Your local Tulsa pest control company will be experts in eliminating fleas from your home. Fleas are a parasite that feed upon your pets and loved ones. While they love to feed on dogs and cats, they can also feed on other mammals, including us. They can make your life a living hell if kept unchecked, and it’s necessary that you get in there and take care of them. These insects can transmit many different diseases and cause all sorts of uncomfortable situational problems in pets and loved ones. So in this article, let us take a good hard look at fleas, their life cycle and what you and your Tulsa pest control company can do to protect your home from them.

FLEA LIFECYCLE AND TULSA PEST CONTROL

Fleas use a complete metamorphosis to develop into the adult. The adult female flea will start by laying her eggs at the base of a piece of fur on the back of the host animal. These eggs will be lightly attached and will fall off as soon as the host animal begins to scratch. The eggs will tend to fall into a high traffic area such as a sleeping area of the pet. 

Here they will wait until they can sense the heat and vibration of a host animal and then they will crack open and a larva will emerge. A larva is the worm stage of the flea. These flea larva will seek to find the flea dirt left behind by the adult flea. Essentially, when the adult flea defecates, the host animal will scratch and the flea dirt will fall off. This dirt will contain undigested blood particles that the flea larva can consume and find nutrients from.

Once the larva has completely developed, it will need to cocoon up into its pupa state. It will find dirt, fur and other things around that it can use to create a cocoon that it will need to develop into an adult. Once it’s in this cocoon stage, it will lie dormant until it has developed into  an adult flea. Then it will lie and wait inside the cocoon until it again senses the heat and vibration of a host animal. Once it does, it will break free of its cocoon, and come out as a fully grown adult flea. If you are having issues with fleas or any other pests, then it is time to call your Tulsa pest control company.

JUMPING FLEAS AND TULSA PEST CONTROL

At this point, the adult flea must find a way to get onto a host animal. The method that fleas use is jumping. They have the ability to jump off the 50 times their own height in order to land upon a host animal that’s walking by. The adult flea has a strong muscle down the lateral portion of its body. This muscle can tense up like a spring conserving energy until it’s time to jump. Then in one explosive movement, the muscle will push against the legs, pushing the insect high into the air. The two back legs are hinged together, in order to keep an equal amount of energy firing between both legs. This will allow the flea to jump accurately and with good aim.

Once the flea adult is landed upon a host, it will use its scissor like front legs to clamp down on the fur. This gives that the ability to tightly grasp the fur when the host animal begins to scratch. Once on the host animal, life begins to get much easier for the flea. The blood of the host animal will be the food source for this adult flea. It will use its syringe like mouth parts to draw blood out of the skin. in addition, you will find other fleas that it can mate with and pass on its genes. And during the winter months, the flea will survive using the heat of the host animal that it’s on. Contact your Tulsa pest control company for help with fleas.

CONTROLLING FLEAS AND TULSA PEST CONTROL

There are three arenas that you need to address when dealing with fleas on your pet. The first is getting the fleas off of your pet themselves. To do that you need to contact your veterinarian. They’ll have options that can take care of the fleas that are actually on your dog or cat. These control methods will kill some of the fleas, but also force the rest of them to jump from the host animal. This means that in many cases once you start a flea prevention program with your animal, you’ll end up with fleas in your home. Its at this time that you need to call your Tulsa pest control company to get fleas out of your home.

Your exterminator will use the process of treating your home in order to kill off all of the fleas. Once they treat the first time, you will notice that there are no fleas left. Pesticides are very effective at killing off larvae and adults. Unfortunately, they are not so effective when it comes to the egg and cocoon stage. These fleas are protected from pesticides by their hard outer layers. So after week or two, you will start to notice that you have a resurgence in your flea population. It’s because of this you’ll need to treat multiple times inside your home. If you have an excessive amount of fleas outside, your Tulsa pest control company will have options to do exterior treatment as well. Contact them for more information

GETTING HELP

If you are having any issues with fleas or any other insect, then it is time to call your Tulsa pest control company for help. Here at TermMax pest control, we are the best in the business when it comes to dealing with fleas or any other insects. We service a greater Tulsa area, including Broken Arrow, Sand Springs, Coweta, Prattville, Claremore, Catoosa, Sapulpa, Bixby, Jenks, Owasso, Turley, and so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!