Borax can be toxic to whatever kind of rugrats you have. Salt rots your carpeting, and pretty much does the same to your vacuum.

Use Diatomaceous Earth (DE) instead. Sift a light layer into your carpet. You can leave it there, it won't hurt anything. It's totally non-toxic, and you and your pets can eat it if you had the inclination. Some farmers feed it to their livestock. The one thing you don't want to do is stir up a cloud of it and stick your head into it and inhale.

If you have a vacuum that has a paper bag collector, toss it after vacuuming. You've just vacuumed up loads of flea eggs and flea larvae. Keep it around and they'll hatch and escape from the vacuum.

You can also use DE directly on your pets, but let me emphasize this: ONLY USE THE CODEX FOOD GRADE KIND. DE is used for lots of stuff, including pool filters and some is treated with insecticides for cockroaches. Get the food grade kind from animal feed stores. My 50# bag cost $15.

DE is made from the skeletons of diatoms, ground to a flour-like consistency. Under a microscope, it looks like shards of glass. It can be used against any insect-type creature that has a carapace. The DE works under the carapace, punctures the creature, and it dies of dehydration. It must be dry to work.

If you want to use a flea bomb, get enough of them to handle the size of your home. Get the kind that says it lasts from 4 to 7 months, as it has a growth hormone in it. When the eggs hatch (the bomb doesn't kill eggs), the hormone prevents the hatchlings from developing into fleas and they just die. If you're going to use a flea bomb, remove any creature that has any resemblance to lungs from the house, set the cans on newspapers in various parts of the house, press the lock down (they spray UP, not out, so don't get it in the face), and leave the house immediately, for the period of time directed (2 or 3 hours, usually). Return, run through house opening windows, leave for another half-hour.

From my vet: dog fleas usually get on the dog to feed, then jump off to breed and lay eggs. Cat fleas tend to stay on the cat. There is a product that will kill all the fleas currently on your cat in about 10 minutes. I think it starts with a C, and you have to get it from a vet.

Sue