Killing fleas in their environment is just as important as killing the fleas on your pet.
Before you can rid your life of fleas you need to understand how they grow and multiply.
If not handled correctly trying to rid your yard, pet and house of those pesky little creatures could be never ending battle.
The lifespan of a flea is only a few months. That doesn't sound like such a long time except that they reproduce very quickly. A female flea can lay as many as 2000 eggs in just a few weeks. All they need is a host, your pet, and a flea friendly environment, anywhere your pets lives. Once the eggs are laid on your pet they then fall into the grass and other conducive environments and wait to develop. Only 1% of a flea's life is spent in the adult stage. The other 99% of its life is spent in development. So the fleas that you may see on your pet, in your home, or on your body are only a small portion of the problem. In order to rid yourself of these pesky creatures you have to treat for both the flea and the environment it lives in.
Using flea collars, shampoos, and sprays on your pet is not only ineffective for the pet but it also does nothing for the backyard where thousands more flea eggs and larva are developing. That is why you need to concentrate on ridding the yard of fleas while they are in the egg and larva stage.
There is no need to treat your entire yard. Fleas cannot survive in the heat of direct sunlight. Concentrate on cool shaded areas like, dog pens, under decks and trees, and outside rugs or furniture your pet may lay on.
For the Naturalist there are many different types of herbs and oils to use. Two of the most common remedies for the yard itself are diatomaceous earth and pyrethrum dust. These dusts kill by dehydration. They should be applied in the spring and may take a few days to work. When using diatomaceous earth make sure and use the food grade and not the pool grade. When treating furniture and rugs you may use natural herbs and oils such as citrus, pennyroyal, eucalyptus, rosemary, wormwood or cedar sprays. If your dog has a house or bed outside consider adding cedar chips to those areas. You can also plant rosemary, rue and pennyroyal around high pet traffic areas to help rid your yard of fleas.
For those of you chemical lovers there are bio controls like Interrupt, Lawn Patrol, Talstar or Demon WP. No matter which control you choose you need to use it accompanied with an insect growth regulator (IGR). The chemical will kill the adult fleas and the IGR will kill the immature fleas and eggs stopping the lifecycle.
No matter what method you choose one application is not going to rid your yard, pet or house of the problem. Make sure you repeat the process weekly until you have killed the fleas and ended the flea lifecycle.
