Information about fleas
Adult fleas are parasites, living off warm-blooded animals. Different species of flea live off different animals. Cat fleas are about two-three mm in size, brownish in colour, and are responsible for the majority of flea infestations.
Their increase in numbers in recent years has been caused by an increase in the number of people keeping pets and by the tendency for pet owners to neglect cleaning their pet's bedding properly.
Central heating provides the necessary warmth needed for fleas to breed and fitted carpets provide relatively undisturbed environments for flea larvae to develop.
Flea bites appear as a tiny dark red spot surrounded by a reddened area which can be intensely irritating and usually persists for one or two days.
Flea eggs are about half a millimetre long, pearly-white, and are laid on the pet or in its bedding. Four to eight eggs are laid after each blood meal, a single female producing from 800-1,000 eggs during her lifetime, which may be as long as two years.
The eggs hatch in about one week into larvae which live in dark, humid places, such as animal bedding and carpet fluff, feeding on debris and adult flea excrement. A cat's bedding may support 8,000 immature and 2,000 adult fleas.
Pets such as cats or dogs should be treated using veterinary products. Always make sure you follow the manufacturer's instructions. Pets' bedding must also be thoroughly laundered.
Treatment can be carried out professionally by our pest control service.
Our service
The standard treatment costs can be found on our domestic fees page.
This covers:
- Initial visit and assessment
- Advice on possible infestation cause and measures to deal with it
- An insecticidal spray and/or fumigation (UVL) treatment will be applied to the affected rooms if flea activity is found or suspected
- Any subsequent treatment visits will be agreed with customer
Customers must prepare the affected rooms to be ready for treatment. If the room isn't adequately prepared it could delay treatment and it will take longer to treat the problem.
If no treatment is carried out, you'll only pay a call-out and survey fee.
