How do fleas appear in an apartment and how to get rid of them?

Fleas can appear in the apartment even if there are no animals in the house. Especially often insects attack the owners of suburban real estate, causing a lot of inconvenience to people of any age. In the fight against blood-sucking pests, you have to choose means that are safe for humans, sometimes sacrificing the speed of processing and achieving results. To understand how to quickly remove fleas once and for all by treating a room, to understand how long fleas live without animals and other food sources, a detailed study of all aspects of such pest control will help.

Fleas in an apartment or private house can cause a lot of inconvenience. Quite often they live without animals, feeding on human blood. Insects are active at any time of the day, they multiply very quickly, and can remain invisible for a long time. Fleas look quite frightening, especially under a microscope. They are equipped with a black or red chitinous cover, do not have wings, unlike some other ectoparasites.

The main feature of these blood-sucking insects is the structure of the oral apparatus. It is focused on quickly piercing the skin, sucking out blood. Fleas do not feed on other substances. They reproduce by laying eggs, up to 400 pieces from 1 female.

There are about 1000 species of these insects.... Some attack exclusively animals or birds, while others choose an easier prey - a person. Most often, people encounter bed, earthy or grassy varieties.

In a flea, the body is 1-5 mm long, less often up to 10 mm, flattened on the sides, smooth and narrow. On the head of a flea there are simple eyes and antennae-antennae that help to orientate in space. This insect has 3 pairs of legs, which are actively used when moving.

It is quite simple to figure out where fleas come from in the house. If there are pets in the dwelling - cats, dogs, parrots, rodents, the most obvious way of distribution will be their hair... Blood-sucking parasites nest in litters, houses, move under baseboards and in other hard-to-reach places.

In houses where there are no animals, fleas also sometimes appear. Apartments on the ground floor suffer from them more than others, especially with the onset of hot weather, if there is a basement downstairs. It is in this weather that insects reproduce most actively. It is possible to determine that fleas have entered the dwelling, and not bugs or mosquitoes, by their appearance and behavior. Bites will also be local - on the legs to the knee or on the lower side of the body, if we are talking about bed parasites.

The reasons why parasitic insects enter the house are quite simple. The following factors contribute to the appearance of fleas.

1. The presence of dust, dark shelters, where a person rarely looks. Such places are usually chosen by earthen fleas, often found in private houses.
2. Poor sanitary conditions. Disregard of the rules of personal hygiene, rare washing of linen and clothes, lack of regular cleaning. All this can attract fleas to the home. If the ventilation in the premises also does not work well, and the air is damp and stagnant, the blood-sucking parasites will feel quite comfortable.
3. Accidental transfer... When visiting public transport, garden or park, city market, you can bring parasites on your clothes, body or bag. Just 1 female in a few weeks will increase the population size to 100-200 individuals.
4. Doorways, vents, garbage chutes. Fleas often live on the bodies of rats that live in basements and entrances. Through the available paths of penetration, they can go in search of food, and when they find it, they can create a colony.

Having settled in a house or apartment, fleas usually inhabit the most convenient places for a hidden existence. They can be found in cracks in the floor and under linoleum, window sills, baseboards. Pests also feel quite at ease in textiles - carpets, bedding, blankets, soft toys or upholstery.

The easiest way to get rid of fleas is heat treatment.... This method is successfully used today by professional exterminators, but with a powerful steam generator, you can cope with the destruction of insects on your own. For the death of pests, heating above +60 degrees is enough. At the same time, pest control will have to be repeated, after 10-14 days, in order to guarantee the destruction of new members of the population, who could hatch from eggs during this time.

It is necessary to process the room with a steam generator through a narrow nozzle-divider, directed and without haste. It is important to pre-wet cleaning, remove children and animals from the house... Then, using a construction hair dryer or a steam generator, you will have to walk through all possible habitats of fleas, devoting sufficient time to each area of ​​the surface.

The extreme methods of thermal exposure to fleas include freezing them.... For a long time this method was considered practically uncontested for owners of private housing. It is suitable for non-residential buildings, objects with stove heating without water in pipes. In this case, in frosts, when the atmospheric temperatures drop to -20 degrees, people leave the dwelling, its windows and doors are opened in order to achieve a cold snap. Fleas will die in 24-48 hours.

The main fight against fleas in a house or apartment begins with the selection of a suitable chemical insecticide. Finding a remedy that is safe for an adult or for children is sometimes extremely difficult. Weakly concentrated chemical preparations often require long-term use, and it is rather rare to remove insects with them quickly, once and for all.

For the treatment of animal hair from parasites use "Deltsid". This veterinary drug belongs to the pyrethroid group. It is used against most ectoparasites and is available in ampoules for solution preparation. Treatment is carried out using a spray bottle or bathing. Also, the drug can be used for spraying bedding and habitats of animals, poultry.

Regardless of the choice of means for processing, there are general rules for preparing for it.

1. Wet cleaning... It will distribute chemicals evenly when spraying or otherwise applied.
2. Removal of food, cosmetics, personal care products. Upon contact with pesticides, they will be unsuitable for further use.
3. Insulation of aquarium, bird cages. They are covered to prevent contact with insecticides.
4. Use of personal protective equipment. Work gloves, respirator, shoe covers will help to avoid contact with aerosol, powder, liquid preparation. This will prevent the development of allergic reactions.

