The Problem With Fleas In Your Oklahoma City Home

If you've never had a flea infestation, it can feel overwhelming. Fleas can be formidable foes. Today, we're going to take a look at why fleas are so tough to control and offer up some tips that can work to naturally prevent flea problems.

Five Things You May Not Know About Controlling Fleas

• Many products used to eliminate fleas don't eliminate their eggs. Long after a flea treatment, eggs can hatch and you can start to see fleas again.

• Spray products often fall short of eliminating fleas because they are topical, they don't get deep enough to kill larvae, pupae, or adult fleas hiding in furniture, rugs, and bedding.

• Home remedies often fall short because they dry out and become inert. While they can work to kill fleas when they're applied directly to a group of fleas, they do nothing to address newly hatching larvae or emerging pupae.

• You can get a flea infestation even if you don't have a pet. Rodents can bring fleas into your home.

• If you give your pet a bath, it won't do anything to address the flea larvae or pupae that are hidden in your home.

Do you see the problem? There is a lot of misinformation regarding the control of fleas. If you follow advice found on self-help websites or in video tutorials, it can leave you tired, frustrated, and defeated.

We've seen, and heard, horror stories of flea infestations that have gone on for weeks. Stories of residents spraying their entire homes with vinegar and water solution, sprinkling bedroom floors with diatomaceous earth, and putting plates of soapy water on the floor with desk lamps hovering over them to draw fleas to the heat and kill them with the solution. None of these things work to arrest a flea infestation.

How To Get Control Of A Flea Infestation

When fleas hatch from their eggs, they don't hop around. Flea larvae are little worms that don't bite you. They derive their food from flea dirt (which is the feces of adult fleas). If you see tiny fleas hopping around in your home, those are adults. Some flea species are just really small. If you have success with killing the hopping fleas, it doesn't mean you've arrested your flea infestation. You need to consider the fleas that will hatch from their eggs and the pupae that will emerge from their cocoons. The products used to arrest a flea infestation should be residual. We recommend having a licensed pest control technician select the right product.

Before You Get Fleas

If you don't have a flea infestation yet, there are many things you can do to prevent one. Here are our top suggestions:

• Make sure you get collars for your pets if they go in and out of your home.

• Check your pets regularly with a flea comb to catch flea dirt or adult fleas early.

• Limit wildlife activity in your yard. Furry animals bring fleas into yards and near to the exterior of homes. Apply fencing to keep animals from finding harborage under structures, secure your trash bins so they can't be knocked over, move bird feeders away from your exterior, prevent access to other general food sources.

• Limit rodent access to your home. Make sure your exterior doors and windows have good seals. Address wood rot. Use a caulking gun to seal gaps, cracks, and crevices in your exterior. Make sure your vents have covers. Put wire mesh in downspouts so rodents can't climb up to your roof. Trim tree branches away from your roofline.

• Reduce moisture near your foundation. Fleas need moisture in order to develop from larvae to adult fleas. Cleaning out gutters and repairing gutter issues can go a long way toward reducing and controlling flea populations. It is also helpful to blow leaves out of your landscaping, and out from underneath exterior structures.

• Remove objects from near your exterior, especially wood piles. These are hiding places for rodents and flea development is more likely in areas where animals create nests or bed down.

• Investing in a residential pest control program can give the perimeter around your foundation added protection to stop flea development. This is extremely helpful if you have trouble spots that are hard to address.

• Flea Management In Oklahoma City

If you need help reducing fleas around your exterior so that your pets are far less likely to bring them inside, or you have a flea infestation in your Oklahoma City home, remember that the team at Guaranteed Pest Service of Oklahoma is standing by to assist you. Connect with us today and let our friendly and knowledgeable service professionals help you find the right service options for your home, your family, and your pets.