Each year more and more families adopt a pet. Cats and dogs are great animals to have around the home. They are loving companions that are very popular among families especially with young children. But one issue that can come up when it comes to pets are fleas. These tiny insects are parasitic in nature and feed on the blood of our poor animals. They also can feed upon us as well. In this article, let’s take a closer look at fleas, their lifecycle and how we can get rid of them out of our homes, yards and off of our loved ones.
FEASTING FLEAS
Fleas are blood feeders. They feed on the blood of dogs and cats. Here in the states, we mostly have the flea known as the cat flea. Even though it’s named the cat flea, it will feed upon just about any mammal including dogs, rabbits, ferrets, gerbils and other animals. Their entire lifecycle is based around the blood they feed from. These insects have a sucking mouth part that they inject into the skin like a syringe to draw blood out. Unfortunately, they use a method by which fluids can pass back from the flea into the host.
Because of this, there are many diseases that can be passed to both humans and your pets based on being bitten by fleas. The most infamous diseases caused by flea bites was the black plague. This disease ravished England and Europe during the middle ages. It is still around today, and is often found in the southern states of the United States. Anemia can also be an issue especially with smaller animals. If too many fleas attack a small animal such as a kitten or a gerbil, they can draw so much blood that the animal can die from lack of blood.
Cat scratch fever is another disease that can be spread to both humans and pets. Many of these diseases can be treated if found early enough, but prevention is always the best solution. Keeping these insects off of your pets and out of your homes is a job best done by your Broken Arrow exterminator.
A FLEAS LIFECYCLE
In order to best take care of these insects, it’s important that we understand how they function. Fleas use a complete lifecycle in order to develop. This means that they go through an egg stage, larva stage, pupa stage and adult stage. Eggs are usually found around bedding of the host animal. They’re laid by the adults at the base of the fur of the animal. But because the animal will scratch and move, these eggs will fall off onto the ground. Your Tulsa exterminator will have more information.
Once they hatch, a larva will emerge. This larva will need to feed on blood. Of course, it cannot transport itself to a host animal nor can it bite. Because of this, it must rely on the adults around it to feed it. The way this happens is that the adults will feed and then pass some of the blood that they’ve eaten through their droppings. These droppings will fall down into the areas around the bedding and where these larva are. He’s dropping‘s are known as flea dirt. Flea larva will consume the flea dirt, nourishing itself with the undigested blood plus building up it’s gut biome for the blood that it will be consuming later in its lifecycle.
THE PUPA STAGE
Once the larva develops to a certain point, it must pupate. It will find fragments of fur and debris around it in order to create a cocoon. In this cocoon, the flea larva will start to develop into an adult. Once it is fully developed inside this pupa, it will wait for signs of a passing host animal. Heat and vibration communicate to the insect that there is a host animal near. Once it senses both of these, it will emerge from its pupa as an adult.
This adult is equipped with very powerful legs that give the flea the ability to jump large distances. Often it can jump up to 50 times its heights in order to land on a host animal. Once it does it will land and attach itself to the fur. Here it will feed upon the host animal and eventually mate laying its own set of eggs. The process will continue from here.
ELIMINATING FLEAS
Eliminating fleas from your house, your pet in your yard come in three different phases. First you have to deal with the fleas on your pet. To do this you need to contact your local veterinarian in order to provide for your animal the proper flea protection. This can be done in dips, baths, collars, drops, pills in many other forms. This essentially creates a pesticidal barrier on the surface of the skin that these insects don’t like the smell of, and if they try to feed on the host, they will get a large dose of it and it will kill the insect.
The second phase of dealing with these insects is to treat the inside of your home. This is where your Tulsa pest control company comes in. They will come in and treat your home with these insects getting rid of them. After this phase, often it’s required to treat your yard for fleas as well. This can keep fleas from getting on your animal when they go outside do use the restroom or play or whatever they do. It’s important to make sure that all three phases of been taken care of to keep fleas out of your home and off of your beloved pets.
CALLING IN A PROFESSIONAL
If you find yourself in a situation where you’re dealing with fleas or any other pest, it’s time to call and the best Broken Arrow pest control company in the business. TermMax pest control is the best in the business when it comes to fleas and any other pests that you may be dealing with. We service a greater Tulsa area including Coweta, Claremore, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Sand Springs, Prattville, Sapulpa, Jenks, Bixby, Owasso, Turley and much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!