How to Get Rid of Fleas in Carpet

Fleas lay most of their eggs on carpets and rugs inside a house or apartment. Female adult fleas can lay up to 50 eggs per day. There is no need to emphasize the need to remove the fleas as they can transmit diseases that range from allergies to plague.

Can you vacuum fleas out of carpet?

Well, the first step in getting rid of fleas from rugs and carpets is to use a vacuum cleaner that has a powerful suction. Clean the carpets and rugs with the vacuum cleaner daily. Use disposable dust bags for your vacuum cleaners. A vacuum cleaner with Hepa filtration would be the ideal choice as these don’t reciruculate what they suck up. Once the dust is collected, seal it and remove it from your home. The fleas go inside the dust bag and the disposable dust bag goes inside the thrash can out side.

It’s not easy to remove the larvae from rugs and carpets by vacuum cleaning. The vacuum cleaner easily picks up eggs and adult fleas, but the larvae cling to the carpet and don’t come out easily. The next option is shampooing the carpet, because it can remove the larvae.

Diatomaceous earth fleas On carpets

If they are still persistent then use diatomaceous earth (DE) all over the carpet and rugs. Wear protective goggles and mask before spraying the dust. Blow the dust in to the cracks and crevices. DE is not very harmful for humans, when used properly, but kills fleas.

Machine wash your rugs in hot, soapy water to remove fleas. Pet bedding also needs
to be washed or replaced with new ones.

Flea killing carpet powders

Borate based carpet cleaners also have less toxicity for humans. These carpet cleaners can control fleas up to one year. Sprinkle the powder on the entire carpet or rug, leaving any area untreated would nullify
the treatment. You may also mix the powder in a rug-shampooing machine with or without detergent and clean the rug. The chemical binds to the rug or carpet and cannot be cleaned up with a vacuum cleaner. This kills eggs, larvae and adult fleas while preventing fleas from laying eggs. Be careful to choose only carpet cleaning borate-based insecticide. Wood cleaning borate powders can be harmful for children.
If it’s a borate-based powder that you have used, then do not vacuum for 5-7 days. Within this time, the pupae would emerge and die when they are exposed to the insecticide. Then vacuuming would collect the dead or incapacitated fleas. The process of dusting insecticide should be repeated after a few weeks by which time any eggs left during the first time dusting may be now lurking as pupae.

Borate based insecticide dusting is good usually for an entire year. Do not steam clean after applying insecticide. When applying borate based flea stopper insecticide make sure to spray it all over the rugs, and areas under beds and couches.

Mithoprene and Pyriproxyfen are one of most effective insect growth regulators used for flea removal. Do not stop vacuuming after insecticide treatment. Continue vacuuming after a few days or even just a few hours of applying insecticide, depending on the type of the insecticide you have used.

Final Thoughts

For best results read the label on the container for instructions. Always consult a pesticide consultant since pesticides you use can be harmful to kids and adults if not used properly.

In addition to this, a problem like fleas should not be something you do yourself without asking a professional especially in the case of severe infestation. Once you’ve covered the entire guide, try a few tricks to clean the carpet and leave troubles in the past.

2 thoughts on “How to Get Rid of Fleas in Carpet

  1. Kathie Reply

    my room is carpeted .. i vacuumed already what should my next step be? should i shampoo it?

  2. Don Lasher Reply

    Boric acid does not kill eggs or larvae. Boric acid, more or less, works like salt when it comes to eliminating fleas. It cuts the adults exoskeleton and acts as a desiccant or a dehydrating agent (just like DE) which causes severe dehydration in fleas.

    You also spelled Methoprene wrong.

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