Have you or your pets started waking up covered in flea bites? If you have fleas, it won’t take long for you know it: those itchy red bites around your arms and legs can keep you scratching for days.
Fleas are a problematic nuisance pest that can be a nightmare to deal with once they get a foodhold inside your home. If you want to save yourself from the many headaches that a severe flea infestation brings to your home, you have to be able to identify the problem as quickly as possible so that you can start working with a professional toward a solution.
The first step to preventing future flea infestations in your Modesto home is by understanding the factors that drew them to you in the first place. If you’ve started experiencing fleas in your Modesto home, read on for some of the reasons why that might be as well as steps you can take to resolve the issue.
Why Flea Infestations Are Bad News
Fleas are dangerous parasites that need to feed on the blood of their animal hosts in order to survive. They are incredibly small, about 1/2 inch long, with reddish-brown, seed-shaped bodies. While they cannot fly, their powerful legs give them impressive jumping ability, which is how they get from one host to another. Fleas are flat in shape before feeding but become engorged after a blood meal.
Our climate and temperature here in Modesto means that fleas are a year-round concern. While they pose little health risk to humans outside of the possibility for their bites to become infected, they can be seriously harmful to pets, particularly dogs and cats, as they transmit numerous diseases. They are also notorious for spreading other parasites, such as tapeworms.
Factors That Attract Fleas
Most fleas get into homes on the backs of cats and dogs that have spent time outside, especially in tall grass or forest. If you’ve been taking your dog on long walks through the wilderness and failing to comb through his or her fur for fleas when you come back inside, that could be the way they’re getting inside.
You could also be attracting fleas to your yard directly. Because fleas need to attach to an animal host to survive, increased presence of wildlife and rodents around your home also correlates to increased presence of fleas. For this reason, if your property has a number of factors that are attracting wildlife and rodents to it, such as unkempt grass, a cluttered yard, unresolved moisture issues, or food that’s been left out, fleas will inevitably make their way to your property as well.
Preventing Fleas In Your Modesto Home
Here are some effective tips you can use to minimize your risk for flea infestations in and around your home:
Keep your grass mowed and shrubs trimmed back from the home’s exterior
Vacuum at least once a week, and more often if you spot fleas
Sweep baseboards, furniture, under cushions, and anywhere your pets sleep or spend time
Vacuum your car regularly if your pet is inside it often
Carefully dispose of vacuum bags after use
Discourage other pets and wildlife from coming into your yard
Keep pet food and water bowls stored inside
Store pet food in sealed containers kept off the ground
Trim back trees and shrubs that could let wild animals crawl into your attic
Seal off any openings to crawl spaces, garages, sheds, or under decks
Brush through your pet’s coat when bringing them inside
Wash all your pet items in hot water weekly to kill flea eggs and larvae.
How To Fight Back If You Have Fleas
If fleas have already infested your space, there’s only one real solution: call a professional for help. Fleas are miniscule in size and excellent at getting into the smallest nooks and crannies throughout your home. Only a professional pest specialist has the tools and knowledge necessary to eliminate an infestation and keep it from coming back.
Have fleas invaded your Modesto home? Don’t let them bite you and your family for one more day: contact the flea elimination experts at Insect IQ immediately and take back your peace of mind from these parasitic pests.
