If you have a pet and you find it scratching while having black specks present in its fur, you might have a need for some effective flea bombs, because your pet might have an infestation of fleas, which also means your house may be infested as well.

People without pets can also have a flea infestation in their homes if their neighbor has a pet with a flea problem.

The dilemma with a flea infestation is that their population is not limited to the actual fleas that you see.

A flea that is visible indicates that there are others that are not visible, lurking in the many hiding places in your home. There are also eggs and immature fleas that are growing and developing into future adult fleas.

Getting Rid Of A Flea Infestation

A common mistake made by people who try to eradicate fleas is their failure to treat the areas associated with their pet, such as the places where their pets sleep, play, and generally stay.

This is a serious error because it practically wastes your flea eradication efforts. This is much like bathing your baby but failing to change their sheets or washing their high chair and bedding.

Not cleaning the surrounding areas means that after you have cleaned or treated your pet, the fleas that are living around the area will simply jump onto them and commence reinfestation. These fleas came from their bed, from the carpet, and from various hiding places in the vicinity.

If you want a comprehensive means of getting rid of the fleas in your pet and your home for good, then you will need the help of quality anti-flea products that is effective in killing these bugs in all of their life cycle stages, from the eggs up to the adult.

In addition, you also need to ensure that no hiding place is spared or neglected. If you miss just a few of them, they can easily cause a reinfestation that makes all the trouble you’ve gone through in your eradication efforts worthless.

One of the best comprehensive and thorough solutions available is the use of flea bombs, which are also called flea foggers.

Treating Your Pets

flea-collar
Image credit: Canva

When you are treating a pet against fleas, it is most probable that the other pets in your home also have fleas as well. Thus, it is necessary to also treat them even if they seem to have no fleas on their bodies.

Aside from treatment, it is necessary to implement a preventive measure by using flea protective drugs to keep your pets safe.

Also wash all of your pets’ beddings, including inserts and covers. Soak the bathmats and blankets in hot water to kill fleas and their larvae. If your pets have toys, you should also soak them in hot water.

Treating Your House With Flea Bombs

After you have cleaned your entire house and treated your furniture and other household surfaces, the next step is to kill all remaining fleas in all life stages by following up your efforts with flea bombs and flea sprays.

Use the best flea bombs and sprays available in the market to get to all the fleas wherever they may be hiding. A good flea bomb or spray should be able to eliminate adult fleas as well as pre-adults, larva, and eggs, for six to seven months.

Many of these products also have the side benefit of killing ticks, dust mites and even bed bugs.

Directions For Using Foggers Or Flea Bombs

Preparation

Before commencing your fogging, you have to prepare your room or home. First, you should open all cabinets, drawers, cupboards, doors, and closets in the areas that need treating.

It is important to cover or remove all exposed dishes; food items; equipment for handling, cooking, or processing food; eating and cooking utensils; and food preparation surfaces.

Remove all pets, including dogs, cats, and birds. Cover all aquariums and turn off their flow systems.

Cover or remove children’s toys and pets’ toys.

Close all outside windows and doors. Turn off all fans and air-conditioning units. Turn off or disconnect all smoke detectors and fire alarms and sprinklers.

How to perform fogging

Place a stand, table, or chair at the center of the area or room that will be fogged. Cover this with multiple layers of paper towels or newspaper.

Shake the product can well. Tilt the sprayer away from the face; remember, the fogger can is spraying up. Now press the spray valve down all the way in order to hook the catch.

Never inhale the mist of the spray. Set the fogger on the newspaper or paper towel layers, then leave the area immediately.

Close the door of the area and place a sign on the doorknob outside saying that the fogger is currently in use. Leave the house, apartment unit, or building being treated immediately afterwards.

Keep the area being treated continuously closed and never allow anyone to enter it for a minimum of two hours. Keep the area sealed for an additional time period in order to enhance the treatment performance.

Concluding the fogging treatment

After the treatment, it is time to air out the treatment area. Open all the windows and doors and turn on all the fans and air-conditioning units to allow the air to be cleared. Do this for two hours.

Turn on the smoke detectors and aquarium apparatuses.

Part of the entire treatment process is the requisite cleaning and treatment of all areas where the pet sleeps and stays, as well as treating the pets themselves for ticks and fleas. Never let them enter the areas that have been treated before they themselves are free of the parasites.

Considerations When Using Flea Bombs And Sprays

Flea bombs are used for treating infestations of fleas and similar insect pests indoors with the use of indirect chemical poison application to the area.

The bombs are designed to work after being activated and left in the room while it releases the poison into all the parts of the room in an effort to kill all fleas.

Flea bombs are indeed important weapons in the fight against fleas in the home or building.

