How Flea Infestations In Missouri City Start And How To Make Them Stop

Fleas are a serious concern for Missouri City residents. They are attracted to wildlife as well as household pets, which is why it will come as no surprise that these animals are also fleas’ main food source. However, there are other, sneakier ways that fleas can enter your home. Because they reproduce rapidly, the best solution to dealing with fleas is professional pest control in Missouri City from Modern Pest Control. We are a locally owned business that is also QualityPro-certified, so all of our flea treatments are in line with the industry’s most rigorous standards. The following article will help you better understand how to identify a flea infestation, the ways that they start, and how you can prevent them going forward.

How To Identify A Flea Infestation

Fleas are notoriously difficult to spot in homes due to their size and location. There are, however, ways that people can identify these sorts of pest populations with a few quick tips:

Adult fleas: While adult fleas are very hard to spot and generally require the use of a magnifier to see, their presence most likely means that there is a full-blown flea outbreak present. In addition to being very small, fleas are appleseed-shaped and have several sets of legs. Before a flea has had a blood meal, they are a translucent amber color; however, after they’ve eaten, fleas become a darker shade of reddish-brown and grow engorged.
Egg sacs: Flea eggs are even smaller than fleas themselves, so many people will have a challenge identifying them. That said, the eggs themselves are white and look like a grain of salt. Oftentimes they are clustered together in sacs around a pet’s bedding or an area rug.
Flea dirt: This unique material is a combination of blood and fecal matter, which together produce a black-colored substance. People may find it on their pet’s skin, but they may also encounter flea dirt on kitchen floors and other surfaces. One way to identify flea dirt is by performing the white sock test, which is very simple and entails wiping down an area with the sock and seeing if any blood smears appear. You can also walk around your home with white socks on to see if any fleas appear on the socks.
Bites: Though fleas don’t prefer people, they will still bite them. If you notice an accumulation of bites around your feet and ankles, then you might be living in an infested home.
Odd behavior from pets: Because household cats and dogs are two key targets for fleas, any changes in their behavior might point toward a flea problem. If they are scratching incessantly or are losing hair, then this might be in response to flea bites. When you look close enough, you might even be able to spot fleas on your pet’s skin. Additionally, if pets are acting extra lethargic, then they might be suffering from anemia. They may also be dealing with bartonellosis, tapeworms, or other health issues that are a direct result of being fed on by fleas.

For more information on flea identification, consider professional services from Modern Pest Control. We are the area’s pest experts and have been since 1952. Each of our technicians has undergone extensive training and knows how to properly identify a flea population. During our home inspections, we check high and low to find all of the sneaky spots where fleas might be. We use Integrated Pest Management methods in order to deliver the most comprehensive inspection possible and tailor the treatments that we then provide. Flea problems don’t have to be such a challenge, and with our help, they won’t be. Call us today for more information!

There Are Many Ways Fleas Can Infest Your Home

Fleas in Missouri City are very small parasitic pests that are capable of entering your home and wreaking havoc on the well-being of your family and pets. Here are just a few of the ways that fleas can get inside your home:

Wildlife: One of the most common ways that fleas spread from property to property is by way of wildlife animals. Some of the main culprits are birds, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, rodents, and more. Fleas attach themselves to wildlife and get around by way of hitchhiking. They also use these animals as their main food source until they find something more enticing. If any of these pests were to get inside your home, such as rodents, then you might find fleas within your walls too. Because fleas maneuver with the help of wild animals, they are able to spread far and wide with free roam so there’s little that you can do to contain them.
Household pets: Another very typical way that fleas infest your home is affixed to your cats and dogs. If you let your pets out in the backyard, then they might come into contact with wildlife animals that are carrying fleas or the fleas that wildlife have spread around your yard. Additionally, taking your dogs to the dog park can potentially put them into contact with fleas or any time they come across stray animals.
Personal belongings: Sometimes you may be in a flea-infested facility and not even know it. It’s possible to visit a friend’s house who unknowingly has fleas and then you bring this problem right into your home. It’s extremely important to check your clothes and bags before returning home just in case you’ve picked up any visitors along the way.
Infested furniture: If you’ve ever considered redecorating with a secondhand couch, be cautious. It’s important to gain as much information about its previous whereabouts as possible and always check for signs of flea dirt and egg sacs if you can.
Structural flaws: If fleas are actually able to get inside, it might be because they’ve taken advantage of any cracks or crevices that you have around your home. They may enter through gaps around doors, windows that don’t close all the way, or garage doors that simply get left open. If there are fleas on your property to start, it won’t take long for them to end up inside your home as well.

