No matter what people or companies tell you (unless you’re paying premium price for flea exterminators to do it for you), these pests can now no longer be exterminated by just one single swoop. You need to do the following things over and over again to kill fleas for good.

1. Vacuum…Vacuum…Vacuum
Regular vacuuming can really do wonders in your quest to eliminate these household pests.   The key here is regular. This can be a lot of work but make sure that you vacuum daily. This ensures that all fleas at different life stages are extinguished. Make sure you vacuum all the nooks and crevices in the house.

2. Get rid of fleas in your dog/cat/pet
Your pet needs to be bathe more often than usual at this time. It’s usually fine to simply use  non-harmful detergent when bathing him/her, but you can opt to use a  shampoo for flea and tick treatments. As much as possible, don’t use shampoo which contains pesticides. Instead, get one with natural-based ingredient.

After bathing, brush his/her fur to help flush the fleas away.

3. Killing fleas in carpets.
Killing fleas in carpets can be a long and tedious process. It happens to be a very important part of this whole problem though, so a lot of care is needed to get through this ordeal!

Vacuuming as mentioned above is very important. Vacuum the carpet first and foremost. This gets rid of some fleas but there will still be some left especially larvaes which usually stick on to the carpet fibre.  At this stage, you can use carpet powder or shampoo with insecticide.

Alternatively, you can use borax. Spread the powder all over the carpet, in furniture and other places. Let it sit for a day. Then vacuum again.

The problem with powders however is that they are limited to specific areas. This is why an environmental spray is very much recommended. This ensures that all parts of the house, even the tiniest crevices where fleas may reside are reached.

Remember though that many of these sprays have insecticides which could be harmful to your family and pets. Whenever possible, buy natural based spray which are much more human and pet friendly such as this one from Dermisil.

4. Wash bed sheets, bed or sofa covers and curtains.
Yes. Fleas can live in bed sheets, bed covers and curtains too! Good news is killing fleas in these things is very easy. Just put them in the washing machine with warm soapy water and you can say goodbye to these fleas.

And one last very important thing. Depending on the severity of the flea infestation, it could take weeks before you totally get rid of fleas in your home. You will however, very likely, notice their number slowly decrease each week if you religiously do the above instructions regularly.