What species can be found on the floor?
There are more than 2,000 species of fleas in the world. About 500 species live on European territory, and about 30 of them have adapted to apartment conditions. Most of the fleas on the floor are the ubiquitous cat, dog and rat fleas.
Types of fleas
With rare exceptions, sand parasites can be found. They are concentrated in India, Africa, South America and do not take root in Russia due to the unfavorable climate for them. Insects enter the apartment along with tourists returning from the mentioned places.
For reference! A flea, regardless of its subspecies, can easily change its host. For example, cat parasites easily adapt to life on dogs, guinea pigs and vice versa.
Where do they come from and how to determine their presence?
First of all, these are unsanitary conditions. Cluttered rooms with organic waste are ideal conditions for the development of the parasite. However, pests can also appear in well-kept houses: it is enough that there is an optimal microclimate there - warmth and a high level of humidity.
Ways to get into housing
Most often, floor fleas enter the house through pets - dogs, cats, birds and other warm-blooded animals. Using the latter as a carrier, they develop up to a certain number, after which they begin to explore new territories, that is, floors, furniture and other interior items.
Possible ways to enter the apartment:
- neighbours;
- entrance;
- basement;
- small rodents;
- outerwear.
For reference! A fleeting contact with a host is enough for a dozen parasites to appear on human clothing. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid wild animals, no matter how much you want to pet them.
Habitat
If there are pets in the house, then most likely the bedding and other things that the animal comes into contact with are already infected with parasites. The flea prefers damp and dusty areas, such as basements, attics or bathrooms. The insect also concentrates in technical openings, under baseboards and in floor crevices.
Outside the house, the pest tries to find a host by hiding in shaded places: bushes, rotten leaves, fallen trees, tall grass, etc. As soon as a suitable victim is found, the flea moves in and parasitizes on it, increasing the population.
Signs of infection
The size of cat, dog and rat fleas is no more than a millimeter, so it is quite difficult to see them on the floor. But the appearance of a pest is indicated by two clear signs:
- Pets actively groom themselves and shudder in their sleep.
- Red dots – bites – appear on the legs of household members, forming a kind of path.
The cat is itching
For reference! You can determine the presence of fleas in the house using a clean sheet of paper. It is enough to place it in places where the parasite is expected to be concentrated and wait half an hour. If small black dots are visible on the leaf, then there are fleas in the house.
Signs of fleas
A light cloth or sheets of paper will help determine the presence of parasites. You need to spread them on the floor and leave them for 20 minutes, during which time the fleas will definitely show themselves. You can also find out about their existence by the following signs:
- Pets are constantly itching and acting restless.
- Bite marks are found on the legs. These are red, itchy little spots.
Children are more likely to suffer from bites; they are allergic to the saliva of ectoparasites.
How dangerous are genital fleas?
Troubles from fleas in an apartment are not limited to bitten legs and unbearable itching. The parasite is a carrier of dangerous infectious diseases, which in advanced cases can be fatal.
Fleas spread:
- plague;
- hepatitis;
- typhus;
- encephalitis;
- salmonellosis.
And this is not a complete list of problems that a person may encounter if he does not get rid of the pest in a timely manner.
Prevention
It is flea prevention that will help us avoid trouble. To do this, you need to carry out general cleaning at least once a month. Various disinfectants can be used. For example, this is common bleach.
Follow these steps for prevention:
- It is necessary to ventilate the room everywhere, as well as to beat out the carpets. If you look closely, a huge layer of dust accumulates in carpets, which can serve as a breeding ground for insects.
- If you have an animal in your home, you should check it every week. These activities must be done after each walk with the animal. It is advisable to purchase special shampoos and gels for dogs and cats if they have fleas and lice.
- Look for cracks and crevices in your home. If there are any, then they should be repaired urgently.
- Constant cleanliness and hygiene will ensure a healthy and long life for you, not fleas.
Destruction of parasites
To remove genital fleas from an apartment, as soon as the first signs of the parasite appear, you should immediately disinfest the premises using special means. These can be concentrates in ampoules, aerosols or powders. Moreover, all rooms must be treated, otherwise the effectiveness of the event will be reduced to zero.
Preparing your home for disinfestation
Before cleaning the floor from fleas, you must hide all food in the refrigerator or other place where toxic fumes will not penetrate. If there is an aquarium in the house, then it needs to be turned off and covered with a thick cloth. Pets should be placed with neighbors or friends during treatment.
Destruction of parasites with chemicals
Washing floors without using special insecticidal agents is ineffective. The flea is not afraid of water and ordinary soap. Here you need strong concentrates, such as Get or Phenaxin. The floors should be washed throughout the entire house, not limited to just one room.
Important! A cat or dog flea can jump to a height of up to 30 cm, so it is necessary to treat walls and interior items at least half a meter above the floor.