However, it is not always the case that they reach all the parts of the area being treated, including many sheltered and hidden areas. These places are the refuges of fleas who survive the many attempts to kill them by chemical poisoning.

In addition, flea bombs are not meant to be used when there is an infestation outdoors. They are also not meant to be used on an animal that is infested with fleas. There is a different set of products that are approved for animal use, and flea bombs are not among them.

In using flea bombs, it is important to remember that the source of the infestation must be found and eliminated.

If the pets continually bring the fleas to the home and are in constant contact with other animals outdoors who have fleas, then you will forever be frustrated with the constant influx of fleas into your home, regardless of any kind of attempt to rid the house of them.

Without detecting or eliminating the source, you might as well not treat your home. And it is usually the pets which are the sources of these pests. You should consult your veterinarian for the appropriate ways in treating your pets against these parasites.

You should also determine if your immediate surroundings outdoors also need to be treated against fleas.

In using flea bombs, sprays and similar products, there is usually a residue left on surfaces that can contaminate food that are exposed. Food and food preparation areas should be protected against treatment.

The effective control of fleas and their eradication depends on a multifaceted and integrated implementation of several flea killing products and eradication techniques. They are part and parcel of a successful flea elimination program. These include the following:

  • The need to use growth regulators of insects which are aimed at disrupting the normal egg-to-adult development of the fleas
  • Thoroughly inspecting, locating, and identifying the sources of flea indoors and outdoors
  • Vacuuming bedding areas of pets, carpets, and furniture to remove all life stages of fleas physically
  • The use of carpet cleaning equipment
  • The frequent washing and heat drying of all bedsheets and pet beddings
  • Education regarding the behavior, habitats, and habits of fleas
  • Consultation with veterinarians on pet products against external parasites as well as the proper bathing and grooming of pets.

5 Best Flea Bombs

Advantage Flea and Tick Household Fogger

The product is available in three 2-ounce canisters that are indicated for use indoors. The item’s total weight is 11.4 ounces or 0.71 pounds. The package dimensions are 5.43 x 5.00 x 1.85 inches, while the item’s dimensions are 1.870 x 4.750 x 5.380 inches.

Advantage brand Household Fogger can reach fleas and other target insects in those hidden places that are out of sight and generally out of reach. These places include rugs, carpets, drapes, pet bedding, upholstery, cabinets, and floor cracks.

It can kill all adult and pre-adult fleas as well as their eggs for as long as seven months. The product is prepared as a package of three canisters weighing 2 ounces each. Each canister can treat a room as large as 16 feet x 16 feet having an 8-foot ceiling. In other words, it can effectively treat 2,000 cubic feet of unobstructed indoor space.

The product manufacturer advises that a complete program for flea control involves treating all pets, the entire home, as well as the yard using the right products.

Review

I had a severe problem with fleas all over the small apartment where I first encountered them. It made me really frustrated. It was easy enough to get rid of the fleas on my dog’s body, because there are available medications from the vet.

However, the fleas in the environment were not so easy to dispose of. Despite using so many different foggers from different brands, they still persisted. I did what I could to apply the products according to the manufacturer’s instructions, but to no avail.

In contrast, this product really did its job. It worked like a charm. Of course, I also made some flea traps, using baking sheets with soap and candle. It is true what the makers of Advantage said, that the approach should be holistic and comprehensive.

Your flea control program is not dependent on just using a product and not doing the requisite steps in a sound eradication program. The approach should be well thought of, and all possible variables should be accounted for.

I was also happy to have consulted with a friend who is a pest control professional, and they advised a lot of supportive measures and necessary steps in cleaning and vacuuming the house, the furniture, and the beds.

Basically, the Advantage flea bomb was a bit of an icing on the cake, the final kill that ensured that the fleas are all eliminated. It is the best fogger that I have ever used.

Currently, I have relied on this product for the last three years because I kind of moved around a lot, and some of the houses I moved into had flea problems. Also, I assume that my pets sometimes picked up the fleas while walking outside, because they sometimes interact with the dogs of other people.

Whenever I use Advantage, the fleas drop dead within a few minutes of application. I highly recommend this product for your flea problems.

A minor thing that I do not like is the repeated application needed to ensure that the fleas are all wiped out. However, I think this is a necessary step that cannot be avoided. And I’d rather make the extra effort rather than leave the job half-finished.


Adams Plus Flea and Tick Indoor Fogger

The product is available in a 3-pack with a weight of 3 fluid ounces per container. The item’s total weight is 9 ounces or 0.56 pounds. The package dimensions are 6.40 x 5.90 x 2.20 inches, while the item’s dimensions are 6.420 x 2.170 x 5.870 inches.

This flea fogger product can affect fleas and other bugs that are hiding in upholstery, drapes, rugs, carpets, and other secluded places that ticks and fleas love to hole up in. It can kill flea eggs, adult fleas, mosquitoes, ants, flies, cockroaches, silverfish, and spiders, and can provide protection for seven months.

