I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include this product on my list of flea remedies, but it’s just too interesting to skip. The flea trap takes on a different approach when getting rid of a flea infestation in your home. It catches the living larvae and fleas by luring them into a trap that contains adhesive paper. When you place it in a room, it will start attracting the fleas around it. You need one flea trap for every room you want to clean.
The flea trap is safe and effective
Flea traps are a safe way to get rid of fleas in your home, without the use of chemicals. This is great for your family and for your pets. Experiments show that flea traps can catch up to 90% of all living fleas and larvae overnight. Please note that the flea trap doesn’t affect flea eggs, so they need to hatch and enter the trap before you can get rid of them this way.
The trap has a long range, so it will clear any room, no matter how big it is. It’s a quiet solution, that doesn’t require you to do anything. Just place the flea trap in the infected room and wait. It will send out lighting patterns that attract the fleas overnight and traps them inside. You can move it around between rooms as much as you want, and you can change the adhesive paper inside the trap.
Do flea traps work?
A flea trap is excellent as an extra precaution against fleas during flea season. You don’t have to pay any attention to it, just place it in the room and leave it be. It definitely can’t hurt to try it out if you want to avoid regular flea treatment products with pesticides. Most flea traps are designed to blend in, so you and your guests probably won’t even notice them. You have to be looking for it to spot it.
Flea traps will not completely eliminate the infestation, so you should always use it with other integrated flea management methods. After all; fleas are more attracted to humans and animals, so a flea trap can only do so much. Having said so, you can add flea traps to your arsenal against fleas as a way to monitor the flea situation. If you live in a heavily infested area, use traps to keep the flea population down, but make sure you also use IGR based insecticides.
5 reasons why you should use flea traps
- Flea traps are easy to use and operate
- They attracts all living fleas and larvae in the room
- They work from any location in the room including corners
- They get rid of fleas while you’re sleeping
- They are safe and environmentally friendly
Homemade flea traps
Flea traps are readily available in home improvement stores, drug stores and pet shops. You can also buy them off the Internet. If you check the store brought ones, you will typically see a tray lined with a replaceable sticky paper, light source to attract fleas and a scent that is attractive to the pests. Fleas jump into the trap and get caught in the sticky paper. If you study the design, it is pretty easy to replicate and you can actually make it at home. To make a homemade flea trap, all you need is a bowl of soapy water, a lamp placed on a desk and some fruit or other attractive scent. Place the trap beneath the lamp on a desk. Leave the light on overnight. Next morning, you will see dead fleas in the water. A simple homemade flea trap can easily trap several fleas depending on the extent of the infestation. The main benefit of using flea traps, homemade or otherwise, is that you can monitor your flea situation and take steps according to the results you see.
How to make a vinegar based homemade flea trap
- Mix vinegar (apple cider or white) with Dawn dish soap in a bowl
- Place the bowl under a lamp or put a battery operated candle in it
- Turn off all lights in the room but leave the lamp or candle on
- After a few hours, you should find fleas trapped in the bowl
Pros and cons of using homemade flea traps
There are obviously many good reasons to use flea traps, let’s look at both the pros and cons:
Pros
- Homemade flea traps are easy to make and effective. They do not cost too much and you do not need to go out of your way to make them.
- There are no harmful chemicals used in making them, so they will not harm you or your pets.
- Homemade flea traps can help you analyze whether your existing flea control and prevention techniques are working or not. You can accordingly change your tactics based on the number of fleas trapped by your homemade trap.
- Commercial flea traps need you to keep buying refills of sticky sheets to place in the tray. With homemade flea traps, all you need is some dish soap.
Cons
- Flea traps will probably not catch all the fleas. This goes for both homemade and store bought traps.
- You and your pets are far more attractive to fleas than any type of trap, so you still need to use other flea prevention methods.
Best flea traps on the market
I have looked at the flea traps that currently have received the best feedback from buyers and found two that are worth mentioning.
Safer Brand’s Victor flea trap
Safer Brand’s Victor Flea trap is considered one of the best flea traps at the moment. It has received thousands of positive reviews. People who have tried the product claim that it is definitely the least expensive way of dealing with fleas. It detects and grabs fleas that get stuck to the superglue sheets. The best part is that it is completely odorless, safe to use and non toxic.
Aspectek odorless flea trap
This is another safe, easy to use, non toxic and natural flea trap, also available online. It has a unique dome shaped design that traps and holds fleas for easy monitoring. Add this product to your arsenal against these pesky bugs.
Have you tried using flea traps yet? If you want to give it a go, you can get them at Amazon. Here is the most popular one.