Have you been feeling the occasional itch around the ankles indoors? If so, you may wonder how to get fleas out of carpet. Fleas are a difficult infestation to manage once they invade your carpets. The fibrous composition of the carpet hides adult fleas and harbors eggs even after applying treatment to your rugs, which makes getting fleas out of carpet seem like an impossible, endless task.
Moreover, the flea’s life cycle is rapid; females produce many eggs quickly. In no time at all, your indoor flea population becomes overwhelming. It severely affects your and your family’s quality of life.
If you’re pulling your hair out over how to remove fleas living in carpet, don’t worry. Our home flea treatment remedies are DIY-friendly and use typical household or kitchen-pantry ingredients. With a bit of patience and elbow grease, your home will be pest free in no time.
- How to Remove Fleas Living in Carpet
- Signs of a Flea Problem
- How to Get Fleas Out of Carpet by Vacuuming
- Lemon Juice for Getting Fleas Out of Carpet
- Baking Soda Flea Powder
- Diatomaceous Earth Flea Treatment
- Carpet Cleaning for Flea Control
- Dish Soap Is a Flea Killer
- Vinegar Carpet Flea Treatment
- Salty Flea and Tick Carpet Powder
- Commercial Flea Products
- Hire Professionals to Fumigate Fleas in a Rug
- Prevent Flea Infestation
How to Remove Fleas Living in Carpet
Indoor fleas are no fun. For people with sensitive skin, their bites leave small, itchy welts that require topical relief. For our pets, the misery is endless. Getting rid of beetles and fleas in the carpet is daunting because it requires a little patience.
The trick with fleas is exterminating the living population and circling back with a second treatment once hidden eggs hatch. Treatment could need repeating several times to fully clean the house, which quickly becomes expensive if you use commercial flea products.
If you’re wondering how to get fleas out of carpet without breaking the bank, follow along to create a DIY flea killer for carpet and upholstery. Try homemade solutions, such as vacuuming or using lemon juice, baking soda, diatomaceous earth, dish soap, vinegar, and salt, as flea treatments.
Signs of a Flea Problem
People with a pervasive flea problem often have pets. You might have noticed the indoor cat or dog scratching themselves more frequently or flea dirt under their hair against the skin. Even if you haven’t felt the effect of the fleas personally, this is the time to be proactive before it escalates to a full-blown invasion.
Pests as small as fleas are notoriously hard to exterminate. They burrow deep into carpets, where they go unnoticed. Adult fleas procreate quickly and disperse flea eggs throughout carpets that remain dormant until they hatch and bring about a second generation of fleas.
A flea bite is no fun, either. The eggs are so small that they’re nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye. If the cycle isn’t interrupted, your flea problem never ends. An out-of-control flea population bites pets and humans indiscriminately. Before your flea problem becomes egregious, try some of our easy solutions.
How to Get Fleas Out of Carpet by Vacuuming
Vacuuming kills fleas and is a significant first step to reducing your indoor flea population. A vacuum cleaner is great to have on hand for fleas. Not only does the suction help lift and trap live fleas, but it’s also a proactive way to remove eggs and prevent them from hatching.
It’s a good rule of thumb to vacuum every second day. Eggs hatch out in two to three days; using a vacuum every second day prevents more fleas from hatching and infesting your space anew. Fleas gather around pet bedding and in other hard-to-reach places, so pay particular attention to these regions and anywhere your pets spend a lot of time.
Lemon Juice for Getting Fleas Out of Carpet
The best natural deterrent and pesticide for fleas is citrus. Lemon juice makes a great DIY flea spray; combine lemon juice and warm water in a clean spray bottle and mix well. Generously spray couches, carpets, pet bedding, and other areas prone to infestation with your DIY flea spray until flea traffic reduces significantly.
Baking Soda Flea Powder
Vacuuming is an efficient way to get rid of indoor fleas, but to maximize the effectiveness of your vacuuming, add baking soda to the mix. Baking soda will kill fleas on the couch naturally by drying out fleas and flea larvae hidden in the carpet. Apply it generously to heavily infested flooring and allow it to sit for a few hours. Once it’s done its job, vacuum it away.
