Flea Control & Extermination Services in Massachusetts & New Hampshire

If you have a pet, you’ve probably had some experience with fleas. But, you don’t have to have a pet to have fleas in your home. You may have had a visitor who brought in a pet with fleas, leaving flea eggs behind. Or, you may have a raccoon, squirrel, opossum, feral cat, or other animal nesting in your home in the attic, chimney, or crawlspace, or under a deck. These animals can have fleas which may move into your living space, especially after the animal has vacated its nest. These wild animals can also reinfest your pet with fleas if your pet goes outside or visits the areas where the animal nests. And there’s always the case where someone moves into a house or apartment where the previous tenant had fleas. Although the premises have been treated and cleaned, hidden flea eggs have since hatched and are ready to begin the cycle again with a new tenant and a new pet!

The most common flea in homes is the cat flea which is sort of a misnomer since this flea feeds happily on both cats and dogs. Adult cat fleas spend almost all of their time on the animal. As long as there is an animal to feed on, they rarely bite people. People get bitten if the flea population becomes too large or if the host animal is missing: a pet is boarded or the raccoon has raised her babies and left your attic. Pest control companies frequently get calls from people who have just returned from an extended vacation. While the house was empty, flea larvae continued to feed and develop, and then pupated. When there was no warm body nearby to feed on, fleas remained waiting in the pupal stage for weeks. When the family returned home, they were attacked by a horde of hungry fleas!

The adult female flea lays up to 25 eggs a day while on the animal. The eggs fall off of the animal and end up primarily in places where your pet rests, or in places where your pet travels. That means you can have flea eggs just about anywhere in your home. When the eggs hatch, the whitish, legless larvae begin feeding mostly on the excrement of adult fleas which contains dried blood. If you look closely at areas where your pet sleeps, you may see the excrement which looks like black pepper flakes, along with small white specks which are the flea eggs and shed skins.

Fleas are a source of irritation to those being bitten. Some pets can develop an allergy to flea bites, causing severe itching, loss of hair, even weight loss. People can also have allergic reactions to flea bites, resulting in hives or rashes.

Vacuuming alone won’t get rid of a flea problem in your home, but it can help. Flea larvae tend to burrow down into carpets and aren’t easy to remove, but vacuuming can pick up flea eggs and adult flea feces which is the main food for the larvae. Vacuuming before flea treatment is a good idea because it helps to fluff up carpet fibers so that the technician’s treatment can penetrate the carpet.

Pet owners either treat their pets for fleas themselves, or they have a veterinarian treat the pet. However, just treating the pet won’t eliminate the flea problem because flea eggs and larvae do not live on the animal and don’t suck its blood. For effective control, you have to supplement your pet’s treatment with a thorough treatment of your home to kill flea eggs and larvae.

Colonial Pest Control offers a comprehensive flea management program that uses an innovative insect growth regulator along with a long-lasting insecticide to treat your home. The growth regulator breaks the fleas’ life cycle by keeping fleas from reproducing, eggs from hatching, and immature fleas from developing into adults. Our flea experts will use this dual product approach to treat all floor areas of your home, as well as the underside of furniture. We don’t overlook basements and crawlspaces, either. Our thorough inspection will locate the flea hotspots in and around your home. In some cases, an exterior flea treatment may be necessary, especially if your flea problem is due to other animals visiting your home or yard, or if you have an outside kennel.

Please call today for a FREE ESTIMATE for Flea Control at 1-800-525-8084 or make the request online at - REQUEST A QUOTE

Colonial Pest Control Flea Preparation Sheet