Homemade Flea Traps Successfully Control Flea Infestations

Homemade Flea Traps Successfully Control Flea Infestations

The summer of 2011, Oklahoman’s temperatures soared over 100 degrees F for well over 100 days. The long, hot summer was following by a short, mild winter.  These two combined to create a flea outbreak not seen in this part of the country in many years.

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service made a fact sheet available to the public on the subject of fleas at http://osufacts.okstate.edu.  The fact sheets bottom line reads:  “Pet owners should consult a veterinarian before attempting flea control treatment.”  And, “…a veterinarian can design a control program that is comprehensive and fits your pet’s problem.”

Shebolith Says…Forget about the Vet, forget about the spot-on, spray-on, liquid and powdered flea killers. Forget about the dips and the foggers, all this poison will make you and your pet sick while deflating your pocketbook.  However, the poisons will not be of much help in treating and curing a flea infestation.

I have been using homemade flea traps for many years and have fallen back on this time-tested protocol for control of fleas this summer. 

You will need a Brooder Clamp Light, a 40-watt incandescent light bulb and a white dinner plate.  Load the trap with water treated with drops of liquid Joy dishwashing detergent to break the surface tension of the water. (Use 3 or 4 drops of Joy in 2 cups of water.)  

Clamp the brooder light to anything sturdy enough to hold it.  Place the white dinner plate under the light. Set the traps up in areas where your pet spends most of its time.  Our house requires six traps, one per room.  We have five cats in varying degrees of health and age.  Poisons are not an option.

Maintain your traps.  Top off the water in the plate every 12 hours with Joy treated water.  After 2 to 3 days empty the trap, scrub the plate and refill with freshly treated water.

You may have to maintain the traps all summer. 

Movement, light, pressure, any of these will cause an adult flea to emerge from its cocoon where it has developed from larvae to pupae stage. This transformation inside the cocoon takes an average of one to four weeks. (If not stimulated by movement, light, pressure) the pre-emerged fleas can survive in a dormant state for approx. 140 to 170 days.
The adult flea begins feeding on a blood meal within seconds after landing on a host and will begin laying eggs approx. two to four days later. The eggs are deposited on the host and some drop off into the environment.
The eggs will hatch in a warm (75 to 85 F) and humid (50 to 90 %) environment in one to ten days. The eggs hatch out into larvae, they look like small, white worms and they can move about their environment. The larvae will feed on organic matter and flea feces for 5 to 12 days then they spin a cocoon around themselves and start the pupae state of their life cycle.

Read more about fleas at http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2681/VT.  Carolynn MacAllister, DVM, an OSU Extension Veterinarian wrote this fact sheet.

Shebolith says…Bottom line… Clean and vacuum the premises daily. Bathe your pet/pets regularly with Joy dishwashing liquid keeping as much of the pet (as possible) submerged in the water for at least 10 minutes. Set and maintain flea traps. Be consistent and diligent.