Fleas have been bugging humans and animals for millions of years. Fleas crawl, jump, and bite their victims. Once bitten, either human or pet, will experience extreme itching. The itching will often lead to sores, open wounds, and secondary infections.
Indoors, these tiny bloodsucking pests live on pets, in carpets and in furniture. Like bed bugs, fleas are hitchhikers. Unlike bed bugs, which dine on their victims and scurry off to digest their blood meal, a flea tends to hang on to their blood host for a period of time. Because a flea hops from host to host feeding on a variety of different warm blooded mammals, humans and pets are susceptible to flea borne diseases. Case in point…image being bitten by a flea that has fed off of a rat. If that rat has a disease, the flea could spread the same disease to you!
The most common flea infestation is caused by the cat flea. Not picky about whom it feeds upon, cat fleas, which incidentally are not picky about whom they nibble on, are capable of jumping 14 to 16 inches to reach their intended victim. Female fleas are capable of laying 50 eggs each day after she has a blood meal so it’s easy to see how a flea infestation can quickly get out-of-control.
New Jersey pest control experts recommend that residents take preventative measures to keep fleas out of their homes by having a Home Pest Protection service plan by a licensed pest control technician.
