Diatomaceous Earth - A natural powder that kills fleas
We had fleas. I think it was my fault.
Well, it was partially my fault. I brought them home post- painting and cleaning after our tenants moved from of the apartment we rent out.
I curse them in ways I definitely wouldn’t want Anjali to hear. I know they knew they had fleas. I found little strips sticky flea paper taped to different places in the apartment. Why couldn’t they just tell me? I would have bombed that place right away (which is what I ended up doing once I figured it out).
But as it is, I must have brought fleas home, at which point they attached themselves to our cat, and/or nested in our basement. They attacked me for a while. Once they were done with my meatless bones they moved onto Madhavi.
Bombing the apartment where no one was living was one thing. I certainly didn’t want to bomb our entire house. That would be a huge undertaking–covering and sealing off items that might get damaged from the fogger chemicals, getting rid of food and sequestering our family, including Fuzzy our cat.
We did end up bombing our basement, but the rest was done naturally. I’ll tell you how to get rid of fleas, step by step.
1. Buy a flea fogger.
Okay, so this is the part that involves the toxic stuff. If you are fogging, there is no way around noxious chemicals that can be harmful to your (and your children’s) health if inhaled or ingested.
However, you are only bombing the basement and you are sealing off the door or any large openings to the rest of your house.
Buy Raid Flea Fogger or Hot Shot Bedbug and Flea Fogger. Both will work fine. You really only need 1 or 2 cans per fogging, though you can buy them as a 3 or 6 pack. One can of Raid covers 600-700 Sq. Ft. That was enough to work in our basement. But as you may repeat this process another time, you can go for the 3 or 6 pack.
Don’t pull the trigger yet!
2. Buy Diotomaceous Earth.
“What is that,” you are likely asking? Diatomaceous Earthis a naturally occurring substance formed from the shells of a type of algae. The algae’s silicon shells fall off when they die and fossilize in the earth. Grinding what’s left into a powder consistency produces a chemical-free alternative for flea control. This powder kills fleas by drying them out.
Perma-Guard: food-grade diatomaceous earth
I suggest getting the food-grade kind, like the one made by Nature’s Wisdom or Perma-Guard. This is because you are going to be laying this stuff all over your house, or at least in the areas you think the fleas are. Any leftover traces could be swallowed by a child or pet. You could eat the food-grade Diatomaceous Earth and you would be fine.
Admittedly, Diatomaceous Earth is a bit pricey. Alternatively, you can use Borax, the old laundry detergent. But you would be laying chemicals all over your floors, carpet and upholstery. I don’t recommend it. Plus, Borax is not as effective as Diatomaceous Earth.
You can also put this stuff on your pets, and I recommend you do. We put it on our cat.
3. Plan to be out of the house for 5-6 hours, and keep your pets safe.
To play it safe, because you are fogging your basement, you should stay out of the house for 5-6 hours. We made sure our cat’s litter box was out of the basement. We sealed off the basement door entirely with plastic and tape.
4. Strip the beds and wash all clothing, towels and bedding.
Fleas like dark, warm, fuzzy places. Wash everything you can in a hot cycle.
5. Spread generous amounts of Diatomaceous Earth on the floors and upholstery which may be infested with fleas or flea eggs.
Don’t be skimpy. You need to lay it on thick. We put it on all floors in our house. We also put it on certain furniture which we thought was compromised. For example, we were getting most of our flea bites near our sofa on the first floor, and in our bedroom.
We stripped our beds and put Diatomaceous Earth on the mattresses (we don’t have box springs, but if you do I suggest putting it in between the mattress and box spring). We put the stuff on our sofa, and made sure it got into any crevices.
Use a broom to get the powder into the cracks of the floor boards. This is especially important on the first floor.
Here’s the scoop: Many flea infestations centralize in the basement because those fleas love dark, damp places. So when fog the basement the fleas are going to try to escape through the ceiling of the basement and through the floor boards. But it’s a trap because you will have put down enough Diatomaceous Earth to dry them all out.
6. Fog the basement and get out for 5-6 hours.
Remember to seal the door and keep your pet as far away as possible, if not out of the house altogether.
7. Vacuum like mad.
Okay, this part really sucks. That powder is dense. It took me several hours to get it all up. It was especially a lot of work to get it out of few carpets we have. I recommend first sweeping it into piles, put them in a dust pan and throw them out. Then vacuum.
Don’t forget to trash your vacuum bag!
8. Follow Up.
Some people recommend doing this entire process again in about 10 days. The theory is that the fogger and Diatomaceous Earth do not kill the eggs. So, you need a do-over when the eggs hatch.
After my marathon vacuuming session, I decided it would be just as effective to vacuum daily for the next couple of weeks, and be especially vigilant in the places where we were getting bitten the most.
We used the Diatomaceous Earth once more, only on our first floor and sofa. Otherwise, we just vigilantly vacuumed and changed our bed sheets a bit more frequently.
The fleas are gone!
)
(and I think I’ll have to get my hands on more of his books) rings true to me, especially since we greatly consider homeschooling…
. Then bath time and bed for her and Mama.
