Flea Infestations in SS15

Fleas are usually plainly visible to a regular human; you’ll most often observe them as they jump to a host. Should you own a dog, cat or other house pet, or maybe you have just moved into a property in SS15 that has had pets, then you are at risk from fleas and flea bites.

There are 2 main types 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) & 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, whilst 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 one blood meal, a female flea is able to lay over a hundred eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your pet.  These 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 carpets or bedding. The larvae build a nest in which 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.