Fleas Pest Control in Buckhurst Hill IG9

Fleas are usually quite visible to a regular human; you will often spot them as they jump to or from a host. If you own a dog, cat or other house pet, or maybe you have just moved into a property in Buckhurst Hill that has had pets, then you could be at risk from fleas and flea bites.

There are 2 species of fleas that cause problems to homeowners and tenants, and they are the Dog Flea (known as Ctenocephalides canis –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_flea) & the Cat flea (known as Ctenocephalides felis – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_flea).

Both flea species are between 1-3mm in length, the cat flea is more of a reddish brown in appearance, while the dog flea is a slightly darker reddish black in colour with long tapering legs, allowing them to jump huge distances and as high as 16cm.

After feeding on just a single blood meal, a female flea is able to lay over 100 eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your dog or cat.  The eggs are very small (0.5mm in length) and whitish in colour, once the larva hatch small maggots will emerge, these then fall off your pet into their carpets or bedding. The larvae build a nest in which they mature and, up to two weeks after, the hungry adult fleas will emerge.

Flea droppings can be best described as looking like ground black pepper, and a careful search of the property may indicate an infestation of fleas.