SAN ANTONIO — If you're having an issue with bugs or other pests at home, an exterminator can be quite costly. As we report in tonight's Verify, home remedies seem to be the way to go for many people. One of those pests we are talking about are fleas. Pets don't like them, and neither do owners.
THE QUESTION
From Laura Love Rubio who posted on Facebook, "I'm having a very bad experience with fleas inside and out....What should I do?"
THE SOURCES
- Chad Cross, a professor of residence with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health.
THE ANSWER
2 FALSE and 1 TRUE
WHAT WE FOUND
There were many suggestions by people on Facebook. We chose three of them to Verify. The first, get a bowl filled with water and dish soap and a light hung above the bowl to force fleas into the water and drown. Another, buy premetherin from Amazon to spray your yard. And finally, another suggested using diatomaceous which dehydrates bugs.
We asked Cross about each of these items individually, starting with the water, soap, and lamp.
"The only ones you are going to catch in a bowl of water, quite frankly, are those who just happened to be in that area and hop into the water," said Cross.
So we'll move that one into the false column. Next up, the permethrin spray which could be dangerous for some animals, especially cats. And it was often used against cockroaches.
"As a result of that most cockroaches had developed resistance to permethrin. And so they no longer are effective. And there is some evidence of resistance to fleas as well too," said Cross.
Since it doesn't sound very effective, we'll also say this one, is false. What about the diatomaceous?
"That diatomaceous earth kind of pats down and then takes care of the fleas. But it is, an effective treatment," Cross said,
So the third claim is the only one we can say, is true.