Several options for DIY flea traps. We catch fleas using a homemade trap: a light, a TV or a candle

Ecology

Those who have dogs or cats at home are well aware of the scourge of fleas. These blood-sucking insects With long legs and an amazing ability to jump on greater height settle on the fur of domestic animals, but can also end up on the body of their owners. Fortunately, there are many ways to get rid of this scourge.

10) Yard cleaning

If you tidy up your yard, lawn, bushes and trees near your home, you can prevent fleas from getting into your apartment. You can also use certain chemicals, but keep in mind that these products are highly toxic and can be harmful to your pets.

9) Flea traps

You can easily make homemade, non-toxic flea traps or buy ready-made ones from a specialty store. Take a small plate with soapy water and place it next to a light source, e.g. night lamp or a burning light bulb at night. Fleas will be attracted to the warmth and light and will jump into the water where they cannot escape.

8) Household sprays and sprayers

After cleaning your home, you can use sprays to kill fleas, as well as their larvae and eggs. Typically, such substances can be purchased at veterinary stores or other specialty stores. If you use these products, you should remember to be careful as they may be toxic to pets: cats, dogs, fish, birds, etc. These chemicals are also dangerous for children. Read the instructions carefully before using the spray and ask your veterinarian for advice.

7) House cleaning

Fleas are known to be quite difficult to get rid of, as you have to kill them not only on your pet's body, but also in your home. You should clean your apartment thoroughly, vacuuming especially often, and immediately take the bag of dust to a landfill. You should thoroughly wash the place where your pets sleep, and also wash in warm water with soap all their toys. Finally, vacuum your car thoroughly. Fleas love to hide in dark and warm places.

6) Powders and sprays

Flea powders and sprays are relatively inexpensive, but should be used very carefully. These substances can irritate sensitive and unprotected areas on the body of humans and animals. Be sure to protect your mouth and eyes, and do your best not to inhale the chemical after use.

5) Anti-flea solutions

Unlike shampoos, solutions are mixed with water, applied to the coat and left on. These chemical substances quite potent, and improper use can lead to poisoning. Before using these flea solutions on your dog, read the instructions carefully and follow all guidelines based on your pet's weight, size, and age. Do not use on pregnant, lactating or young animals under 4 months of age.

4) Anti-flea collars

3) Anti-flea shampoos

The first thing many people do to get rid of fleas is bathe their pet with insect repellent shampoo. It is inexpensive and does the job quite effectively. However, anti-flea shampoos do not provide long-term protection, so during periods of particularly active fleas, anti-flea shampoos should be used at least once every 2 weeks.

2) Oral medications

Using oral medications along with topical treatments works well to prevent fleas in your pets. Such pills violate life cycle fleas, however, cannot completely destroy adult fleas. Oral flea medications - great choice for dog owners who have small children. Typically, dogs should be given the tablets once a month. IN in this case your children will not be in contact with outdoor chemicals.

1) Anti-flea drops

These drops work quite well against insects. They create water-repellent film on skin that does not wash off while swimming or in the rain. Drops prevent flea activity. When choosing drops, you should take into account the size, weight and age of your pet, based on which you can also choose the right dose: too little will have no effect, too much can harm the animal.

Before you start fighting fleas, you need to clearly understand what they look like. Insects with the following physical parameters should be wary:

• dense brownish body, no more than 3.5 mm long;
• lack of wings;
• six long curved legs.

You also need to pay attention to the pale white larvae, about 3 mm long.

Also, any person who has been in contact with an infected animal can bring insects into the house directly on themselves.

How can you tell if your apartment is infested with fleas?

In fact, it is almost impossible to detect millimeter-sized insects in a carpet, folds of curtains, or woolen clothes. Therefore, the most a clear sign Infection of a premises is considered to be the appearance of bite marks on people's skin. Flea bites look like swollen bumps with a characteristic red halo. Traces, as a rule, are not single, but grouped from three to four points. The location of bites can vary, but most often they are found on the skin of the arms and legs.

