Fleas are insects and therefore lay eggs. These eggs are a potential source of infestation for the animals in the household, even after a pest control treatment. How to prevent this risk and get rid of flea eggs?

Adult females live on dogs or cats. They thus feed on the blood of their host. They lay an average of 20 eggs per day and even up to 50. The eggs then fall to the ground and hatch in a few days to give larvae. These will generally find refuge in places sheltered from light (carpets, baseboards, cracks in the parquet, etc.) and develop by consuming organic debris and flea droppings disseminated in the environment. Finally, these larvae weave cocoons in which they transform successively into nymphs and then into adults. Adult fleas will stay in their cocoons until favorable conditions such as damp heat or the presence of a host are detected. Indeed, fleas are able to sense the presence of a dog or a cat by the vibrations they cause when walking and by their carbon dioxide emissions. However, this wait can last up to 6 months. If you observe fleas on your pet, it means that fleas are likely to be present in the outbreak for the next 6 months.

A simple and effective way to effectively reduce the number of cocoons in the environment is to clean everything thoroughly. You have to vacuum, paying particular attention to baseboards and nooks and crannies. All textiles like rugs, basket covers, should be washed, if possible, at 90 ° C

There are many insecticides on the market intended to sanitize the house and fight against fleas. They come in the form of sprays, aerosols or smoke or fogger.

These insecticides can be effective, but heavy use of insecticides in the home is generally not necessary and can therefore be avoided. In addition, many of these products are based on permethrin, an insecticide that is very toxic to cats.

The presence of flea cocoons in the environment is not a problem in itself: fleas generally do not attack humans. The main risk is that the animals in the outbreak continually re-infest since most of the antiparasitic treatments have an action that lasts 1 month when the cocoons survive up to 6 months. Thus, a simple and very effective solution is to treat all the animals in the household on a regular basis for at least 6 months.

Indeed, if you administer an antiparasitic every month, on a fixed day, or every 3 months depending on the drug used, the animal will be permanently protected against fleas. When the cocoons hatch, the adult fleas will therefore come to feed on the animal and die immediately, before being able to lay new eggs.

Gradually, all the fleas remaining in the environment will be killed. If the household animals are cats that never go outside, the treatment can possibly be stopped after 6 rigorous months. If the household animals have access to the outside and therefore to any fleas and ticks, it is recommended to treat them at all times to fight against diseases transmitted by ticks, which are sometimes fatal, and to prevent further contamination of the household by lice or fleas.

In conclusion, if your pet has had fleas, your home is infested with cocoons that can wait 6 months before hatching. Whether you observe fleas on your pet or not, it is therefore necessary to treat it regularly and rigorously against fleas for at least 6 months. Combined with hygienic measures (vacuum cleaner, washing of textiles), this allows, in the vast majority of cases, to sanitize the home without having to resort to smoke or insecticidal sprays for the home. For the choice of the antiparasitic treatment adapted to your animal, consult your veterinarian.