This product can cover up to 375 square feet per 3-ounce fogger. It does not leave any oily residue nor unpleasant smell. It is an economical pest control product that can be used without professional help. It can be easily applied and does not cause any mess.

Review

The Adams flea fogger product has been, in my experience, among the most effective of all fogger products that I have used. Other foggers were only partially effective or apparently did not have any effect at all on the fleas. Meanwhile, the Adams flea bomb eliminated all the fleas infesting my house.

It is interesting to mention that there are lots of fleas in the home not only due to my own pets, but also from the neighbors, because even if my dogs have been free of fleas for many years, one interaction with the other dogs from adjacent homes was enough for them to being back these pests.

The neighbor’s dogs also sometimes wander into the backyard, and after staying on the porch or sitting on outside the door, I noticed that fleas were now present where there were none before.

The Adams product solved all my flea woes. Every time I get to have a flea problem, I only whip up this product and they all die immediately. Unfortunately, sometimes I get a re-infestation right away because my dogs love playing with the neighbors’ dogs. I have already told them to treat their pets, but to no avail.

That is why I am waging an uphill battle with fleas. Even if I try to clear my house of them and the fogger or flea bomb is effective, they eventually come back. So I just reuse this product whenever I see new fleas. Sometimes the interval of usage is 5 months, sometimes 7 months, and if the neighbors’ dogs’ flea load is particularly heavy, I already implement a treatment after a month or two.

I only hope that the fleas would not immediately get immunity from the treatment due to the frequency with which I use it.

As an added benefit, I found that the bed bug problem in our beds seem to have disappeared as well, although I don’t think this product is aimed specifically for bed bugs.


Raid Flea Fogger

The product is available as a 3-can pack that are 5 ounces each. Each can is capable of treating up to 3,840 cubic feet. Its total weight is 1.55 pounds, and its dimensions are 1.00 x 1.45 x 3.28 inches.

Its active ingredients include pyrethrins, (s)-methoprene, piperonyl butoxide, technical, and N-octyl bicycloheptene dicarboximide. Its other ingredients comprise 96.755% of its total composition.

This product is advertised as capable of killing fleas and their hatching eggs. It can also treat the whole room, using a formula that is water-based. It kills the fleas and their eggs up to four months.

Before returning your pet to the room that has been treated, the product manufacturer recommends that you first treat your pet with a product that is intended for flea control on their body.

Review

In my experience, I used this product with more frequency that is spaced in shorter interval times. This is because I have been fed up with flea bomb products from other brands that failed to do the job.

I reasoned out to myself that I may have to multiply the dose by making it more frequent, so I bombed my place every other day, with a total of three applications. All fleas and eggs are now gone and I can enjoy my house and my dogs in peace.

The thing that I did not like about this product (but which is also present in the other ineffective products, anyway) is that it smelled quite bad. I had to wait for the smell to dissipate after I had given the poison enough time to do their killing.

In this respect, I would therefore recommend that users of flea bombs make sure that no food is exposed during the treatment period and shortly after treatment. Also, make sure that you follow the instructions on the proper amount of poison depending on the area to be covered. Otherwise, you may just be wasting your time.

In my case, I actually increased the dose beyond the recommended amount or level, because I am simply fed up with the fleas. This is why, though the technique eventually paid off and worked, I now could not gauge if the product works as advertised or if it worked only because I increased the recommended dosage and frequency of application.

Nonetheless, I have no more problems with fleas, and although I am relatively sure that some of them may have gotten away, I never experience the nuisance and irritation that they bring, so that this product actually gave me peace of mind.

Another thing that I don’t like about it, which can be said for other foggers as well, is that I need to cover everything in my house during its application. The process takes so much time and effort. Nevertheless, it works, so I guess I cannot complain.


Hot Shot Bed Bug and Flea Fogger

hot-shot

The product is available as a 3-pack with an item weight of 12.8 ounces. Its dimensions are 8.0 x 4.0 x 5.0 inches. One can is capable of treating 2,000 cubic feet unobstructed area, or a 15.5 feet x 16 feet space with a ceiling 8 feet high. If the area being treated is less than 5 x 5 feet in size, then you should allow the fog to spread into other rooms.

This product is intended to kill fleas and bed bugs, while also controlling ticks, lice, and other insects. It can inhibit re-infestation by fleas up to seven months.

Its active ingredient includes nylar that regulates insect growth by preventing fleas from reaching their adult stage, the stage in which they bite.

This product is intended for indoor use in places that are enclosed, such as attics, apartments, basements, cabins, boats, closed porches, garages, condos, homes, pet sleeping and living areas, and kitchens.

