Fighting fleas

Fleas cause you and your pets a lot of irritation. The bites itch and before you know it you find fleas all over the house. In the Netherlands, you often only find fleas on cats. Dog and human fleas are practically non-existent. Yet it happens that these creatures also settle on dogs or even humans. Are you looking for ways to combat fleas and wondering how much it costs? You can read all about it in this article.

What does fighting fleas cost?

You pay an average of £80 per hour for professional flea control. The control takes an average of half a day. The cost of treating your dog or cat is much lower. However, you only pay for the product and not for the control in your home. The overview below shows the average pest control costs. £ 15

Flea control house£ 80 per hour

How does a flea infestation occur?

Fleas are found in nature, where they live near mammals and birds. The pest likes a warm and moist environment, making animal skin the ideal place to live. Moreover, they feed on blood, which means they always have food nearby on an animal skin.

Flea proliferation

After a flea settles on your pet, it is likely to multiply quickly. In your home, the pests look for warm places and find this, for example, in your carpet. The eggs they lay hatch quickly, but contain only larvae that cannot bite. After a few weeks, the larvae transform into cocoons that later develop into adult fleas.

As the flea becomes an adult, it will look for a host, such as your dog or cat. So it turns out that there are already many more fleas in your home, than you see on your pet. So by only treating your pet, you have a good chance that the animals will re-establish themselves on your dog or cat at a later time.

Species of flea control

A flea infestation can be controlled with different remedies. It is always important to use a flea collar and flea medication on your pets, but often a pest control specialist is the best choice. Read more about the different types of flea control here.

Flea remedy

A flea remedy kills the fleas that are on your pet’s skin. The active ingredient kills fleas, larvae as well as flea eggs and ensures that you won’t be bothered by them for up to 4 weeks. However, it does not kill the fleas in the environment, so there is a chance that your pet will suffer from fleas again after 4 weeks.

Flea control at home

Before fleas settle on your pet, they are often first in warm and protected places in your home. Especially eggs and larvae are in pillows, mattresses and the carpet before settling on your pet. They may also have nested on the pet from the grass. Therefore, when an infestation occurs, it is wise to make your home flea-free. The pest control specialist will use an insecticide to kill the fleas. Using a high-pressure sprayer, he makes sure he does not miss a nook and cranny. Afterwards, you should not enter the house for 2 hours. After this, you have a good chance of having fought off all fleas.

How to recognise fleas in your home?

Before you are sure you want to call in a pest control specialist for flea control, it is important to know whether you are actually dealing with a flea infestation in your home. Check out how to recognise fleas below.

Fleas in the fur

If you look closely at your pet’s fur, it is possible to recognise fleas. You can recognise a flea by its yellow-white body, which is about 2 millimetres in size. By using a flea comb, it is even easier to check if your pet is suffering from these pests.

Bites of fleas

A bite of a flea can be recognised by a red spot with a white dot in the middle. Often you will also see several bumps next to each other, as fleas first make several test bites, to test the blood. A scab also forms on the skin after the bite, if your pet itches a lot.

Fleas in the house

Fleas leave droppings everywhere in your home. You can recognise these by the black dots on your sheet or dog/cat basket. Do keep an eye on whether these are not bedbugs. Although the cost of controlling bedbugs is the same, a different method is used here. The bites of bedbugs can be recognised by the red spot without a white dot, which makes it easy to see which pest it is.

Tips for flea control

After you have read all about flea control, it is wise to call in a specialist. Check out some tips first, to fight fleas even more effectively.

Clean the right way

Flea control is even more effective if you clean the right way. After the professional has visited, it is wise to vacuum a lot, in order to clean up the fleas, larvae and eggs. Do immediately put the hoover bag in a plastic bag and clean the vacuum thoroughly. In case of a flea infestation, mopping is unwise. The animals love humidity, so they multiply extra fast.

Look out for labels

Flea control requires expertise. If it is not carried out in the right way, there is a chance that the animals will come back again. Therefore, always make sure that the specialist has a seal of approval. The NVPB quality mark and KPMB quality mark guarantee specialised pest control specialists.

Let the professional specialist carry out multiple jobs

Do you suffer from other pests besides fleas? Then it is wise to have these controlled immediately as well. For example, get woodworm control or choose to look into mouse control. The specialist will be there anyway, so he will charge less. This way, you will also be rid of all pests in and around your house in one go.