We have a cat in the house who I would not get rid of for nothing but somehow about a year ago we noticed little bites on the kids and discovered that we have fleas in the carpet.

It started out as a small problem and as is the case with fleas, they multiplied faster than we good get rid of them and they took over.

It was time to break out the big guns.. I never call a professional for pest control. I am one of those who feels like I can do it myself and sometimes that gets me in trouble but you can’t knock me for being ambitious either.

I sprayed the house with permethrin 10% which seemed to help quite a bit but did not kill them all and we tried using salt which I heard would dry them up or something.

We later had the bright idea that if we could spray with permethrin again and kill a big portion of them and then vacuum the rest up we could get them all out of the house if we were persistent.

The trick for us was in the vacuuming.. we bought several vacuum cleaner bags and every day sometimes twice a day or more I would vaccum the carpet really good and then take the vaccuum outside, remove the bag and dispose of it.

After about a week of this the fleas were no more to be found.

We have since used a collar and external flea killer on the cat recommended to us by the cat’s veterinarian and have not had a problem again.

Some preventive maintenance will also help to keep your home and pets free of fleas.. here are some tips on how to get rid of fleas and stay rid of fleas thru preventive maintenance:

• Wash pet bedding weekly
• Bathe pet regularly if possible or use Advantix
• Keep grass cut short outdoors
• Vacuum home regularly and dispose of bag immediately to prevent the adult fleas from escaping
• Comb pet with flea comb and drop fleas into soapy water to kill
• Ask your vet for recommended ways to discourage fleas from taking up residence on your pets

Send Us Your Tips

If you have other tips on how to get rid of fleas that you have found to work well, please let me know by sending me an email.

I understand their role in the ecosystem and appreciate that but when they are on my turf.. it is war time!

I have done extensive research on the subject and I am reporting my findings of what works and what does not work.

I am not going to get all bent out of shape over spiders that are harmless such as daddy long legs and others that are known to be harmless to humans but the ones that scare the bajeebers out of me are the brown recluse, also known as a fiddleback, and the black widow spider.

Brown recluse spiders are naturally not very aggressive and will usually only bite if it is a last resort and they feel their life is in danger if they do not.

The first step in getting rid of them is to remove their comfy environment.. they love to get in dark places such as inside of clothes and shoes on the floor, inside cardboard (they love cardboard), under the covers on the bedding, etc., they need areas with moisture such as in bathrooms and kitchens.

These are things that are fairly simple to take care of..

• Remove the clutter
• Don’t allow clothes to pile up on the floor
• Get rid of cardboard boxes and use plastic bins instead
• Make sure the bedding is not touching the floor
• Take care of any unneccessary moisture such as leaky pipes, standing water, etc.

The next thing I disovered in how to get rid of spiders.. namely the brown recluse spider is the things that they do not like.

Apparently their taste buds are located on the tips of their legs so they will be very adament about not walking thru or hanging out in areas that contain tastes that they do not like.

They hate citrus such as lemon, orange, etc. and from what I understand.. the best thing you can do is to dust with lemon pledge. They also hate eucalyptus leaves.. another natural way to make them feel extremely unwelcome.

I read somewhere else where they do not like the smell of kerosene.. the source suggested wiping down window sills, door jams and any other area that might be used as access points with kerosene on a piece of newspaper.. that is not something I am willing to try but maybe it will appeal to someone.

Last but certainly not least.. be sure to shake out all shoes before putting them on as well as clothing.

If you have suggestions on how to get rid of spiders please feel free to send them my way.

These little things are harmless but they are such a nuisance and I absolutely hate them. They can be seen crawling under the window sill and anywhere else they can find entry. They love just about any kind of food product including animal food that gets left laying in a bowl for kitty.

Remove the Temptation

The first step is removing the reason for coming in.. they are sending out news bulletins that there is free food for the taking at your house and you must put a stop to that.

Don’t leave food of any kind laying around.. this means you must clean up the dishes and wipe off the cabinets with a good household cleaner immediately after a meal.

Don’t leave food or dishes in the sink.. rinse off any dishes that must remain in the sink and preferably place the dishes in the dishwasher even if you do not plan to run it just yet.

For a while you may have to feed kitty several times a day and then put the food away instead of leaving the food there all the time as usual.

Make them Feel Unwelcome

The next step is to make them feel extremely unwelcome by placing things in their path that they do not like..

There are many things that ants do not like according to various sources. One of these things is cinnamon. Make a barrier of cinnamon wherever the ants appear to be entering the house.

Ants are also known to be repelled by citrus.

Prevent and Destroy

The number one method you must use to get rid of ants is to seal up all cracks with caulk to prevent entry. If after you have sealed up all cracks with sealant or caulk, you still see a few ants coming in, you can mix a little borax with some honey or corn syrup and this will kill them when they eat it and take it back to their queen.

As a very last resort to get rid of ants you can go outside the house, find the den and pour boiling water down it to kill the ants.

This is best accomplished early in the morning before it gets active.

Tips

• Windex kills ants dead.. in an emergency you can spray them with this and they will die immediately.
• Mix a few teaspoons of dry yeast into 1/4 cup molasses and 1/4 cup white granulated sugar. The yeast gives them more gas than their little bodies and can handle and according to reports, they explode under pressure. A little gross but could be fun if you are somewhat sadistic;-)

Send Us Your Tips

If you have other tips on how to get rid of ants that you have found to work well, please let me know by sending me an email.