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Bomb
Fleas with Rx for Fleas
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"The
Environmental Flea Control Company"
Metro Atlanta Service Location
404.844.0126
Flea Identification
There
are over 2,000
described species of fleas in the world. The most common domestic
flea is the cat
flea (Ctenocephalides felis felis). The dog
flea (Ctenocephalides canis)
appears similar to the cat flea, but is rare in
the United States. Not that it
matters, but the vast majority of fleas found infesting dogs are
actually cat fleas. The sticktight
flea (Echidnophaga gallinacea) can become a
problem if pets frequent areas associated
with poultry.
Eggs are oval, and smooth.
They are tiny (0.5mm), but visible to
the naked eye. Their white color may
prevent them from being seen on lightly-colored
fabric.
Small wormlike larvae
(1.5-5 mm in length) hatch from the eggs. They
are also visible to the naked eye. They are
eyeless, legless and sparsely covered with
hairs. The larval body is translucent
white with a dark-colored gut that can be
seen through the skin.
These immature fleas will
eventually spin silken, watertight cocoons in which they will
develop (pupate)
into adult fleas.
Cocoons are sticky, attracting dirt and
debris. This camouflage
may prevent
them from being seen.
Adults are about 1-3 mm in
length, reddish-brown to black, wingless,
and laterally compressed. Their
powerful hindlegs are well adapted for jumping
and running through hair and feathers.
Detection
and Monitoring
Detection is as simple as
seeing fleas on your pet, noticing your pet scratching, or flea
bites around your
ankles. Perhaps there are small black pieces of
dirt covering your pet’s bedding, or
perhaps you’ve noticed tapeworm segments near or
on your pet. The black dirt is the
adult flea feces left behind to serve as
food for larvae, and tapeworms are acquired by
the animal’s ingestion of fleas. Another tale
tail sign is the appearance of
pearly-white eggs on flat surfaces occupied by the
pet. Eggs become particularly
apparent when contrasted on dark-colored surfaces.
Soft, liquid-
filled flea eggs can be
easily distinguished from sand grains by simply
pressing them.
Monitoring
is more
difficult than simple detection. Fleas reproduce
rapidly (one female can produce up to
one egg per hour throughout her 4-week adult
life), so if you spot one flea there
are probably more. Shuffling around your home
in white socks looking for fleas
jumping onto the socks can help monitor hot
spots for flea infestations, though not
turning up any fleas after doing so doesn't
mean much. Odds are, if you indoor
animal has a number of fleas, then your home
most likely has
a hidden flea problem that
has started to grow.
A recent phenomenon with
flea infestations is the scratching dog or cat that otherwise shows no
sign of being infested with fleas. The pet is treated with
monthly topical flea control products purchased from veterinarians, but
continues to be bothered by fleas. What is often happening in
these situations is that adult fleas are developing in the carpets or
area rugs of the home and then collected by the dog or cat before being
killed by the monthly flea treatment applied to the animal.
Enough of these adult fleas are able to produce more flea eggs before
death to sustain the flea infestation. The end result is that
each adult flea replaces itself, their offspring then replace
themselves, all the while remaining invisible to the pet owner because
the flea treatment applied to the animal continues to kill each adult
flea. The pet owner's treat and treat their yards assuming the
flea infestation is outdoors, when in reality the majority of the
problem is indoors.
Professional Flea Control Treatments
Available in
Metro Atlanta |
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Flea
Control 
