Fleas

Fleas in the home can be an irritating and annoying problem, normally associated with having pets.

There are approximately 70–80 species of flea in Australia, the most common being the cat and the dog fleas. The small black flea, often called a ‘ground’ or ‘sand’ flea is in fact a newly emerged, unfed cat or dog flea. Most of the life cycle of the flea occurs off the pet – for every 5 fleas found on your cat or dog, there may be 95 in the carpet! Fleas can remain dormant for several months waiting for vibrations to stir them into action. Emerging adults are small and black until they feed. All fleas are blood-sucking parasites and they need a living host in order to survive, but can remain alive for 3–4 months without a blood feed. They have very powerful hind legs that have a rubber-like resin in the joints, and are capable of jumping incredible distances.

If you have pets and think you have a flea problem, call Pesterminate on 0418 390 360 for effective remedial treatment.