Wacky Pest Wednesday: Fleas

 In News

Hey there Tri-County Pest Control fans, we hope you are having the happiest of Wednesdays!  We’re back with another edition of Wacky Pest Wednesday, and today, we’re going to focus on a critter that is feared by many pet owners: the flea.

Small, nimble, and incredibly parasitic, fleas are a bane to pets and pet owners everywhere.  You may probably know that they can latch onto your pet, but did you know that they can also thrive just by living in your carpet?  Fleas prefer an area in which they can hide to lay their eggs, and the long strand of your pet’s hair or the fabric of your carpet make for a fantastic place for them to raise their kin.  What’s more devastating is that fleas can lay up to 50 eggs once a day for 3 months, meaning that more fleas could be coming that will undoubtedly spread to other places of your home. Thus, it can be incredibly hard to fully take care of a flea infestation on your own, as there is a good chance that they have spread to parts of your home which you did not think was possible.  

Yet, all hope is not lost if you spot a flea.  Should you see a small, brown speck about one tenth of an inch long (about one quarter of a centimeter), go ahead and give us a call.  Another way you can tell if you have fleas is to look for their droppings. Yes, we know it sounds gross, but if you find tiny, tiny specks of red or black, it could be a sign that you have a flea problem (or a bedbug problem, as they have a similar type of dropping).  With a pest that spreads as fast as the flea and one that can be a literal pain in the neck (did we mention that fleas feed on blood?) you don’t want to take any chances. One call is all that it takes to get the ball rolling on swift and effective pest removal.

Did you know that fleas can jump incredibly high for their size?  Despite being so small, they can use their hind legs to get about 4 feet of air in a single jump–that’s just under 100 times the size of their body!  To put it in perspective, a flea jumping that high is the equivalent of a 6 ft human jumping 480 feet, which is plenty to clear a 40-story building. Now, how’s that for wacky?

Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday!

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