Flea Problems in Monument

Fleas are usually quite visible to a regular human; you will most often see them when they jump to or from a host. Should you own a house pet, or maybe you have just moved into a property in Monument that has had pets, then you are at risk from flea infestation.

There are two main types of fleas that cause problems with homeowners and tenants, and these 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 species of flea are between 1-3mm in length, the cat flea is more of a reddish brown in appearance, whilst the dog flea is a slightly darker reddish black in colour with long tapering legs, allowing them to jump significant distances and as high as 16cm.

After feeding on just a single blood meal, a female flea can lay over one hundred 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 will then fall off your pet into your animals bedding or carpets. The larvae build a nest where they mature and, up to two weeks after, the adult fleas will emerge.

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