Flea Pest Control in Purfleet RM19

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

There are 2 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) and 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, 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 one blood meal, a female flea is able to lay over one hundred eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your pet.  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 their carpets or bedding. The larvae build a nest in which they mature and, up to a foftnight after, the hungry adult fleas will emerge.

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