Australia is nicely blessed with a ridiculously large array of pests and insects. Around March to June each year, fleas can invade our lives - filling our pets, garages, and even our lawns with their colonies.
I had to deal with a massive infestation of fleas last week, so I'm sharing today how I got rid of the fleas. Funnily enough, about the only place I didn't find fleas were on my two dogs! They are well protected with Front-line drops, and don't seem to suffer at all. But, that's about it - everywhere else was literally crawling in fleas.
Step 1)
Mow the grass! Sounds a bit strange, but fleas love living in the lawn, especially if there's a big infestation and they're out of blood meal hosts, like cats and dogs. The reason you need the grass short is so that the spray actually reaches the ground surface, rather than just getting stuck on the blades of grass and protecting the fleas below from the spray.
Step 2)
Treat your lawns with an indoor and an outdoor surface spray, such as this one from Bunnings. It's important to do your lawns first, and I'll cover the 'why' in the next steps. Don't be shy with applying a good quantity - it's better to over-do it than to miss areas and have gaps in the treatment.
Step 3)
Spray all inside dark and wet areas (under the sinks in the kitchen, laundry, bathroom, garage, etc). The reason you do this after the outside is because, as I found, when you spray the inside, they pests (including fleas) will go outside looking for a clean water source, and when they do, they'll again be hit with a wall of insecticide, and they'll meet their death!
I spent only half a day Saturday on this, and it's really not that time consuming (including even the trips to Bunnings). A good alternative to spending $200 or more for a pest control company to do it! And, all up, I spent probably no more than $50 - I got two bottles of spray, and basically used one inside and one outside.
Don't expect this treatment to keep working for long though - basically the next time it rains, the outside surface spray will be washed away. That said, however, I've been living in Sydney for 16 years and this is only the 4th time I've had a flea infestation like this, so, I don't think it's much of a big deal.
If you have any questions or there's something I didn't cover, feel free to ask in the comments below - I'm active here and will do my best to reply and help.
I had to deal with a massive infestation of fleas last week, so I'm sharing today how I got rid of the fleas. Funnily enough, about the only place I didn't find fleas were on my two dogs! They are well protected with Front-line drops, and don't seem to suffer at all. But, that's about it - everywhere else was literally crawling in fleas.
Step 1)
Mow the grass! Sounds a bit strange, but fleas love living in the lawn, especially if there's a big infestation and they're out of blood meal hosts, like cats and dogs. The reason you need the grass short is so that the spray actually reaches the ground surface, rather than just getting stuck on the blades of grass and protecting the fleas below from the spray.
Step 2)
Treat your lawns with an indoor and an outdoor surface spray, such as this one from Bunnings. It's important to do your lawns first, and I'll cover the 'why' in the next steps. Don't be shy with applying a good quantity - it's better to over-do it than to miss areas and have gaps in the treatment.
Step 3)
Spray all inside dark and wet areas (under the sinks in the kitchen, laundry, bathroom, garage, etc). The reason you do this after the outside is because, as I found, when you spray the inside, they pests (including fleas) will go outside looking for a clean water source, and when they do, they'll again be hit with a wall of insecticide, and they'll meet their death!
I spent only half a day Saturday on this, and it's really not that time consuming (including even the trips to Bunnings). A good alternative to spending $200 or more for a pest control company to do it! And, all up, I spent probably no more than $50 - I got two bottles of spray, and basically used one inside and one outside.
Don't expect this treatment to keep working for long though - basically the next time it rains, the outside surface spray will be washed away. That said, however, I've been living in Sydney for 16 years and this is only the 4th time I've had a flea infestation like this, so, I don't think it's much of a big deal.
If you have any questions or there's something I didn't cover, feel free to ask in the comments below - I'm active here and will do my best to reply and help.
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