How do I keep fleas out of my yard?

Most yards never need a flea treatment at all. Most flea problems can be eliminated by treating the pet and, if needed, the inside of the home.^[1] Keeping fleas out of the yard is mostly about two things: keeping your pets from carrying fleas around, and making the shaded, sheltered corners where fleas breed less welcoming to them and to the animals that bring them.

Start with your pets

The best way to avoid future household infestations is to keep pets on a preventive product, seasonally or year round depending on where you live, so any stray fleas they pick up are killed before laying eggs.^[1] That matters for the yard too, because a treated pet stops adding eggs to its favorite resting spots. Pets pick up new fleas at kennels and groomers and while moving through yards and neighborhoods, and opossums, raccoons and other wildlife seed fleas into those outdoor spaces.^[1] Ask your veterinarian what interval makes sense where you live, and never treat pets with the same products used on carpets or the yard.^[1]

Where fleas live outdoors

Fleas are fussy about where their young grow up. Flea larvae develop only in protected places with at least 75% relative humidity, and they develop faster in warmth, preferring 70° to 90°F.^[3] Flea numbers tend to increase dramatically in spring and early summer, when conditions favor larval development.^[3] Immature fleas are unlikely to survive in areas exposed to sunlight,^[3] so an open, sunny lawn is a poor nursery.

Outdoor flea problems concentrate where pets rest, sleep and run: doghouses and kennel areas, along fences, under decks and next to the foundation.^[1] Check shaded areas where your pets often lie outside.^[2] The simplest test is to walk the property wearing white athletic socks pulled high on the leg^[1] and look for dark specks jumping onto the white.

Make the yard a poor home for fleas

Let the sun in. Sunlight can kill young fleas by drying them out,^[2] and where pets sleep outside, open those areas to sunlight by removing low-hanging vegetation.^[3] Trim shrubs and lower branches over the spots your dog favors, and rake out thick leaf litter under decks and along fences.

Keep it tidy. Remove debris and keep vegetation low in your yard.^[2] Mow on a regular schedule, keep the edges along fences and the foundation trimmed, and do not let grass grow up around the doghouse.

Clean what your pets lie on. Wash outdoor pet bedding often and clean out the doghouse and kennel area, since that is where eggs and flea droppings collect.

Discourage the animals that bring fleas

Wildlife and strays restock a yard with fleas even when your own pets are treated. Feral cats, opossums, squirrels and coyotes can cause outdoor flea problems, so limit the food, water and shelter they find on your property.^[3] The Virginia Department of Health's advice for preventing flea-borne typhus is similar: keep rodents and animals away from your home, and remove brush, rock piles, junk, cluttered firewood and food supplies, especially pet food.^[4] The same list includes the simplest step: "Keep fleas off your pets."^[4] In the United States, the most common type of typhus is murine typhus, which fleas spread.^[4]

In practice that means feeding pets indoors, securing trash can lids, stacking firewood neatly off the ground and away from the house, and, once you are sure nothing is living there, closing off the space under porches and sheds so animals cannot den there. If an animal is already living under the house or in the attic, getting it out is a job for a wildlife professional; see how to keep raccoons and squirrels out of the attic.

Treat only where you find fleas

Treat outside your home only if you have heavily infested areas.^[2] If pets spend most of their time outdoors, it may be useful to treat the yard, but it is seldom necessary to treat the entire yard or areas in full sun.^[1] Products containing an insect growth regulator such as pyriproxyfen prevent flea eggs and larvae from developing for several months; diluted in water, they can be applied with a hose-end or pump-up sprayer.^[1]

Read the whole label before you buy and again before you spray. Keep pets and children away from treated areas as directed on the label.^[7] Pick a calm day: spraying on a windy day can carry the product into water that wild animals drink.^[7]

Ticks share the same yard

The habits that discourage fleas also help with ticks. Virginia Cooperative Extension passes on the Virginia Department of Health's advice to keep grass and underbrush mowed and thinned, check children and pets for ticks every four hours when staying outside, and ask your veterinarian to recommend tick controls for your pets.^[5] The American dog tick is found mostly in western Virginia and west of the Blue Ridge, while the lone star tick can be very common in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain.^[5] Letting pets stay indoors as much as possible reduces their chance of being bitten by ticks and fleas.^[6]

Stop and call a pro if

• You find fleas indoors as well; the house and every pet need treating, as in how to get rid of fleas in the house.
• You have no pets but still find fleas. When fleas show up in a home with no pets, raccoons, opossums, skunks or squirrels are often the source, and the animals should be removed by a nuisance wildlife or pest control professional.^[1]
• An animal is denning under a porch, deck or shed, or in the crawl space or attic.
• You want the yard treated for you. In Virginia no one may apply or recommend a pesticide commercially without a pesticide business license and a certified commercial applicator on staff.^[8]

Getting help on Loclis

If fleas keep coming back, read why you still have fleas after treating your pet and what flea treatment costs in Virginia. Browse flea and tick services or mosquito and tick control, find pest control around Blacksburg, or read more pest control answers. When you are ready, describe the job on Loclis so licensed pest control businesses can quote it.