In carpet. Fleas in all stages often hide in carpet fibers, away from light and human activity. On furniture. Flea eggs, larvae, and pupae may also be deposited on furniture including beds, pet beds, armchairs, sofas, and any other furniture that your pets come into contact with. The pests like to stay away from light and will hide inside crevices, cracks, and upholstery on furniture.
This makes them even more difficult to spot and treat. High places. As cat owners can confirm, cats like to roam strange and high places including on top of shelves, appliances, and other out-of-the-way places. Cats are more effective at spreading fleas around the home than dogs and require extra attention in the event of an infestation.
In the yard. These pests can also live outdoors given the right conditions and are usually to be found in outdoor areas where your pets eat or play.
Under Leaf Piles. It is not just your pets that may be spreading fleas around your property. Wild animals that scavenge in or around your yard can also deposit the tiny pests. The fleas may hide on grass or under leaf piles and wait for an opportunity to jump on a host. There are a couple of signs that you can look out for to determine whether you have fleas in your home. Fleas are barely visible to the human eye but you may chance upon one or two around your home such as on your carpet, drapery, or furniture.
If your pet is infested by fleas, you should be able to catch and identify them on the comb. Inspect your pets if you notice them excessively scratching, biting, or licking their fur. Fleas also leave distinct bite marks when they bite humans. You should notice a red, itchy bump on the bite area. If bitten multiple times, you will notice red spots with red halos around them. Other symptoms may include swelling around the bite, a rash, or hives. Keep in mind that some people are allergic to the coagulant that fleas inject into your body.
Symptoms of an allergic reaction include wheezing or shortness of breath, intense itching, severe hives or rashes around the body, swelling of the face, lips, mouth, and hands. Take a piece of tissue and dip it lightly in water.
Blot the flakey substance with the damp tissue and check for a reaction. If the tissue turns a reddish-brown color, chances are that you have found flea feces. Flea feces are digested or partially digested blood. Use flea treatments for pets — there are many flea treatments specifically designed for your pets. If you live in a high-risk area, consider monthly treatments. Pets are the primary hosts for fleas in and around the home so it makes sense to start your treatment here.
Vacuum clean regularly — vacuum your home thoroughly to pick up fleas in any of the life stages. Pay attention to flea hotspots such as pet furniture, upholstery, rugs, and carpets.
Vacuum at least once a week and wash your pet bedding frequently to prevent fleas. Insect Growth Regulators — insect growth regulators IGR are great for treating flea hotspots including baseboards, upholstery, carpets, and pet bedding.
These insecticides are also available for outdoor use to control fleas that might be hiding outside. Liquid Residual Insecticides — insect growth regulators take up to 6 weeks to work, and you might need something quicker in the interim. Liquid residual insecticides work on contact and are mainly targeted at adult fleas. Many of these products have low toxicity to mammals and are largely safe to use around humans and pets in the correct dosage. These liquid insecticides retain their potency for up to three months after application.
Consider using liquid residual insecticides along with insect growth regulators since fleas in the pupae stage are difficult to treat with insecticides on account of their protective encasements. Diatomaceous Earth DE — diatomaceous earth is a non-toxic way to treat fleas in your home.
Silica, which is a component of glass, cuts open the waxy exoskeleton of the insect. Q: How long do flies live? A: Common houseflies have always been a nuisance, pestering people in recreational areas and on backyard decks.
Our annoyance with the persistence of flies landing on the edges of drinking glasses or bottles is presumably a natural response as these creatures have been indicted as carriers of diseases as severe as typhoid, cholera, and certain forms of dysentery. A female housefly lays more than a hundred eggs, sometimes as many as three or more times, on decaying vegetation, which includes horse manure.
Dry dog food that has been left several days may even be a place for egg laying. Some of the other noxious species of flies, such as blow flies and the brightly colored bottle flies, lay their eggs on animal matter. Upon hatching, the eggs of the housefly go through larval and pupal stages maggots before emerging as adult flies after a period of 10 days to two weeks.
This is a good time to destroy potential nesting areas, before the adults emerge. A female fly takes about two weeks to begin laying eggs, which means an individual fly might be around to bother us for far longer than we would like.
Eliminating potential egg-laying sites is a major step in helping reduce future outbreaks of flies. Fleas are very prolific. Undisturbed and without a meal blood from a host , a flea can live more than days.
On average, they live two to three months. Female fleas cannot lay eggs until after their first blood meal and begin to lay eggs within hours after that meal. The female flea can lay 2, eggs in her lifetime. That means if you see fleas on your pet or in your house, they are just the tip of the iceberg.
The flea life cycle is short, which means they multiply rapidly. This lifecycle can take as little as weeks but can last up to 6 months. To rid your household from fleas, you must break this cycle.
The eggs and larvae are the hardest to remove completely. To get rid of fleas, you must break the life cycle. Because fleas are everywhere, you must be sure to treat every single area simultaneously.
These areas are not just in your home. Make sure to treat the following:. Wherever your dog or cat has been, you likely have fleas there too.
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