Review

Getting rid of fleas can be labor intensive and not as simple as simply using a flea bomb or fogger. There are many things to consider, such as radically moving the things around the house and dealing with the God-awful smell.

This is a glimpse of what you are going to have to go through when dealing with a flea problem.

In addition, you should from the very beginning not harbor the illusion that the flea bomb will solve all your flea problems. What works in the long run is usually a combination of methods, hard work, and products that are applied in an overall program. Anything less than this will only mean failure and further frustration.

In my experience, I used the product once a week for more than a month and combined it with bleach cleaning of the floors and the use of flea sprays in inaccessible areas such as cracks, crevices, and places where the light does not reach.

To this day I am not sure if I had gotten most of them. What I am happy with, however, and what really matters, is that I don’t experience the problem anymore.

I also read on the internet that the sheets must be put in the dryer in a very hot setting in order to kill everything that is in it. So I did that, too.

Just for good measure, I am going to repeat the entire process after a few months or so, just to catch those newly-hatched fleas that escaped the previous purge.

As for this product, I think it works great and I highly recommend it. I really just don’t like the smell, but what the heck, it’s poison. The unpleasant smell made me feel like getting sick every time I smell it. I really felt terrible. Maybe my sense of smell is more sensitive than normal.

Another good result that I observed from this product is the lack of crawling insects in the house after each treatment. Even the occasional mice seem to have gone. Maybe they were repelled by the smell of the fogger as well. But of course, I am not saying that the fogger can be used against mice.


Hot Shot No-Mess Fogger

This aerosol product’s total weight is 10.60 ounces, and its dimensions are 7.0 x 3.0 x 6.0 inches. It has three 1.2-ounce preparations that are packed as one. A can is capable of treating a maximum of 2,000 cubic feet unobstructed area.

Hot Shot No-Mess Fogger is the ideal weapon against fleas and other pest insects. It kills upon contact and its killing action is effective for six weeks.

It also has an odor neutralizer to minimize the nauseating effects that insecticide formulas usually cause.

Even the hidden insects are not spared, for its fine and penetrating mist stays in the air and reaches into the deep cracks, nooks, crevices, and crannies. It also pervades under your appliances and furniture to flush the bugs out upon contact. You do not need to see the bugs to be able to eliminate them.

It employs dry fog and deeper-reaching technology that does not require you to turn off the pilot lights. It is the dry fog that gets to the hidden areas.

It is ideal and indicated for enclosed spaces like attics, apartments, basements, boat cabins, barns, cabins, crawlspaces, campers, garages, households, homes, sheds, trailers, and storage areas.

Aside from being odorless and having no lingering smell, it is also non-staining, so that there are no messy oily residues left for you to clean and be frustrated about.

It is capable of killing black carpet beetles, carpenter ants, brown dog ticks, crickets, firebrats, earwigs, fleas, houseflies, gnats, mosquitoes, pillbugs, palmetto bugs, rice weevils, saw-toothed grain beetles, cockroaches, silverfish, spiders, waterbugs, and small flying moths. It is not indicated for use against bed bugs.

If used according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, the non-staining and odorless dry fog does not ruin drapes, fabrics, upholstery, carpets, floor tiles, bedspreads, wood floors, furniture, linens, walls, ceilings, clothing, blinds, or shades.

It can kill crawling and flying insects upon contact for many weeks, as long as the label instructions are carefully followed.

Review

I have boarders in my house and they have the habit of not keeping their cats clean or treated against fleas and ticks. This caused the entire house to be infested with these external parasites.

I made sure to lecture them on their responsibility as pet owners, and for the meantime, I shouldered the expenses for treating their flea-ridden pets.

Afterwards, I treated the house while they were away on vacation, and used the fogger twice a week. So far, so good. The fleas seemed to disappear. However, I want to re-treat the house for another cycle before the boarders come back. This is intended for the newly-hatched new fleas that will repopulate the area.

I am happy to note that I am completely satisfied with this product and I intend to continue using it regularly, as the cats, even if they have been treated, continue going out and mingling with strays and even mating with them. This makes them susceptible to re-infestation, and will become a problem again sooner or later.

I think I have to revise my policy and prohibit pets in the house.

When the time came for me to have my own vacation, the fleas came back with a vengeance. As I returned home, as I expected, the boarders didn’t improve much on being cat owners. So I commenced another round of fogging; this time, the boarders shouldered the expenses and helped me prepare the house. This product sure does its job as advertised. The fleas were gone again in no time.

As long as you follow the instructions on the can, read up on the proper fogging methods, and follow them keenly, I believe that you will get the expected results and your money’s worth.

The label said it has an odor neutralizer, and that is one thing that I like about it. I am not comfortable with chemical poisons seeping into my body. This fogger has this advantage over the other products where the smell stayed long and were very intense.