‘Tis the season for fleas, especially if you have dogs and cats in your home. But even if you don’t, these little bloodsuckers will hitchhike their way in on you or any other warm-blooded animal, leaving no one immune to a potential infestation.

While fleas live on their hosts, they can leave eggs on both the host and in bedding. The eggs that are left on the host can fall off and accumulate just about anywhere – beds, clothes, carpets, cars, and anywhere else the host (meaning you or your pet) goes.

While it’s a common-sense approach to avoid an infestation in the first place, The Bug Man has compiled a few tips for how to get rid of fleas. The first step in flea removal is cleaning everything that has come into contact with the host(s) to remove as many eggs and larvae as possible. We’ll walk you through it:

1 Quarantine and apply flea treatment to infested pets. (And, as a last step, soak their usual resting areas with lots of soap and water to drown any fleas that might be awaiting their return.)

2 Gather all bedding, rugs, throws and any other potentially infested garments and washable items. Soapy water will kill the eggs, larvae, pupae and adults – all four life cycles of the flea.

3 Vacuum everything. Consider all furniture, carpets, cracks in the floor, bare floors, corners, behind doors, etc. Most eggs will be gone, but larvae tend to latch onto carpet fibers. Throw your vacuum bag out immediately.

4 Take care of remaining larvae in your carpet with a good steam cleaning, which kills every stage of fleas, except their eggs. As an alternative, shampoo the carpet with insecticidal shampoo — but use caution and consult a professional to ensure the safety of your family and pets.

If you catch them early and remain vigilant in your efforts, you can be successful in handling the fleas yourself. But for a severe infestation, call the flea control professionals at The Bug Man at 501-663-9464. Or contact us here for more information.