What you need to get started

 Step 1 - Get rid of the flea infestation in the house

The first step is to vacuum. It has already been mentioned that only 5% of the fleas are living on your pet and that the other 95% are living in your house or yard. If you have dogs that live inside or regularly come inside the house you need to get rid of the vast majority of the fleas quickly and easily. You can achieve this by vacuuming them up.

This is what you are vacuuming up

EGGS

Fleas that are living on your dog lay eggs.
The eggs drop off your pet and land on your carpet or floor.

LARVAE

The eggs hatch and become larvae.
These little worm like creatures have hair structures which act like legs and enable them to move around.

PUPAE

After a while the larvae pupate. This means that they spin a cocoon around themselves and begin a change. In the cocoon they are changing into adult fleas. It is just like a caterpillar which spins a cocoon and then emerges as a butterfly.

*Important Fact*

While the flea is in the pupal stage (above) it is impervious to insecticides. The cocoon is waterproof and no insecticides can get in to kill the developing flea. This is the reason you must vacuum up as many of these pupae as possible. The vibrations from vacuuming also stimulates the fleas to emerge from their cocoons and they will be exposed to the insecticide that will be used.

Where to Vacuum

Flea eggs fall randomly wherever your dog or cat goes, but once the eggs hatch they become larvae and have hair like bristles on the outside of their body that enable them to move around. This allows them to move to places they feel most comfortable in. They like to get out of the light and into crevices, so when you vacuum pay lots of attention to places such as near base boards, cracks in floorboards and under furniture, beds and rugs.