Summary: Fleas live and feed on warm-blooded animals, yes, but they can also live in carpet, bedsheets, and shoes, among others.
The answer to the question you may be afraid to ask: “Where do fleas live on humans,” is in the hairy, warm areas such as the armpit, head, and crotch.
Related: best fogger for fleas.
[amazon bestseller=”Best Flea IGR Sprays” items=”2″ template=”table”]Where do Fleas Come From? Common Flea Places
In humid, shaded areas, as they can’t survive in the sun. Really, fleas need pretty specific conditions to survive. They can’t deal with a lot of adverse weather, such as rain or too much heat. You might be wondering, “Do fleas live in grass or dirt?”
It isn’t uncommon to deal with a flea infestation even if you don’t have pets. If you recently moved into an apartment, the previous owner’s pets could’ve had them. Fleas also live/travel on rodents, like mice. At this point, you’re probably wondering…
Harmful Chemicals: You’ll want to check if the flea control product has any harmful chemicals in it. You don’t want your pets or kids ingesting any pesticides, as that can result in sickness.
Anything with harmful chemicals should be thoroughly checked and understood before buying so that you know when and where to apply it.
Treatment vs. Prevention: Basically, killing fleas or keeping them away. Flea treatment is used to deal with a flea infestation that you already have. So this includes sprays and traps. Prevention will keep you from getting an infestation to begin with.
Ideally, if you do have a flea infestation, you’ll want to use a mixture of both: Treatment to kill the fleas and prevention to keep them from coming back.
Duration: This is an important one because you don’t want to guess how long a product will protect you.
While long duration on a product is generally good, sometimes those repellents’ usefulness fades over time. You want to stay on top of keeping up with your preventative measures once their duration has ended.
Indoors vs. Outdoors: This is very important when it comes to deciding which products to use. As a general rule of thumb, outdoor products will need to be handled more carefully, as they generally will include pesticides. Be more aware of how you’re applying them and where.
Top Flea control solutions
1. SENTRY Home Flea and Tick Yard and Premise Spray
Though the other products on this list are technically indoor and outdoor products, SENTRY’s Yard and Premise Spray is the best for treating and protecting your lawn.
It’s nice because if you know where bed bugs and ticks live (humid, shaded environments), then you can go straight for their habitat. How can it get better than that?
There is a certain satisfaction to feeling like you’ve just put a complete insect barrier over your entire property. It makes you feel like a doomsday prepper for the bug apocalypse (the worst apocalypse).
The price is okay for a bottle, but we wish you’d get a bit more coverage for the money. We don’t see it lasting quite up to 2667 square feet, as SENTRY claims.
2. Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Pet n Home Spray
The question you don’t want to think about: “How long do bed bugs live?” Not only does Vet’s Best work ( bed bug die immediately), it’s also completely organic, which means it’s safe to spray on anything in the house, including your dog, bedsheets, and carpet. And it gets better.
Vets Best doesn’t stain. We sprayed pillows, clothes, and even the carpet. Nothing. And it leaves a pleasant (for some) peppermint smell in the air. But that’s not all. It’s safe for dogs and puppies older than 12 weeks, but they make a formula for use with cats, as well.
The only downside to vets Best is that there isn’t more product in a bottle. The price isn’t bad (Around $10), but you’ll probably need a few bottles to get the entire house (and if you have a flea infestation, that’s exactly what you want to do).
3. Neatmaster Ultrasonic Pest Repellent – No Spray/Chemicals
If you’re looking for a more “techy” solution and don’t want to get your hands dirty, then you’ll want to take a look at Neatmaster’s Ultrasonic Pest Repellent. As the name suggests, it uses ultrasonic waves to repel fleas and other pests away from it.
Ideally, you’ll be wanting to use the Neatmaster as a prevention method more so than treatment.
You don’t need to put one in every room of your home, but it doesn’t travel through walls, and if you have a large layout, then you’ll want more than one.
Pricewise, this one is just okay, compared with some of the other ultrasonic pest repellents, but there’s a three-week money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.
The positives are that it doesn’t use any chemicals, and it is one of the least time-consuming prevention methods. Plus, it doesn’t leave corpses around for you to clean up.
There are three settings, but really you’re only going to be using the first two. A green, blue, or red light indicates which setting you have (light, medium, heavy, respectively).
Green is inaudible, and blue has a slight pitch to it, but you won’t be setting it to read if you’re putting on a movie. The Neatmaster Ultrasonic Pest Repellent is for those who don’t have a ton of free time to combat fleas and don’t want to get their hands dirty.
4. Aspectek Trapest Collection’s Sticky Dome Flea Trap
The concept for Aspectek’s Sticky Dome is simple enough—Insects are attracted to the light and heat from the bulb, then they get stuck in the sticky pad. Simplicity at its finest.
With that being said, this one’s best when used in conjunction with another product. If you don’t have a flea infestation (which, if you don’t, it’s weird that you’re reading this article), you can use it as a preventative measure for fleas and other insects, as well.
The size is a bit large—it’s over six inches in diameter. So depending on where you’re putting it, it might get in the way.
Overall, you’re not going to know if you got every single flea just from the sticky dome alone, but the price tag makes it hard to pass up. Use it to supplement another product you’re using, and you’ll be able to track how you’re doing in the war.
5. Inovatiq Labs’ Flea and Tick Control Collar
What we like most about the collar is the peace of mind it gives you. If your dog or outdoor cat will be roaming around, snap this collar on, and you won’t have to worry about it picking up hitchhikers while out on patrol. And that’s not all.
This collar has a great lifespan. It provides up to six months of protection against ticks. Getting a new collar for your pet every six months is way less of a hassle than spraying the house and yard.
The price is right in the medium-range of flea collars—It’s not the cheapest one you’re going to find, but it’s also not the most expensive. And they throw in a guarantee, so there’s no real worry about wasted money, either. If you’re not happy, you can always get a refund.
At the end of the day, this is a great flea collar and can be used as a treatment or prevention. If you don’t have a flea infestation but are worried about the possibility, snap this on your buddy, and you’ll sleep well at night.
Conclusion
The single product that left the biggest impression on us was Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Pet n Home Spray. As a single product, it definitely had the most applicability.
It’s the only product on the list that could be used by itself for the almost complete elimination of a flea infestation (though we’d recommend using it in conjunction with one or more of the others). Let us know what you feel about our list and any great products you think we missed!