Keep pests off your furry friends and out of your home

It is that time of year again when fleas are noticed and become a pest in your home. They move into your living area via your pets or even possibly through basement windows if outside populations are heavy enough (this has happened to me with my outside dog). To get a jump on whether you have adult fleas in the house, use the Gardens Alive! Flea Secure Light Trap. I set one up in my basement and one in the living room. The trap works by attracting adults fleas, at night, to a sticky pad, which they get trapped on and die. Typically, adult fleas will “hide” or rest in your carpet until a possible host walks by, so it is best to set up the traps in areas that are used by your pets. The trap does 2 things: it helps monitor whether you have fleas, and when the pest populations are small, it can trap out all the adults and stop them from laying eggs in your house.

Max

If you find out that you have fleas, Gardens Alive has products that allow you to attack them on 3 different fronts. You can use our Grub Away nematodes to spray around your pets sleeping areas and in areas where you think they may be entering the house. Grub Away will eliminate the developing flea population (larva) that is in the soil in these areas which would eventually grow into adult fleas. This will also help stop fleas from attacking your pets outside. We have an insect growth regulator (IG Regulator) which can be sprayed around carpet and furniture where eggs and larvae are found once adult fleas have infested your house. Fleas will develop in fabric like the couch or carpets; pupate into adult fleas, which in turn will search out your pets for a blood meal. If the population is high enough, you may even find them nibbling on you. Continue using the traps and this will help to control the adult fleas. Finally, you want to stop the attack on your pets. Gardens Alive has a citrus shampoo which contains d-Limonene. This active ingredient  is a known control option for fleas. A new and exciting product is our Bio-Essentials Flea and Tick Spot Treatment which is made from plant essential oils. Bio-Essentials has a pleasant smell and once applied to the dog by putting a few drops on the dog’s back, will control fleas for up to a month. Research has proven that it works on flea larvae as well as the adults. Now is the time to start monitoring for fleas. They will invade your house and pets as the weather warms up, unless you start a preventative program. I use all of our pet products on my dog, Max, and can assure you that they are effective and help improve your pet’s life.