Diatomaceous Earth Flea Treatment
Diatomaceous earth is a good option if your dog has fleas and you seek an efficient and non-toxic approach to eliminate them. Diatomaceous earth is a fine powder created from the fossilized remains of aquatic microorganisms called diatoms.
The diatoms’ sharp fossilized edges penetrate the tough flea exoskeleton, serving as a drying agent and killing the fleas and their larvae.
It is considered a mechanical killer as opposed to a chemical killer because of how it operates, making it safer for your dog or cat. Sprinkle a thin layer of diatomaceous earth over the carpets, let it sit overnight, and vacuum.
Carpet Cleaning for Flea Control
Deep cleaning your carpet goes a long way toward controlling fleas. Tiny pests like fleas or bed bugs are prone to hiding in hard-to-reach places, such as the carpet or crevices between furniture.
Steam cleaning is an effective technique to neutralize a flea population. The heat and suction combination kills fleas and eggs, leaving your carpet with a gorgeous finish. Similarly, upholstery cleaning is a brilliant idea to remove a flea or bed bug population from your furniture.
Dish Soap Is a Flea Killer
You may consider liquid dish soap as a flea shampoo for your pup; it also makes an effective carpet treatment. To get fleas out of your carpet, gather a few household ingredients.
Fill a medium bowl with warm water, add a few tablespoons of dish soap, and combine by gently agitating the bowl. The mixture should be fragrant and soapy. Place the bowl in the most heavily infested area at night.
The dog flea is a primarily nocturnal creature, sparking nighttime activity. Fleas are attracted to the fragrant dish soap mixture, and its high viscosity traps them inside for easy disposal in the morning.
Vinegar Carpet Flea Treatment
Vinegar makes a great DIY flea spray if you want to drive fleas to particular locations in the house for efficient extermination. Although the acetic acid in vinegar is not strong enough to kill fleas, it is a handy deterrent. It can be helpful in the pest control process.
Combine vinegar with warm water in a spray bottle to make a DIY spray, using four times as much water as distilled white vinegar. An adult flea is less likely to lay eggs in a room doused in acetic acid solution, reducing eggs and flea pupae in a pinch.
Salty Flea and Tick Carpet Powder
If you’re tired of flea bites, use regular table salt to remove adult fleas and their flea larvae from your carpets. Salt dehydrates fleas, their larvae, and their eggs.
Sprinkle a fine coating of salt over all the carpeted surfaces. Allow the salt to remain on the carpet overnight, ideally 24 hours, before vacuuming. The fleas lose moisture as they contact the salt and rapidly perish. Repeat the salt treatment every two days until the signs of fleas are gone.
Commercial Flea Products
When in doubt, lean on commercial items. Choose flea foggers or powders marked as safe for use on carpet. These insecticides are engineered to kill large flea populations but should be used sparingly.
Most commercial items contain toxic chemicals and can harm you or your family. Reading the directions on the label is imperative to your safety.
Hire Professionals to Fumigate Fleas in a Rug
The biggest challenge of flea removal is the time and vigilance it takes to eradicate them completely. A busy lifestyle could severely impair your ability to dedicate effort toward eliminating a large flea population.
If you’re having trouble removing fleas from furniture and carpeting with DIY techniques, consider hiring a professional. Exterminators are not limited by the time it takes to get ahead of a vast flea population. If you’re busy, this might be the best route for you.
Look for exterminators in your area and plan to take your family and pets elsewhere while the work is done so as not to expose them to toxic chemicals.
Prevent Flea Infestation
The biggest favor you can do yourself is to prevent fleas altogether. Apply flea treatment to your pets as often as your preferred brand recommends. Consider bathing them regularly and vacuuming your home frequently.
Explore products like flea collars to keep fleas at bay. Treat your yard to reduce the risk of these unwanted visitors migrating inside and setting up camp in your carpet.
Did this article tell you everything you want to know about how to remove fleas living in carpet? Pets are valued family members, yet fleas are one of the downsides to owning dogs or cats.
Flea bites are itchy and uncomfortable, and flea dirt and insects on your pets and carpets are unpleasant. Use trusted hacks to eradicate the fleas from your carpet for the health of your pets and family.
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