# Fleas and Borax



## nlkeple (Sep 24, 2007)

Every year we have the same problem. It gets cold outside and the fleas and things that used to live in the woods start to think that my house looks cozy. Ok that may not be exactly the case but every year after our first cool weather we always seem to have fleas in the house. All of the fur family members are on flea prevention and my house is clean (because of the upcoming holiday). I re-applied the flea meds last night (the vet said it was ok to double up sometimes if we are having an issue). I also steam cleaned all the carpets today, and washed all of the pet beds and blankets and things. When I was on the phone with the vet yesterday he said that I could put Borax in old socks and stick them places that we were positive the animals couldn't get to. For example in the corner behind the TV (our entertainment center is solid and pushed into the corner all the way so no animals can get there), and under our heavy (well relatively speaking they just have to be to heavy for Lady and the cats to move) and the gap between the bottom of the chairs and the floor is only 1/2 inch so nobody can get under there. Anyways the vet seems to think this will help as well, have any of ya'll ever done this? Did it help?


----------



## Renoman (Mar 20, 2007)

I've never heard of putting the borax in socks, but I have heard of mixing Borax with salt and spreading it throughout the house. I've never used this particular home remedy so I cannot confirm nor deny it's effectiveness.

I believe the theory is that the fleas are suffocated by this mixture and you can then use the vac to clean up. 

I've also heard that if you buy flea collars and put them in your vac bag or canister if you have a bagless, you can run the vac, then immediately empty the bag or canister.


----------



## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

We had a mild infestation last year and we live in an area that is very dry. Fleas are rarely a problem here. 

My vet gave us Advantage to treat all the animals in the house. And then they gave us a routine to use borax. Remember, we actually had seen fleas at the time. 

They told us to go home and liberally sprinkle the borax on any upholstered furniture and all floors. Wait a couple of hours and vacuum up, disposing of the vacuum bag immediately in a sealed plastic bag and take to the outside can. Then he told us to sprinkle the borax lightly and leave for 24 hours. Repeat the next time leaving for 48 hours. Then 48 hours again. After that weekly. In the meanwhile he suggested that each time we replace the vac bag to put a store bought flea collar in the bag to prevent fleas from living in our vacuum.

I'm thinking if you just sprinkled borax lightly on a weekly basis, gave it a few hours, and then vacuumed, that would probably be sufficient until / if you see fleas.

Although I wouldn't leave a box of borax where the animals could get to it, we had no problems with sprinkling it around the house. They walked on it, etc with no problems. However, I am no expert on this. If it bothers you, then you could sprinkle the borax and take them for a walk, leave them in the backyard when you return, and go in to vacuum up the borax after it had been on the surfaces for a couple of hours. 

Borax is known to dry the exoskeleton of the flea. So you need to do the application on some sort of regular basis to disrupt the life cycle of the fleas. You may get only adults in the house at first but those adults lay eggs that will become larvae in a short period of time. So the object is to apply it regularly to disrupt the whole cycle.


----------



## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

Borax works. I sprinkle 20 Mule Team Borax (in the laundry products section at the grocery) on carpeting, rugs, making sure to get along the baseboards, and under sofa/chair cushions. I vacuum the floors/carpeting/rugs the following day, toss out the vacuum bag, and then sprinkle again. I'm not sure putting it in a sock is going to be very effective. The borax dries out the eggs so they don't hatch.


----------



## nlkeple (Sep 24, 2007)

I got some at the store today and I will probably put it on the floors tomorrow since we will be gone most of the day, then vacuum when we get home. I would just leave it on the floor but I have little one's who play on the floor. I am going to try with the socks as well, I figure can't hurt to try it since I now own a huge box of it anyways. I wish I could treat my yard but since I live on 10 acres with lots of woods that isn't really practical. 

I go through this every year but I still haven't come up with the "one" thing that will help, hopefully this is it. (Keeping my fingers crossed)


----------



## rubyjewel (Nov 15, 2007)

Im glad you post that, Im gonna give it a try... I battle with fleas too, well lol not me but the dogs and my house, okay okay... some time I get a flea crawling around on my head... lol okay but anywayzzzzzzzzzzz I have never heard of using Borax for fleas... Im gonna give Borax a try!


----------



## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

When I moved to FL for 6 months to get Eevee back (long story), she was covered in fleas, and so was the carpet and couch in my dad's house. I heard of this Borax remedy from a co-worker and tried it, and it certainly did work. But I also put K9 Advantix on Eevee to prevent the fleas from jumping from the carpet onto her. Both methods used in conjunction got rid of the fleas in about 24 hours.

It's definitely a cheap and safe way to get rid of the fleas! >^_^< Borax is like 2 bucks at the supermarket. Compared to that flea killer powder crap at the pet store for 15.


----------



## 007Dogs (Aug 22, 2007)

You can also use diatamaious earth and it comes in bulk and is cheaper than Borax. There are companies that come with a big machine and pound the stuff into your carpet to prevent fleas. We had this done to new carpet when we lived in California. I have only had a few fleas here in Colorado in over 12 years. It drove me nuts. They came in with a rescue dog from the mid west. I hate fleas!


----------



## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

DE is also good to use outdoors if you live in an area where fleas are a constant problem. I've heard (I live in the high desert so they thought I was nuts at the vet office when I told them I had found a flea, that's when I got the borax lessons) that you can sprinkle it into your lawn and then use it quite liberally in areas where your dogs go frequently. My friend in FL confines her dogs, when they are outdoors, to a specific fenced in part of the yard so that she can keep fleas under control in just that area. It seems to be working for her.


----------



## nlkeple (Sep 24, 2007)

I live on 10 acres and that cats are allowed outside so treating the yard is sort of hard, plus I do not put anything on my lawn ever because we have a well so it makes me nervous (my husband thinks I am just crazy, but this is our drinking water!!!). 

I treated all the carpets yesterday, and washed the pet beds, and blankets. I also washed all of the people blankets. I sprinkled the Borax on the carpets and on the couches and things. At the end of the day I vacuumed everything up and put dumped the canister in the outside trash cans which I then moved away from the house. I can sew so I made "satchels" that I put borax in and then closed. I put them all around the house and in the pet beds (between the cushion part and the top cover so that they couldn't get to them)....Lady doesn't chew things and the cats are not destructive so for our house that is safe. If we had a puppy that was likely to eat the bed then I would be to worried about it. 

Today I steam cleaned the carpets and the furniture and on Tuesday I plan on putting the borax down again. After that I will see where we are at.

Usually we don't have a problem with fleas, and we only get the occasional tick. The flea stuff usually works fine (I use advantix on the dog and frontline on the cats but sometimes I buy frontline for the dog and the cats depending on what is easier that time), but as soon as we get our first cold, the fleas (well not just fleas, the ants to) move from the woods to my house.

The baths and the second application of flea meds from the other day did the trick on the animals, and once I get finished with the house, we will hopefully be ok again until next year.


----------

