Making a homemade flea trap is easy, inexpensive, and effective.
It also helps you avoid calling pest control while saving your pets and upholstery from an out-of-control infestation.
How Do You Know You Have Fleas?
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
The easiest way to tell the difference is whether you have pets.
It might be bed bugs.
What Attracts Fleas?
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Fleas are attracted to many things around your home that make it difficult for them to leave.
They prefer warm, humid, dark places, like your pet’s fur.
They are also likely to lay their eggs somewhere soft, likecarpetor fabric.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Are Fleas Difficult to Get Rid Of?
The key to treating them is consistency.
Once you find fleas in your home, continue taking action so the situation doesn’t worsen.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
The sticky tape method below can also catch small flying insects plus larger crawling pests.
Warning
Liquid near electricity is dangerous.
Ensure the area cannot be accessed by children or pets.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Do not touch the outlet directly.
Turn on a Desk Lamp
Place a desk lamp with targeted light directly above the shallow bowl.
Turn off all other lights in the room.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
This is best done at night.
Turn on a targeted desk lamp directly above the cardboard.
Turn off all other lights in the room.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Historically, many of these methods used a lit candle rather than a lamp.
However, that poses a fire hazard and is not worth the risk.
Turn the heat off and let the mixture cool down completely.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Put the Mixture Into a Bowl
Pour the corn syrup and water mixture into a shallow bowl.
Trap the Fleas in the Mixture
Place the bowl directly under a desk lamp.
They’ll land into the sticky corn syrup mixture and won’t be able to escape.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
After addressing the situation, start a cleaning routine that keeps fleas out of your home.
Flea traps are effective at controlling adult fleas and pinpointing the source.
However, flea traps alone cannot eliminate flea eggs, larvae, and pupae in the home.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Traps that fleas can ingest orally are the most effective traps to use.
Fleas will ingest a poison they will bring back and spread to the colony, killing the source.
They are also known to stay away from anything that smells like citrus.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Fleas are attracted to warmth and light.
Set a trap near a warm lamp.
Expect the fleas to jump up toward the light, so place the trap underneath the light.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
