Home Made Flea Trap

We had two cats and never had a flea problem til we had gotten our third (a kitten). Well then we ended up getting..super fleas...So while shopping for my assault on them I saw something like this at a store for around $40.00. So I decided to make my own cheaper version and it works. Just put it in an area where fleas are most concentrated..It uses a small light, metal fan housing , styrofoam plate, honey or karo syrup..I found honey more sticky and smears better on the plate (doesnt pool up). I use the fan housing to keep that cats out of the honey covered plate. I placed the small nightlight on the housing. Since fleas are attracted to the light, they land in the plate and get stuck...No chemicals! I had taken a pic of what the plate looked like after a week of it sitting..Gross I know but the cats are fine I got them some, special flea pills and it killed off the fleas..I just had gotten tired of spraying chems and feeling like I was killing my cats in the process!

Step 1: Obtain Styrofoam Plate, Honey, Fan Housing, Nightlight

Its pretty simple...to simple to put a lengthy description! Honey on plate, plate under a fan housing, light on fan housing..And leave it alone!

Step 2: Chemicaless Flea Trap

To simple for a description..This is the nightlight I rummaged around and found.

Step 3: Its That Simple

Im done

Step 4: Done!

The aftermath.

Comments

[Cat and dog mom]

If fleas are in a humans hair, how would get rid of them?

[coreyfro]

I'm trying a blinking bike light as an attractor. We'll see how that works.

[afhales]

Fleas are attracted to heat and light. An incandescent light may work better.

[Nita43]

I've been dealing with fleas for a few weeks now, I can't wait to get home and try this tonight! I'm going out of my mind and if this does the trick, you will have saved my sanity! Thanks for the idea!!

[joseph-pest-controller]

Great idea! What's the purpose of the fan housing?

[benarah89]

I had posted this YEARS ago and glad to see a lot of people found it useful and/or thought it was a good idea.

[martigunni]

I do a similar thing for gnats. We have tiny gnats that hatch in spring, and are tiny enough to get through the screens. They don't bite, just drive you nuts. Every night I rig a goose neck light low over the toilet, and make sure all other lights are out. In the morning you flush, and that batch is gone! The house is relatively gnat free until someone opens a window for a breeze.
But for fleas? They can lie dormant for ages, and one hatch reinfects the house. 1)Treat all the cats, 2)vacuum daily for a week (to get the fleas to hatch) then 3) treat the house, 4)keep vacuuming daily so any others hatch while the chemicals are still potent.

[meowmom1961]

[owtogetridoffleasez]

very clever. thank you.

[sean.ocallaghan.7169]

Since Fleas are attracted to sudden shadow cast in front of a light I made my flea traps using a GU10 colour changing LED lamp since the colour changing is like the casting shadows, it has worked very well. I have also read they are attracted to green light so make a trap using another GU10 green LED lamp, this also worked very well. The advantages of LED lamps is there is no dangerous heat and they use far less power than normal lamps.

[Josephine3]

I saw your homemade flea trap and like the way you put it together. I had purchased a flea trap more than 15 yrs. ago from one of those catalogs that come in the mail. It was made of plastic and is now starting to break up. I use to order refills that were sticky that the fleas or any bug that happened to be attracted to the light would get stuck. After a while I got tired of paying for the refills and started to make my own. I made a templet of the refill and traced it on clear contact paper. I would then peel of the paper to expose the sticky surface, just like the refills I would pay dearly for. It worked like a charm. I'm not comfortable useing honey or karo because it would attract bugs and since I live in Florida, no matter how much you do pest control, there are always the threat of bugs in the house. When I use your instructions, I will use a ceramic plate and when I put the contact paper, sticky side up, I will use double sided tape to hold the contact paper to the plate.

[robertg62]

Never seen this particular method. Thanks!

[sugieann]

I have several house dogs.I have been fighting fleas for over a year,your idea sounds good. I am going to give it a try. Thanks Sugieann

[nerdner]

Thanks for the idea!!... Yesterday after a night of being bitten and discovering a flea in bed. I decided to hoover everywhere twice and wash everything that wasnt nailed down.

Today I saw another flea in my room, so made a make-shift trap with an upturned lamp, hanging over a saucer of vinegar. Within 1 hour there was a lil bugger kicking around in there.

30 mins later and it was still swimming around.. so I've added a few drops of dish soap.. lowering the surface tension. its now sunk and drowned.

Hopefully by tomorrow morning there will be a few more in there.

[hcrain]

Does it have to be a Styrofoam plate? Or will paper work?

[mthomp1]

Styrofoam plate is better than paper. Paper gets soggy after a while. Glass or china plate works equally well. Fleas are attracted to the heat from the bulb, not light.

[reeree1275]

as far as the light, I got a store bought flea catcher and the light on it was not hot at all but it really did the job. From what I saw they may also be attracted to some light. I had 7 dogs at once so I had to set them up all over the house but when I did all I had to do was to make sure my dogs were well bathed because while they were in the house most of the time they sometimes went outside. and they were big dogs. Now I have one dog barely 10lbs and she is sometimes covered with fleas, a lot more than my other dogs.

[Lordsknight]

Use a cheap cardboard glue trap for mice. leave it flat and face up. place under an electric socket with a night light.

[doo da do]

I had flea infestation in my yard years ago. I used an old baking sheet with a candle raise out of the cooking oil. Never seen so many dead fleas. You could use the oil in the plate also, really kills them. Doodado

[pdodkins]

recently while being eaten alive at my mums, i noticed the dogs water bowl in front of the tele had quite alot of dead fleas in it.
I just assumed they had jumped out while the dog was drinking. Now that i know they are attracted to the television i'll be telling my mum to leave another bowl of water in front permanetly