While in the final stages of renovating my foreclosure I had to face facts: my newly revamped house had fleas.
Everybody’s advice: “You’re gonna have to bomb it.”
Unleash pesticides all over my new place? Why? I didn’t have a pet. That was the good news. Bad news? I was their only food source.
First step: end the flea free-for-all party. My place was hot and humid, exactly how they love it. Dehumidifiers made things far less comfy for them. Also as fate would have it, I was trimming the walnut tree in the backyard. Apparently they hate black walnut leaves so I immediately placed them all over the house—intense given my deadly allergy, but fortunately their leaves were okay. That night I slept with black walnut leaves in the bed. Like they say in the Godfather, keep your friends close and your enemies closer…
But this was all just a pre-cursor to nature’s flea armageddeon: Diatomaceous Earth. All natural, cheap, and easy.
Having dried the air, it was time for annihilation. I sprinkled the DE on the carpet and it was over. I don’t remember having any bites beyond a day or two. The fleas were gone for good.
DE kills all insects, spiders, scorpions, you name it—anything with an exoskeleton. It acts like little shards of glass on their protective cover and, if the air is dry, it fatally dehydrates them.
It’s totally natural and apparently even edible.
The war was won. No bomb necessary.
