Fleas are blood-sucking parasites, they often penetrate even those houses where there are no pets. The fight against them will be successful if you destroy not only the insects themselves, but also the flea eggs.
What are fleas?
These are small parasites with a flat body, they cannot fly, but due to their long hind legs they are able to make jumps up to one and a half meters high. They feed exclusively on blood, parasitize on animals, but can bite a person. Their strong shell is very resistant to mechanical stress, so it is very difficult to crush them simply between the fingers. In addition, catching a parasite is not so simple. But you can find traces of their stay in your house - by laid eggs. But for this you need to know where the fleas lay their eggs.
Than dangerous
Fleas are able to poison the life of not only a pet, but the whole family, because they sometimes do not care who they bite - an animal or a person. Their bites are far from being as harmless as they might seem. The fact is that these parasites are carriers of the following diseases:
- pseudotuberculosis - an acute infectious disease, has no relation to pulmonary tuberculosis, despite the name;
- tularemia - a bacterial infection that affects the lymph nodes;
- brucellosis - an infection that affects multiple organs and systems of the human body;
- dipylidiosis - infection with tape helminths.
In addition, a flea bite can cause allergic dermatitis, itching at the sites of bites is quite strong and lasts several days, during which a person is able to comb the places of bites before the blood, which, in turn, is fraught with introducing the infection directly into the wound.
How insects get into an apartment
There are plenty of ways for parasites to enter the home, but they usually “come” to the hair of pets. But if there are no animals, then how do parasites enter the room? This can happen if a flea jumps onto a person’s clothes on the street and thus gets into the house. The inhabitants of the first floors, as well as the owners of their own houses are overcome by pests from the basement.
Fleas are unpretentious in everyday life, they like humidity, damp, dark dusty places in the house. They feed on human and animal blood.
How to understand that in the house fleas
The presence of pests in the house is easy to detect, they will certainly leave their marks on the human body and on pets. If you notice that a pet often itches, tries to bite a parasite out of its hair, you should know that unexpected tenants are in your house.
Fleas leave numerous bite marks on the human body, which can be mistakenly mistaken for mosquito bites. The difference from mosquito bites is that the bites of these insects itch unbearably long and hard, practically no means save itch. In addition, often medium sized blisters, similar to burn blisters, swell at the site of the bites. If all these signs are present, then the flea is in the house. You need to get rid of them immediately, as soon as you notice the first signs of parasitic activity, before they have time to settle down and lay eggs.
In animal hair you can easily find bloodsuckers, but their eggs and larvae are so small that it is quite difficult to see them with the naked eye. However, in neglected cases of infection, when the number of larvae and eggs becomes enormous, they can be noticed like this: tiny white balls are flea eggs. The photo shows flea eggs in cats in wool.
In the case of a neglected form of infection, the animal suffers greatly, bald patches may appear in it, the skin is covered with blisters, small red marks from bites, and a seal is felt at the site of the bite. This skin reaction is called allergic dermatitis, and causes its insect saliva.
Effective remedies
Collars
A pet must have a flea collar. This will help not only destroy existing parasites, it will also serve as a preventive measure. Collars come in different companies, but the principle of operation is the same - the collar is saturated with toxic substances for fleas, but safe for pets.
But you need to remember that the collar's action is limited in time, and it must be changed approximately every 3-4 months.
Flea Shampoos
An effective flea remedy can be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy. Before use, you need to carefully read the instructions, since the concentration of toxic substances in shampoos can differ from each other, so it is important to follow the recommendations for the amount that must be used to process the animal’s hair.
Flea drops
Drops are applied to the withers of the animal, so it can not lick the poison. Previously, the toxic substances that make up the drug penetrated through the skin into the blood of an animal, after which fleas, after drinking such blood, died. Modern products are not absorbed, but remain on the surface of the skin, parasites die from simple contact with the treated skin of the animal.
Insecticides
Poisonous flea agents for treating a personal plot, basement and premises are best obtained from the sanitary-epidemiological service. You can also order processing of the premises or the yard there, if for some reason you cannot do it yourself.
The product must be dissolved in water according to the instructions and thoroughly spray the yard, garden plot or basement. Since poisons are often very toxic, take care of safety measures: wear a respirator and gloves.
Folk remedies
Fleas are afraid of the smell of citrus, therefore, having treated floors and baseboards in the room with a pungent lemon smell, you can scare off parasites. You can make such water yourself. Cut a lemon and boil slices in half a liter of water. Leave overnight for better concentration. Then pour into a spray bottle and spray on various surfaces in the house. The tool is ideal for processing soft coatings - carpets and sofas. In addition to the effect of repelling fleas, the product will bring a pleasant citrus scent to the house and refresh the furniture upholstery.
In addition, they are scared away by the aroma of mint and cedar. According to veterinarian consultant Karin A. Smith, that is why often an animal booth is made from cedar boards. Mint tincture can be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy, or you can make it yourself by the example of a lemon solution.
Parasites reappear - what to do?
Sometimes pet owners are perplexed - they seem to have processed the pet's hair, but after a while the animal starts to itch and bite fleas again. How so? The fact is that adult fleas live on animals, but they lay their eggs not only in the animal’s hair, but throughout the house:
- in the cracks;
- behind the baseboard;
- in the litter of the pet;
- in the carpets;
- in places of dust accumulation, etc.
Therefore, in order for flea eggs and insects themselves to be destroyed, it is necessary to process the entire room. It is advisable to do this at a time so as not to give the parasites a chance to survive. Scientists have calculated how many eggs a flea lays. Throughout life, one female is able to bring offspring from five hundred to two thousand eggs.
The pests are very small, the length of an adult barely reaches three millimeters. Flea eggs are even smaller. They have a rounded shape and white color. It is extremely difficult to detect flea eggs, photos of which can be considered in the article. But you need to know where the flea can put them off. Then the problem of how to destroy flea eggs is much easier to solve.
Get rid of fleas
So, knowing how flea eggs look and where the female lays them, you can destroy the entire population of insects. To do this, it is necessary to treat not only the pet with the insecticide, but also its litter, all the carpets in the house, wash the floors with water and add parasitic agents in hard-to-reach places. Often, a common flea shampoo that can be purchased at a pet store or veterinary pharmacy helps to solve the problem.
Dissolve a small amount of shampoo in water and wash the floors with this water throughout the house, spray on carpets and clean them. Wash the litter of the animal with this tool and bathe the pet.
But often pest control products do not affect their eggs. How to get rid of flea eggs in this case? It is necessary to carry out room treatment at least twice. The fact is that the larva from eggs hatch on average for 14 days and becomes susceptible to toxic substances contained in insecticides. That is, the secondary processing of the premises must be carried out approximately two weeks after the first. Thus, you destroy those parasites that did not die during the first treatment.
Prevention
To prevent fleas from disturbing, you must follow simple rules:
- regularly treat pet hair with anti-flea agents;
- wash the litter of the animal;
- to clean indoor carpets with flea control;
- several times during the season to treat the premises with insecticides;
- at the beginning of the sowing season, treat the infield with parasitic agents;
- periodically process the basement at home.
If the pet is kept in the house, then regardless of whether the collar is worn or not, the animal’s hair is treated with flea drops - you must always inspect the pet after a walk.
With these simple actions, you will never remember a problem like fleas.