Fleas are pesky parasites that feed on human or animals’ blood. They often hide in moist and shady places such as carpets, rugs, and even beds. If you own a dog or a cat as a pet, you may find yourself searching for ways to cure your pets from fleas. Their bites are especially itchy and may transmit infectious diseases if not properly treated.
Therefore, any signs of fleas in your house or on your pets should be taken seriously and remedies should be utilized to eradicate the nuisance. There are multiple choices when it comes to killing fleas. Chemical products such as flea foggers or flea bombs are an immediate solution that is quite effective for flea infestations. However, the downside of this measure is the toxic chemicals that can adversely affect human and animal health if breathed in.
When dealing with fleas on pets, flea shampoos, flea combs or herbal sprays are among some of the other popular options. Those products are safe for your pets and are usually effective as well. Nevertheless, if you are still looking for a natural and cheap option to kill fleas, let’s look closer at how to get rid of fleas with salt. This simple cooking additive is found in every kitchen, but it is also an amazing option in the fight against fleas and it comes at a relatively low cost.
Flea’s life cycle
First, you should be aware that a flea’s life cycle consists of four stages, namely egg, larvae, pupae and mature fleas. Thus, you are not dealing with adult fleas alone, but their whole life cycle because if they’re not all removed completely, the potential adult fleas will soon develop from any stage of the cycle. Salt works because fleas thrive best in moist and shady environments. Salt will dehydrate the moisture and ultimately desiccate the fleas to death.
Where to start?
To begin treating your flea infestation using salt, you need to identify the places in your house that are infested with fleas. Although fleas will eventually spread all over the house, there will be some areas where they prefer to hide. If your pets are full of fleas, the fleas will travel wherever your pets go. It could be outdoors in the yard or indoors under tables, carpets, rugs, sofas, pet bedding and even in your bed if you let your pets sleep with you. Now you’ve got to treat the source of the fleas, namely your pets, before treating the rest of the infested areas.
De-flea your pet with salt
Flea shampoos are a good option to kill fleas hiding in pets’ fur. Alternatively, salt baths can also help to remove fleas. A proportion of one part of salt with ten parts of water is ideal for pet bathing. Soak your pet’s whole body in the water, but be careful to keep their eyes and ears clear. In case of heavy infestations, directly rub salt into your pet’s fur, leave for about two hours before brushing off the salt and bathing it in warm water. If your pets have any open injuries, don’t try to apply salt as it will sting. A single salt treatment may not remove all the fleas, and you may need to repeat the treatment a few days later.
Indoor flea treatment with salt
For removable and washable items in the house that are infested with fleas, such as pet blankets, high heat can help to kill the fleas. A hot water temperature of above 95 degrees Celsius is ideal to get the job well done.
What about bulky furniture and items that cannot be washed? The answer is to sprinkle salt over the infested item. Fine salt will penetrate better than coarse salt. When you are in a room trying to remove the fleas, make sure you have some salt sprinkled in front of the threshold or in the passage leading into the room. The reason is that when you try to kill fleas in one room, it is very likely that they will jump into the other.
Therefore, in order to surround them in one room for treatment, make sure you block all the exits with salt. Leave the salt spread over the carpets, rugs or floors for about 12 hours and then vacuum thoroughly. Salt acts as a drying agent and will dehydrate the environment. Those fleas that eat some salt will be desiccated as well. After that time, vacuum the room thoroughly, seal the vacuum bag, and discard it properly, otherwise eggs or larvae in it may hatch and start the whole infestation again.
Salt treatment for larvae
Salt is most effective in killing mature fleas as their bodies are exposed to the substance and the chances that they will eat the salt are pretty high. However, flea larvae can still survive in a salty habitat for a long time – they can go for up to a year without having to consume food.
Eggs are laid every day and will turn into larvae within two days or two weeks depending on the living conditions such as moisture or temperature. It may take weeks or months for larvae to make up cocoons and finally grow into mature fleas. During this larval stage, salt may have little effect on them. If you are still concerned about how to get rid of fleas with salt, the only way is to repeat the treatment – sprinkle salt then vacuum on a regular basis. This will kill adult fleas as they emerge, and gradually the cycle will end.
Outdoor treatment of fleas with salt is not very effective as the moisture content outdoors tends to be high and salt gets dissolved quickly. For outdoor treatment, you’ll need to look for methods such sprays or flea foggers. Removing all leaves and debris lying around, and keeping the lawn short also helps.
To sum up
We hope you have gained some new ideas on how to get rid of fleas with salt. For those of you who love safe and natural methods to fight against insect infestations, salt is such a good choice. In comparison with pesticides or flea bombs, it may require a little more effort for you to completely get rid of fleas. However, in return you can protect yourself, your family and pets from harmful chemicals, as well as save yourself some money.
One key point that we want to emphasize here, is that no matter how effective the measures you take to eradicate fleas are, it is best to prevent them from gaining a foothold in the first place. The saying, “Prevention is better than cure” is true in this case as well. The best preventive measure is to keep your living space neat and clean. If your yard and house are clean, pets will have a safe playground to hang out in and there’ll be less chance of their being bitten by fleas.
Watch your pets to see straight away if they have any sign of itchy spots and take prompt action as soon as you spot a few fleas on them. Early detection and immediate prevention measures will stop fleas from multiplying in number and spreading all over the house. Don’t panic if you see a few fleas around, but just take it as a reminder to clean up your house and garden and get everything in order.
Thanks for reading!