If you’re looking for a reliable way to combat the fleas that become an issue, look no further than Modern Pest Control. We are a QualityPro-certified company that is dedicated to your safety. Each of our technicians is background checked and is trained specifically to deal with fleas. To learn more about flea control in Missouri City, call us today.

The Best Way To Completely Get Rid Of A Flea Infestation

Fleas are known to reproduce very quickly. They can lay between 40 and 50 eggs a day after they’ve had a blood meal, and they can even start laying eggs when they are only 48 hours old. This set of factors means that flea infestations can grow out of control very quickly. And as long as fleas have access to their food sources, they are likely to just keep feeding. Family pets serve as such ideal hosts for them because fleas can feed undetected. Fleas are capable of feeding for two uninterrupted hours and can consume 15 times their body weight in blood per feeding. This gives them the nourishment required in order to lay their eggs. And given the often warm and moist environment that Missouri City produces, fleas have almost all of the conditions that they need to thrive. Fleas are also particularly sneaky about where they hide their egg sacs so that people can’t identify them.

This combination of factors is why the most reliable way to completely eliminate a flea outbreak is with professional assistance from Modern Pest Control. We have been a locally owned company since 1952 and we have been committed to the well-being of our community since that day. Though we’ve been around for a while, we have never stopped innovating in order to provide our customers with the best service possible. Our services are strategic and proven so that we can increase the quality of life for each of our customers. As a QualityPro-certified company, we make sure that all of our technicians have undergone extensive background checks and training in order to uphold the industry’s rigorous standards for quality. We put all of this to the test when treating a property for a flea infestation.

Each of our residential pest control programs includes coverage for fleas in the yard because we know how common an issue they are. Each of these programs operates on a quarterly basis so that we can eliminate active flea problems while simultaneously working to keep future ones from appearing. We utilize detailed property inspections in order to locate flea populations and understand what’s responsible for attracting them and what’s keeping them on a property. From there, we use a selection of targeted treatments to get rid of fleas. Because we want to provide long-term protection, we also provide homeowners education and tools for how they can work to reduce flea attraction between our visits.

As always, these plans come with our service guarantee. What this means is that if fleas appear between regularly scheduled visits, we will perform re-treatments at no additional cost. The services that we provide are designed to deliver complete peace of mind and nothing less is acceptable. To learn more about complete flea elimination, please call us today.

Tips To Prevent Fleas From Coming Back

Fleas are a potential health risk to both people and their pets. Prolonged feedings on cats and dogs can lead to anemia as well as murine typhus. People may also contract murine typhus or be left with itchy bites that they scratch until a skin infection develops. Here are a few vital tips geared toward the prevention of new flea problems:

Take care of pets. Homeowners who have cats and dogs may want to seek professional advice from a vet on year-round flea control. It’s also important to perform a thorough check of pets after they’ve been outdoors or have come into contact with unknown animals. Additionally, people ought to bathe and brush their pets routinely and check for fleas while doing so.
Keep wildlife away. Because wildlife animals are some of the most common hosts for fleas and other parasitic pests, deterring them is vital in preventing the spread of fleas. This can be achieved by fixing outdoor water leaks, keeping trash bins stored in a tidy fashion, and using motion sensor sprinklers.
Inspect everything. It’s also possible for people to bring fleas into their homes via secondhand furniture. Before doing so, try to gain as much information about its previous whereabouts as possible and look for signs of flea activity with a white sock test.
Keep the house clean. In order to reduce the spread of any possible fleas, homeowners will want to vacuum and clean their homes routinely. This means paying special attention to carpet and upholstered furniture as well as washing pet beds and bed linens regularly.
Protect yourself. While people are less likely to attract and spread fleas, they may still find people appealing. That said, people can apply a topical such as DEET or even thyme oil with a carrier substance to try to deter them. When spending time in areas of tall grass, always check personal belongings before heading home as well.
Be mindful of lights. Fleas are lured by nightlights, so try to shut as many porch lights off before going to bed as possible.
Seek professional help. Fleas are a tricky pest to deal with, which is why the most reliable way to eliminate an infestation and prevent a new one is with treatments from a pest control expert. Professional pest control providers will be able to identify problems where the average person cannot and they also have access to the highest quality products and equipment available.

Keeping fleas under control can be tricky, but with trusted home pest control in Missouri City from Modern Pest Control, that doesn’t have to be the case. We staff the most reliable technicians and follow rigorous safety protocols in order to ensure that we deliver tangible flea-free results to all of our customers. To learn more about living without fleas, call us today.