The main group of drugs that can be used to treat a house and apartment premises against fleas contains organophosphorus compounds. They are not very safe for humans, but they are very effective. The argument against such substances is their toxicity, as well as a strong unpleasant odor that is difficult to erode. Among household insecticides, such products can be found in the brands Get, Sinuzan, Dichlorvos.

Modern flea aerosols most often contain derivatives of a natural insecticide - pyrethrum or its synthetic analogues. They are safe for pets and humans, can have an odorless formula, and are effective against all types of fleas. Most major manufacturers have drugs of this type - from Raptor, Raid, Combat to budget Dichlorvos. They are intended for the preparation of solutions from a concentrated emulsion. Spraying can be done with a garden sprayer.

A popular option for controlling fleas in small numbers. The aerosol cans are compact, provide targeted insecticide spray, and instantly kill fleas within minutes. The main disadvantage of these insecticides is that not all of them are safe for pets. People also have to take certain precautions when spraying the product. The most popular chemicals in this category are produced by brands:

• Combat;
• "Executioner";
• Dichlorvos;
• "Clean house".

Contact preparations in powder form are used for placement behind baseboards and under linoleum, in the gaps between floorboards. They are also convenient when processing basements, attics, and other non-residential spaces, suitable for removing insects from carpet or carpet. Powdered substances have a contact effect, destroy fleas in contact with them. Means of this type are produced by the manufacturers "Clean House", "Pyrethrum", "Fenaxin".

Funds of this group are considered a modern alternative to organophosphorus drugs. They have a special microencapsulated formula, provide not only the destruction of insects, but also long-term protection against their reappearance. The formulations can be dispensed by cleaning the floor and walls, or sprayed with a spray bottle. If spilled on furniture or furnishings, they may stain. Among the popular drugs in this group are Get, Tsifox.

Flea control in the home is often complicated by the presence of pets, people with allergies or weakened immune systems. In this case, you have to look for alternative ways of processing the premises. In cases where pests cannot be poisoned with pesticides, folk remedies come to the rescue.

Among the most effective folk recipes for fleas are the following.

• Concentrated essential oils and their aqueous solutions. With them, you can wash floors and walls, process animal bedding. Essential oils of citrus, bergamot, tea tree, eucalyptus, basil, vanilla extracts repel insects in the best way. Insects are most afraid of these smells.
• Fine salt. Its common culinary variety helps to fight pests.Contact with salt corrodes the chitinous membrane of the insect, and its iodized variants also have a disinfecting effect. By adding baking soda, you can also kill flea eggs. The product is scattered into carpets and floor coverings, under baseboards and in other places where parasites have accumulated. After 3 days, traces of salt can be removed with an ordinary vacuum cleaner.
• Wormwood broth or tincture. Natural herbs have at all times been considered one of the best insect repellents used at home. Fresh wormwood can be spread out on the porch and in the corners, with a decoction to wash the floors, spray the walls, process animal hair when bathing. Tansy also helps to destroy insects - it is used in the same way.
• Vinegar... Using natural apple cider vinegar or a chemical essence diluted with water, you can make solutions to treat fleas. Pests cannot stand the vinegar smell. With regular treatment, getting rid of fleas in this way will not be difficult.

These are basic time-tested recipes. There are also other remedies - from garlic broth to kerosene, but their use can significantly complicate the stay of people in living quarters due to a strong unpleasant odor.

Contacting the SES services, for the services of professional exterminators, helps to achieve guaranteed destruction of fleas. Specialists have at their disposal specialized chemicals that kill pests even where they remain hidden from view. Professionals use microencapsulated products or suspensions with a concentrated formula to combat fleas.

Depending on the method of exposure, the following options for professional treatment are distinguished.

1. Cold fog. A method that uses special atomizers - generators that convert the liquid into a cloud of small droplets. The cold fog allows the toxic chemicals to gradually settle on the surface of the floor and walls. The concentrated formula allows you to eliminate pests without locally detecting their nests. This method is considered optimal for houses and apartments with a small degree of flea infestation.
2. Hot fog. To create it, a combination of chemical action with heating the mixture to + 60 degrees is used. The hot steam turns out to be thicker, easily penetrates into almost any crevices, does not harm carpets and textile upholstery. This "fog" settles more slowly, easily destroys fleas, even in a heavily infected apartment.

Turning to professionals allows you to prevent overdose of drugs, makes the destruction of insects as safe and effective as possible. Experts can select the active substance with the lowest hazard class, harmless even for pregnant women. After treatment, a certain amount of time must pass for the effect of the drug to end. The exact duration of the quarantine period will be indicated by a disinfection specialist.

Preventing problems is always easier than dealing with their consequences. In the case of flea protection at home, this rule works 100%. Owners of houses and apartments just need to adhere to simple rules.

1. Regularly carry out wet and dry cleaning indoors. Be sure to pay attention to cracks in the floor, areas under skirting boards, furniture.
2. Thoroughly dry and ventilate bed linen and accessories. They are periodically washed at high temperatures or dry-cleaned.
3. Emboss carpets, feather pillows. It is also useful to clean them periodically with a steam generator, as well as upholstery of upholstered furniture.
4. Carry out antiparasitic treatment of animals... It is necessary to regularly wash or change the bedding, use special sprays to protect the coat, drops on the withers or protective collars.
5. Maintain normal air exchange in rooms. An increase in air humidity, accumulation of steam should be excluded. Cleaning the ventilation grills, regular ventilation will help you achieve what you want quickly and easily.

By following these recommendations, you can prevent flea infestation in your home and avoid other risks associated with the appearance of these pests.