Flea Infestations in 01268

Fleas can be plainly visible to humans; you’ll most often spot them when they jump to or from a host. If you own a house pet, or maybe you’ve recently moved into a house in 01268 that has had pets, then you could be at risk from flea infestation.

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

Both species of flea are between 1mm and 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.

From feeding on just a single blood meal, a female flea will lay over 100 eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your cat or dog.  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 your animals bedding or carpets. The larvae build a nest where they mature and, up to a foftnight 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 the presence of fleas.