Flea Identification & Prevention

Fleas are a group of insects that fall into the category of external parasites because they feed on blood but do so outside the body. Fleas are athletic little creatures, and they can jump up to 200 times their own body length. This makes it easy for them to hop onto you, take a bite, and hop off without having to embed themselves like ticks do, although fleas do like to nest on their hosts under certain circumstances.

Fleas used to be incredibly dangerous to humans. Long ago, they were one of the primary vectors for the worst pandemic in human history: the bubonic plague. Plague is an easily curable disease nowadays, so it is incredibly rare to wind up with it, much less die of it. That being said, fleas are very dangerous to your pets because they can spread a variety of serious illnesses to dogs and cats. So it's especially important to avoid winding up with a flea infestation if you have pets.

It may surprise you to learn that you can wind up with fleas in your Athens home even if you do not have pets. Of course, pets, especially those that spend a lot of time outdoors or are not treated with flea prevention medicine, can bring a flea infestation onto your property.

However, another major source of flea problems is wildlife. If you have rodents, raccoons, or other warm-blooded animals infesting your property, these animals can introduce a breeding population of fleas into your yard or even into your house.

Unfortunately, getting rid of fleas is a lot more complicated than simply spreading some flea repellent around your property. Most flea control products you can buy at the store do not work either because they are too diluted to effectively eliminate fleas, or they are unable to reach every flea on your property. With the way fleas breed, if you don't get every individual, then you don't get rid of your problem. The good news is there's a better way.

Here at American Pest Control, our trained and certified technicians have access to a myriad of techniques and tools that are not available to non-professionals. This means we are able to do what store-bought flea products cannot – get rid of your whole infestation. So if you wind up with annoying fleas, don't waste your time with over-the-counter solutions. Just contact us for home pest control and commercial pest control services.

The best flea control for your house you can do on your own is flea prevention. This entails a number of steps, all of which are pretty easy. The best thing you can do to keep fleas away from your property is to keep wildlife away from your property. This means making your home less attractive to rodents and other animals and dealing with any wildlife infestations you may already have.

You will also want to ensure your pets are on a veterinary prophylactic for fleas and ticks. Taking these steps is the best way to keep fleas from establishing a breeding population on your property. And if it happens anyway, the experts here at American Pest Control are just a click or call away.