We’ll be discussing one of such remedies; bleach. Will bleach kill fleas in the yard?
Homeowners deal with many pest issues ranging from roach infestation, ants, mice, rats, mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, etc. There needs to be an appropriate treatment response for each of these problems.
This will require the use of a variety of treatment options.
Can Clorox Bleach Kill Fleas?
While some of these remedies or treatment options are highly effective, others aren’t. At best, unconfirmed remedies may sometimes turn out to kill pests to a certain degree when tried out.
This is what we want to find out.
If you have infestation issues, you’ll want to try out whatever flea control option works.
About Bleach
Bleach is a laundry and disinfectant product composed mainly of sodium hypochlorite.
It has a wide range of uses, including being used as a toilet cleaner, sanitizing plastic toys, and disinfecting butcher block cutting boards.
Its other uses include serving as a laundry whitener, helping flowers last longer, and removing stains on white fabrics. So, why is there no mention of pest control among its uses?
Does that mean bleach does not affect fleas?
Can Fleas be Killed Using Bleach?
You might have come across many articles affirming bleach’s exterminating effect.
While this may be true to some extent, it doesn’t reveal the actual state of things. In other words, when sprayed on fleas, bleach may kill or damage some of their eggs.
However, these fleas must either be drenched or drowned in bleach to get killed. Here, the answer to the exterminating effect of bleach is conditional.
By itself, bleach will only have a limited effect. This is to say, bleach won’t completely resolve your flea issues, especially when dealing with a full-blown infestation.
Bleach is NOT a Pesticide
Bleach is mainly designed for laundry and disinfecting purposes. Now, it’s understandable why many homeowners will want to try out whatever they feel might work against pests like rats, roaches, termites, and mice.
Part of that reason is to find cheaper and less toxic alternatives to deal with a pest problem.
The truth is that many home remedies are unproven, and they hardly work. These are primarily anecdotal evidence given by some users. Your best bet of finding out is by testing if, indeed, such works.
As mentioned earlier, you might have luck killing some fleas, but that isn’t the objective.
You want to rid your home surroundings of these pests entirely and do that. Bleach isn’t the solution.
Are there other reasons why using bleach for flea extermination is terrible? There are.
Using Bleach to Kill Fleas Isn’t Practical
To understand what this means, you’ll have to consider how fleas came into your home in the first place. Most of the time, pets are responsible for flea presence in homes.
A pet free of fleas can easily pick these hopping parasites up when it comes in contact with other infested pets.
Another way your pets can pick fleas up is when it wanders to infested areas where wildlife has recently been.
Also, you might take your pet for a walk in the park and quickly pick up fleas when your pets only come close to other pets.
Whatever the case is, pets are the main channels or causes of flea presence in homes. This isn’t to say humans don’t contribute to a flea infestation. You might not have pets but still have flea problems.
Although this is rare, fleas might hop onto your body and hang on long enough to be brought indoors.
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Why is Bleach Use Not Practical?
With the above explanations on methods of infestation, we’ll have to look at treatment. Bleach isn’t designed for use on pet skin or fur. Your pets are likely to react adversely when sprayed with bleach. What more?
They might end up licking their bodies.
You don’t want to deal with this as it might lead to poisoning.
Humans and pets shouldn’t ingest the bleach. So, whenever pets lick off bleach from their bodies, it’s likely to cause vomiting, which is the slightest problem.
Also, bleach has a strong smell.
This pungent smell may cause significant irritation and reactions. Consider consulting your vet before using it. Of course, the apparent answer to expect is a resounding NO.
To avoid any issues, it’s best to use safer and reliable means of flea extermination.
Possible Reasons Why People Use Bleach for Flea Extermination
Based on our discussion above, why are some people using bleach for flea control when it isn’t a reliable way to kill these pests? To understand why you’ll have to look at the rationale behind its use.
Laundry-related solutions like soapy water (sometimes mixed with other forms of flea treatments) will kill fleas.
Because fleas have exoskeletons adapted to float in water due to surface tension, they can survive. However, soapy water eliminates such surface tension leading to fleas drowning.
Also, soapy water destroys or interrupts the protective cuticle on their bodies. This serves to suffocate fleas as they breathe through their skins.
Bleach Alternatives For Flea Extermination
You’ll find many bleach alternatives if you’re more interested in using household products to kill fleas. These may do the work just fine.
Plus, they could be a more reliable option. Are you interested?
You may want to try out the baking soda, dish soap, salt, and lemon spray for a start.
Other equally effective products are rosemary, borax, essential oil spray, diatomaceous earth, and planting flea-repellent plants around your home.
Flea repellent plants include lemongrass, rosemary, lavender, mint, catnip, chrysanthemums, basil, marigolds, tansy ragwort, sage, Erigeron Annuus, peppermint, and spearmint.
Others include wormwood, tansy, pennyroyal, citronella grass, eucalyptus, and rue.
Call For Pest Control
Using bleach to kill fleas won’t do much in terms of getting the expected results.
However, the options provided above might be of help. Still yet, not everyone will find these options interesting. If you belong to this category, consider paying for professional flea control.
Bleach will kill fleas, but it isn’t an efficient method of flea extermination. Our discussions so far have proven that.
You get to choose a more reliable option or an alternative such as those supplied above.