Flea insecticides
Concentrates are most often used to clean floors against fleas. They can come in liquid form (ampoules), as well as in the form of powder or granules. Aerosols are used locally - in places where pests are concentrated. They are effective for a day at most, after which the room needs to be re-treated. Therefore, experts recommend using concentrates diluted in water. They consolidate the results obtained over several weeks and even months.
To remove genital fleas you can use:
- Get;
- Phenaxin;
- Ranosan;
- Executioner;
- Digital;
- Super Fas;
- Medilis.
Medilis
For reference! The parasite’s body can adapt to certain insecticides, so it is more advisable to use previously unused preparations with each subsequent treatment.
Popular folk remedies
These are more gentle methods that are suitable for minor infestations. In difficult cases, folk remedies for fleas are powerless. They can also be used as preventive measures. Almost all blood-sucking insects and fleas are also afraid of strong odors.
Parasites cannot tolerate odors:
- wormwood;
- garlic;
- pine sawdust;
- tangerines;
- oranges.
You can also treat the floor, carpets and interior items with baking soda mixed with rock salt in equal proportions. A day later, the room is vacuumed and the floors are washed with water diluted with vinegar (a couple of teaspoons per bucket).
Folk remedies
Folk remedies are not far behind chemical flea control agents. It may seem like a surprising fact, but the methods of our grandparents are no less effective than modern chemicals.
It is known that fleas cannot tolerate very strong and bitter odors.
Some herbs have such odors:
- Sagebrush.
- Mint.
- Tobacco.
The use of wormwood in this matter is most popular. Cut fresh wormwood sprigs. At home, spread it on the sofa, bed, windows and furniture.
It would be a good idea to make a tincture from the wormwood bush and spray the diluted tincture into all the nooks and crannies of your apartment.
This will help repel insects, and maybe even kill them:
- Pine sawdust can be an effective remedy for getting rid of fleas. To prevent fleas from breeding on your pets, you should place sawdust under their bedding or rug. They are also unpleasant to parasites, as they emit a pungent odor.
- Many housewives probably have garlic in their kitchen arsenal. You need to make a mixture of garlic and brewer's yeast, and then apply this mixture to cracks, corners and hidden crevices in the house. The solution lasts for about ten hours.
- Kerosene is very popular. We only treat cracks and smooth surfaces. After a couple of hours, it is necessary to carry out wet cleaning. Be sure to ventilate the room, otherwise the smell of kerosene will stagnate.
Features of wrestling
Before you get rid of genital fleas, you should know that the terms indicated on industrial products, such as “the parasites will die within two hours,” are not entirely correct. The fact is that in addition to adults, larvae and eggs are hidden in secluded places. Not all chemicals work on the latter. Therefore, in a good half of cases, repeated treatment is required to destroy the pests that emerged from the eggs.
On the bare floor
Conventional detergents are powerless here. For bare floors, it is better to use liquid concentrates, like the aforementioned Get or Executioner. You need to walk around the entire area of the room, moving furniture if necessary and treating every centimeter.
Important! After the procedure, you should close all windows and doors and leave the room. The active substance will be absorbed into the floor covering, and toxic fumes will spread throughout the room. You cannot wash floors with detergents immediately after treating them with an insecticide.
On carpet
Before disinfestation, the floor carpet should be thoroughly vacuumed to get rid of eggs and larvae of parasites, and only then treated with chemicals. Here, liquid concentrates, unlike powders, are not as effective. We scatter the latter, wait for the time specified by the manufacturer and vacuum again.
What threat do fleas pose in an apartment?
Blood-sucking animals pose a considerable danger to both humans and animals, because they carry many pathogens of serious diseases. Some of them can even be life-threatening. Including genital fleas, they are carriers of worms and other parasites.
Important! If a person has been bitten by fleas for several days, it would be useful to take a deworming course.
Some people are allergic to bloodsucker bites. It all depends on the individual sensitivity of the skin. After bites, red spots and microscopic wounds appear. Next, severe itching begins, during which a person scratches the skin to the point of wounds, thereby opening the way to various infections. The temperature rises, and symptoms of other pathologies begin to appear. In advanced cases, a person may need long-term treatment with strong antibacterial drugs.
Genital fleas are carriers of serious diseases. Namely:
- Typhus;
- Bubonic plague;
- Encephalitis;
- Hepatitis;
- Tularemia;
- Salmonellosis;
- Anthrax;
- Fever and many others.
In the past, in European countries, it was fleas and rats that spread the plague, from which thirty percent of the population of the states died out. The reason for the rapid proliferation of parasites in those days was terrible unsanitary conditions.
Safety measures during disinfestation
When treating premises, it is necessary to take care of protection, because modern insecticidal preparations are highly toxic. When working with the products, you need to wear a respirator, gloves and goggles, while clothing should be made of thick fabric and cover the entire body.
Pest control
After treatment, you need to leave the apartment for several hours until the toxins settle. When you arrive home, you should open the windows and ventilate all rooms well. When scattering the powder, you must remember that children and pets can come into contact with it, so before they arrive, you need to get rid of it with a vacuum cleaner.
