Pest Control in Nottingham and Derbyshire.
Home - Bedbugs - Cockroaches - Fleas - Moles - Mice - Pigeons - Rats Squirrels - Wasps - Fire Gel - Areas Covered - Contact us
How to get rid of fleas - flea control - flea symptoms - flea treatment - flea bites
Call Abm for professional cat flea treatment
Fleas
Ctenocephalides felis
Common name: Cat Flea
Length: 2 mm
Colour & description: Adults are small, brown insects and are wingless. They are laterally compressed and they have stout, spiny legs, adapted for leaping. Have piercing-sucking mouthparts developed for feeding on blood.
Habits & habitat: Are parasitic as adults and are found on dogs, cats, rats, foxes etc. Eggs are laid on the body but are often detached. Larvae are usually found on floor or bedding of the host and often feed off the faeces of adult fleas. The adult can remain in the cocoon for long periods until vibrations indicating the presence of a possible host stimulate it to emerge and become active.
Life cycle: 5 weeks – 1 year dependant on conditions
Reproduction rate: Female fleas lay 4 to 8 eggs after each blood meal and may lay several hundred eggs in their lifetime. These may hatch in 2 – 3 days and given an adequate supply of food, larvae should pupate and weave a silken cocoon within 3 - 4 weeks, after completing 3 larval stages. Under favourable conditions, the adult emerges in a week or two, but under adverse conditions, the pupal period may be prolonged to as much as a year.
The most common flea is the cat flea, a parasite that feeds by piercing skin and sucking blood. These bites' may cause intense itching and distress. The source of the fleas must be identified and if a pet is responsible, it must be treated with a suitable veterinary product. The area where the host sleeps should be either removed completely by placing in a polythene bag so as not to drop any eggs or allow any fleas to jump off then sealed, or the bedding washed with a hot wash, which will destroy any eggs attached inside the folds. Simply a regular vacuum will pick up fleas and eggs, but remember to empty the contents of the vacuum again into a suitable bag and seal, any fleas left inside such a device will find a way back out. infested areas should then be treated with a residual insecticide, using a barrier spray application and crack/crevice treatment.