Sand fleas can get pretty annoying. The imperative question about how to get rid of sand fleas will be answered in the following article.
The deal with sand fleas is that they don’t remain confined to the sand, they make their way through to your homes and make your life miserable. I do not exaggerate. And a house or yard infested with sand fleas is not the way to live. To top it off, these kinds of pests are dangerous as well. They cause innumerable health risks and give rise to varied skin disorders along with causing a lot of pain if they happen to bite you. That is why it becomes important to know how to get rid of them, and fast.
Sand fleas aren’t like the regular fleas. They can get quite huge in size and normally attack by inflicting bites when they feel threatened. As the name suggests, they are found in the sand and other muddy areas. The point of them getting into your home (which is devoid of sand) can happen if they attach themselves to pet fur or the folds of your clothes. They attack in clusters and their bite is quite painful.
Understanding Breeding Grounds
The first step in getting rid of sand fleas is to make sure that you know where they are coming from. Now here’s the tricky part, you probably won’t know your home or yard is infested with these pests until you (or your pet) are bitten by one. Fleas breed in dark areas so you’ll find them in crevices and cracks around your home and garden. Also, once they make their way into your homes they will travel to areas that are dark―under the carpet and other furniture pieces. Another way to know that your home or yard has been infested is to look for the larvae and the pupae. They look like caterpillars with legs and hair on them.
Cleaning Breeding Grounds
Getting rid of sand fleas is not as easy as it seems and is definitely a tedious process. This is because, it requires extensive cleaning in a bid to tap all their breeding areas. Here is how you need to go about the cleaning process:
- Sprinkle salt on all the carpets and leave it there for 24 hours before vacuuming it off. The salt dehydrates the sand fleas and kills them.
- Make sure to vacuum all the crevices and cracks other than the floor and furniture along with the carpets. This will ensure that the larvae and pupae are gotten rid of. Make sure to discard the findings as fast as possible so that the sand fleas do not attack again.
- If possible, after vacuuming, make sure to seal off all the crevices and cracks, thus eliminating future breeding grounds as well.
- Strip all the linen and covers from your home (I told you it was tedious) and disinfect them in a soap and disinfectant solution before washing them.
- Another option is to spray your home with a pesticide which will ensure that the sand fleas are killed. After which, you can vacuum your home.
- Do not forget to treat your pets as well. It doesn’t make sense to clean your home and have the pets bring the eggs back in through their fur.
- The best option is that of steam cleaning. Extremely high temperatures will not only kill the sand fleas, but also eliminate all the hatching grounds.
- As for the yard and gardens, it does get a little difficult to clean because there might be vegetables and flowers growing there. So you don’t want to harm them and yet kill the sand fleas. The best way to do this is to buy a supply of diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it liberally on and around the garden plants. This will dehydrate the fleas and put them to death.
- If it is a garage that has been infested with the sand fleas then a generous layer of boric acid poured onto the floor will kill the sand fleas effectively.
After you’re done with getting rid of the fleas, make sure that you clean your homes regularly, and keep a look out for future infestations as well.
Disclaimer – This article is for informative purposes only and does not in any way attempt to replace the advice offered by an expert on the subject.