Basic rules for controlling blood-sucking insects

Fleas multiply very quickly, so it is very important to take appropriate measures to as soon as possible. The first thing to do is vacuum mattresses, carpets, curtains, sofas, clothes, floor coverings and even walls. After completing the cleaning, you need to throw the anthers out of the vacuum cleaner and repeat the cleaning after 9-10 days.

Such a simple sanitary and hygienic procedure will remove almost 100% of larvae and about 70% of adult insects. To improve the result, you can fill the floors with regular salt. It is quite cheap, accessible and effective remedy, allowing you to poison fleas that have hidden in the cracks of the floor coverings. But the soil in the front garden can be cultivated baking soda or special diatomaceous earth powder.

Natural means for apartment disinfestation

Citrus peels

This natural remedy Absolutely no harm to either animals or small children. You can simply spread fresh peels throughout the house, or make your own special citrus spray. To do this, pour boiling water over the skins of lemons, grapefruits or oranges. Leave the liquid overnight and then spray it on the infected areas.

You can enhance the effectiveness of the regular spray citric acid, which is a strong insecticide.

Essential oils

• lemon;
• pine;
• tea tree;
• peppermint;
• cedar.

Vinegar (both regular and apple cider vinegar)

You can also make a decoction from the roots and stems of rosemary for bathing animals. This product is very effective and absolutely safe. It is enough to bathe animals in the broth several times a month to prevent new infections.

The product is absolutely non-toxic and has no negative effects on pets and small children.

• Raptor;
• Frontline;
• Fogger.

• absence of any odor;
• low probability of damage to furniture and treated fabrics (if used correctly);
• fast action.

Also boric acid You can treat your apartment for animal fleas. It is enough to sprinkle the powdered product on all the risk areas listed above. It is necessary to leave the powder overnight and then vacuum the apartment.

Boric acid has a dehydrating effect and simply dries out the fleas and their larvae.

Methods for preventing flea infestation in an apartment

Since removing fleas from an apartment is quite a troublesome task, it is worth taking care of adequate preventive measures. This is especially true for pet owners and residents of private homes. Firstly, you need to regularly bathe your pets and thoroughly clean carpets and curtains. The natural pest control preparations mentioned above can also be used for prevention.

As unpleasant as it is for us to realize this, the topic of fleas was very important and relevant at one time. Its significance was so great that such a piquant question was a real inspiration for artists. Naked women, alone or with the help of their gentlemen, enthusiastically catch fleas on the canvases of famous artists of the 16th-18th centuries. These are unusual for high art subjects can be found in paintings up to the 19th century.

Fleas have accompanied humans for centuries, living comfortably wherever they could find a good home. Interestingly, unlike lice, fleas did not cause such disgust in people. Moreover, fleas were the subject of undisguised interest among collectors and often served as an object of ambiguous entertainment.

Willem Basse (1613-1672)

For fishing, they came up with special flea trap baits. These were some neat crafts. self made inside which they placed a cloth soaked in honey, blood, resin and spices. The fleas that crawled inside stuck to a piece of soaked fabric and remained inside the flea trap. Such elegant little things were placed inside tall wigs, under clothes, or simply worn as pendants.

18th century engraving

Beautiful-Wise

The art of catching fleas...

Fleas have accompanied humans for centuries, living comfortably in clothes, in hair, and wherever they could find a good home. The theme of fleas was so relevant and important that it became a real inspiration for artists of the 16th-18th centuries. Women with bare breasts, alone and in whole groups, catch fleas on the canvases of famous artists. This original spectacle can be found in paintings until the 19th century.

Madame Bouvillon tempts fate by asking Ragotin to look for fleas. Jean-Baptiste Pater, 18th century.

The most interesting thing is that, unlike lice, fleas did not cause such disgust in people. Moreover, fleas were the subject of keen interest among collectors and often served as the object of extravagant entertainment.

