Flea Infestations in your Gold Coast and Tweed home 19 Feb 2015

The Flea is an unwanted pest that is wingless, oval shaped parasite around 2-8mm long. It ranges from light to deep brown in colour with a very small head in comparison to its body. It has 6 legs in total with large hind legs that enable it to jump very long distances.

Fleas are found worldwide and use a wide range of hosts so therefore diseases can be transferred from one host to another. They feed off the blood of humans and animals such as dogs and cats. A Flea bite is intensely itchy and can transmit disease like tapeworm larvae.

The three main species of the Flea are the 'Cat Flea', 'Dog Flea' and the 'Human Flea' with the Cat and Dog Flea being the most common types in Australia.

Adult fleas can survive for months without food. Female fleas lay eggs after feeding. The eggs are light coloured and oval shaped. The larvae cocoon themselves within weeks of hatching. Vibrations, such as footsteps then encourage the fleas to emerge from their cocoons.

Dogs and cats are commonly infested with fleas. Animals suffering from this should be treated by your veterinarian with a range of appropriate flea-killing products. Clean your pets bedding and its surrounds thoroughly. Vacuum the carpets and throw away the vacuum cleaner bag since it will contain fleas and eggs.

You will find that persistent infestations will need to be treated by a qualified pest control operator such as Pestrid Pest Control.

Pestrid Pest Control will determine the type, source and extent of the infestation and then use their registered insecticides to exterminate and control the fleas.