the carpet; sweep to spread the substance on carpet surface and let it penetrate into the fibers. For DE you may need to leave it there for 4 to 5 days while for baking soda or salt, it should be 24 to 48 hours before thoroughly vacuuming all.
Flea fogger
Flea fogger or flea bomb is chemical products that should be used for killing fleas in case of heavy infestation. You‘ve got to read the instructions carefully before use. It is best to keep children or pets away when treating the room with flea fogger. Close the doors, turn off electrical devices, wear masks and gloves before using it. Leave the room for about 8 hours and then open the doors to allow fresh air circulation. Vacuum and clean the room with treated carpet meticulously.
Treating pets with fleas
Pets are the number one source that spread fleas over the house. They hang out on the ground while playing and fleas are most likely to cling to their body and drop off on carpet. Thus, if you want to get rid of fleas in carpet completely, you should free your pets from fleas first. It is recommended to apply flea shampoo or flea comb to the infested pets. It will take time to totally remove all fleas from pet’s body. It would be more meaningful when getting rid of fleas in carpet when the source of fleas is under control.
Flea spray
Spraying some kinds of herbs or oil that is disgusted by fleas may help to repel them from the carpet. Pepper mint or lavender scent is fine for us, but unpleasant to fleas. If you spray it to the carpet, fleas will not want to reside there anymore. A homemade flea spray could be made out of vinegar or lemon and the repelling result is proven to be effective, and 100% natural.
To sum up
Fleas in the carpet or anywhere in your house should be treated as soon as possible. Non-toxic remedies such as washing, steaming, or cleaning should be the number one recommendation for flea treatment. In case things get out of control or you have to deal with a heavy infestation, pesticides may do the job. Watch out to treat the flea source or pets as well so that the ultimate goal of eradicating fleas could be reached.