So, Can Fleas Actually Kick the Bucket in Your Dryer? My Two Cents.
Alright, let’s talk about those tiny, jumpy nightmares: fleas. Had a run-in with them a while back, and boy, was it a party. Not the fun kind. My poor dog was scratching like mad, and then I started feeling those little pinpricks. Ugh. You know the drill – suddenly everything in the house feels suspicious.
One of the first things that popped into my head was, ‘Can I just nuke these suckers in the dryer?’ I mean, heat kills lots of things, right? So, I decided to put it to the test, not like I had much choice, the couch was starting to look like a flea circus.
Here’s what I did, step-by-step, no frills:
- First off, I gathered every piece of fabric that could possibly be a flea hideout. I’m talking dog bed, blankets, my own bedding, some clothes that were lying around – the whole shebang. If it was washable, it was going in.
- Then, I shoved it all into the washing machine. And I didn’t just use any old setting. I cranked that water temperature up. Hot water, people. I read somewhere that it needed to be pretty hot, like over 130 Fahrenheit or 54 Celsius, to really do a number on them and their eggs. So, hot wash it was.
- Once the washing cycle finished, I transferred everything, still damp, straight into the dryer. No messing about, didn’t want any escapees.
- And here’s the crucial part: I set the dryer to the highest heat setting it had. If a little heat is good, more heat must be better, was my thinking. The goal was to create a flea inferno.
- Then I just let it run for a full cycle, maybe even a bit longer just to be sure. I was picturing those fleas getting absolutely cooked.
So, what happened? Did the dryer do the trick?
You betcha. After that hot wash and high heat drying, I inspected the items. Pulled them out, shook them, looked closely. No sign of live fleas. Dead. Kaput. The heat, it seems, is just too much for them. They might like warm and humid, but a tumble dryer on high is a whole different beast.
Now, this wasn’t a one-and-done magic bullet for the whole house, mind you. The dryer handles what you can put in it. For the rest of the house, like carpets and upholstery, I had to get the vacuum out. Vacuuming like a maniac was key to get the ones (and their eggs and larvae, gross) hiding elsewhere. I did this for days.
And for the bedding, especially the dog’s, I kept washing and drying it on high heat every couple of days for the first week. Just to be absolutely sure I got any stragglers or newly hatched ones. Overkill? Maybe. But I wasn’t taking chances.
Oh, and someone once asked me if dryer sheets would do anything. Nah. Tried that in a desperate moment years ago with a different issue. Dryer sheets are for making your clothes smell nice, not for flea extermination. They just don’t pack that kind of punch.
And I wouldn’t bother with dry cleaning for this. Heard the chemicals might not even kill them effectively, and plus, you don’t want to be spreading those little pests to the dry cleaner’s place. Just stick to your own hot wash and high heat dryer. It’s simpler and, from what I saw, pretty darn effective for the stuff you can launder.
So yeah, from my experience, the dryer can definitely be a good weapon in your flea-fighting arsenal. Just make sure you turn up the heat!
