Where Do Fleas Hide? 5 Places You May Find Fleas in Your Home

Wondering where fleas hide in your home? Fleas like hiding in tight crevices where they can safely feed and reproduce, so they are frequently found in pet bedding, upholstery, furniture, and carpeting.

Aside from the irritating bites, fleas can carry disease to humans and be especially irritating for pets. Dogs, cats, and other animals can experience restlessness, scratching, and other ailments from flea bites. Read on for five places to search for fleas in your home.

1. Dogs, Cats, and Other Household Pets

The most common entry point for fleas in your home or in the yard is through your pets. Dogs, cats, and other household animals can carry fleas into your home. If you think you may have fleas indoors or out, check your pet for signs of fleas. 

On dogs, fleas tend to dwell on their tails. Fleas prefer to hide in thick areas and the hair on a dog's tail usually provides this sanctuary. For cats, the opposite is true, as fleas will typically stay away from the tail end of cats. Instead, fleas often prefer the area around a cat's head and neck. That's why flea collars are a popular way to get rid of cat fleas.

2. Bedding and Soft Upholstery

Once inside your home, fleas will search for an ideal location to hide. Pet bedding is often a magnet for flea activity, such as laying eggs and larvae. If any of your pets sleep in the bed with you, fleas will make a home in your bedding as well.

Other areas around the home fleas are attracted to include sofa cushions, upholstery, and other soft furnishings throughout your home. Once fleas hunker down in these areas, they can stay there for weeks on end, enjoying the warmth the area provides. Keeping your home clean by washing bedding in warm water and routinely vacuuming the sofa can help eliminate fleas in your house. If fleas remain in your home after taking these measures, don’t hesitate to hire a local flea control specialist for help.

3. Carpets and Rugs

Another soft spot fleas enjoy making a home is in carpets and rugs. If your pet loves laying down on the soft flooring for a nap or to play with their favorite toy, it's likely a flea will jump ship and get cozy. Carpets and rugs tend to be filled with debris and fleas will feed on that.

While vacuuming can help get rid of fleas in carpets and rugs, it's a more difficult task to remove any larvae left behind. Larvae feature a sticky substance that dry vacuums can't always extract. A water-based vacuum cleaning system may be a better option to ensure all traces of fleas are removed. 

4. Outdoor Crawl Spaces

While pets can track fleas inside your home and in your yard, other animals are responsible for outdoor fleas as well. Wildlife such as coyotes, deer, foxes, opossums, raccoons, rodents, skunks, and stray cats will bring these insects into your yard.

Small or medium-sized wildlife will tend to search for crawl spaces when navigating across your property to find warmth and while they're there, fleas may make a home as well. Any crawl spaces near a garage, under a deck, around trash cans, or other crevices in the yard could harbor wild fleas.

5. Trees, Bushes, and Other Yard Vegetation

If you're having trouble determining which bugs are biting in your yard, it may very well be fleas. As wildlife meanders through your yard, fleas can make homes in most areas of vegetation. From trees to bushes to tall grass, fleas will hide in shady areas to stay out of the sun.

Maintaining a clean landscape outdoors is one of the best ways to combat fleas in your yard. Keeping the grass and bushes trimmed up means fleas don't have a location to stay out of the sun and they'll end up moving on or dying.

How to Prevent Fleas From Hiding in Your Home

You don’t have to deal with fleas if they never make it inside your home. But if you have playful pets, that can prove challenging. Here are our best tips for keeping fleas outside of your home:

• Vacuum regularly: Keep fleas from hiding and reproducing in carpet or pet beds. Vacuum these areas regularly during flea seasons, especially if you have a pet. 

• Clean your pet’s soft objects: Wash your pet bedding and blankets thoroughly every week or two in hot water if they frequently play outside.

• Set a flea trap near doors and pet beds: Flea traps aren’t perfect, but they can do a lot of good when combined with other efforts. Look for dedicated flea traps, which often use lights to attract fleas when it gets dark.

• Use flea medication on pets: If you have multiple pets and use flea medication, make sure they aren’t licking it off of each other or rolling in the dirt to get rid of it. Don’t wash your pets while the flea medication is settling. 

• Consider steam cleaning: Steam wands and steam vacuums can kill fleas in carpets and furniture quite effectively before they spread.

• When fleas are out, keep pets in: One of the most effective ways of preventing indoor flea problems is to keep your pet indoors. That’s even more important during the warmer months when fleas are active, or if you’ve noticed flea problems around the dog park or similar areas. 

• Hire a pest control pro: If fleas are a continuous problem, it’s time to hire a flea exterminator. These experts will be able to offer ideas about possible pesticide barriers and other options to deal with fleas.

Next Steps If You Have a Flea Infestation

Even if you know how to get rid of fleas effectively, you may still face ongoing challenges. There are some natural ways to kill fleas on your own, but it’s not a guarantee they’ll fix the problem. A flea infestation requires more than a few at-home remedies to remove them. Your best bet to rid your home of these pesky insects is to hire a local flea exterminator. The average flea exterminator cost ranges between $75 to $400 per treatment.