High hairstyles were especially fashionable among European ladies. To create them, lamb fat was used, which contributed to the proliferation of fleas. They tried to preserve the hairstyle for as long as possible, so the fleas felt great in it.

Willem Basse (1613-1672)

To catch fleas, special flea trap baits were invented. A cloth was placed inside the elegant craft, which was soaked in honey, blood, resin and spices. The fleas that got inside stuck to the fabric and remained on it. Such graceful fleacatchers were placed inside tall wigs, under clothes, or simply worn as a pendant.

Fine 18th century flea trap, Germany

During the Renaissance, flea fishing was enjoyed by all levels of society - from the very bottom to the nobles. Stories where a woman’s husband or lover helps her catch fleas appeared in all types of art - from painting to poetry and frivolous couplets.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was considered fashionable among French gentlemen to keep a flea caught with one’s own hand on the body of the lady of his heart. The flea was kept in a special miniature flea trap made by jewelry.

18th century engraving

Flea TRAP

Dr. Valentini also considered the cat piano worthy of inclusion in his exacting scientific work. And on the adjacent pages we see an image of another invention of museum value. It's called a flea trap. Fischart's famous epic "Der Flohhaz" also speaks of him. One of the heroes of the epic condemns the invention with these words:

Every flea hates the one

Who invented the trap for her.

It was a villainous invention against the entire flea race. The indignant flea expressing its complaint refers to the witty decision of the Agrigentine tyrant Phalaris, who, as is known, ordered that its inventor himself be the first to be lowered into the stomach of a red-hot metal bull. The flea wishes a similar fate to the inventor of the trap:

He too must experience

Is his invention useful?

And, sitting up to your ears in a barrel of glue,

Live your whole life until it becomes cloudy.

Without knowing the flea trap, it is impossible to understand this rhyming flea complaint. The trap was a tube made of ivory or other noble material with holes. A stick was lowered into the tube and lubricated with the mixture. human blood and honey. Knowing the psychology of a flea, the inventor was sure that an insect with a dark soul, loving secluded places, would definitely climb into the tube. And there it will stick to the stick. And to destroy the day's prey, it is enough to lower the tube into boiling water. The pipe was worn around the neck - on a red chain or cord.

Several copies of the ingenious contraption can still be seen today in German museums as outlandish examples of cultural history.

Numerous other oddities stare at visitors to Kunst - und Wunderkammer from behind the glass windows.

They can admire wonderful landscapes, views of cities, images of castle ruins, which from a distance seem like the finest copper carvings. Upon closer examination, it turns out that these are the creations of women from Willich, who in 1782 surprised art lovers with their embroideries made with human hair.

Nearby, like proletarians in noble society, penknives, scissors, nails and pieces of iron are displayed. They are significant because someone first swallowed them, and after they were surgically removed from the stomach, they were recommended for the collection of a noble ruler.

Krünitz places them in the section where exhibits related to historical celebrities are stored. Nowadays, they have been transferred to their proper place - to anatomical collections. The original exhibits of the Ambras collection, among them the rope with which Judas hanged himself, have completely disappeared from the museum halls and today, perhaps, are gathering dust somewhere in the museum basements. The marble urn from the Schwammerdamm collection probably also ended up there, but it contains the ashes of such a person as Aristotle.

I emphasize: it is not their benevolent discoverer who is responsible for rarities that trump with their authenticity, but a seeker of antiquities who has lost his sense of smell due to the mold of history, who must satisfy his hunger for monuments of the past at any cost, even with the ashes of Aristotle that appeared out of nowhere or, as Yokai writes, with those scissors , with which the tail of Emperor Arnulf’s horse was cut off as he galloped across the Ennsky Bridge.

The Stress Trap While using the breath to clear emotional barriers seems surprisingly simple, what could be simpler than paying a little attention to your inhalations and exhalations? - there is one a big problem: When we experience fear, sadness or anger, we