Golden Hills Pest Control
Fleas Control
Golden Hills Pest Control is the top choice for Sacramento County pest control & extermination. We have over 30 years experience, and have helped thousands of homeowners and businesses with Fleas extermination and other pest control.
Golden Hills Pest Control
Fleas Control Services in Sacramento
Fleas are truly devoted to their work. In one day, a single flea can bite your cat or dog more than 400 times. During that same day, the flea can consume more than its body weight of your pet’s blood. And before it’s through, a female flea can lay hundreds of eggs on your pet, ensuring that its work will be carried on by generations to come.
Earwigs are among the most readily recognized insect pests in home gardens. Although earwigs can devastate seedling vegetables or annual flowers and often seriously damage maturing soft fruit or corn silks, they also have a beneficial role in the landscape and have been shown to be important predators of aphids.
Although several species occur, the most common in California gardens is the European earwig, Forficula auricularia, which was accidentally introduced into North America from Europe in the early 1900s. The striped earwig, Labidura riparia, occurs in Southern California and can annoy residents when it is attracted to lights. It has a very disagreeable odor when crushed. However, the striped earwig doesn’t damage plants.
IDENTIFICATION
The Cat Flea is the most common flea found in the Sacramento area and contrary to their name are found on dogs and cats. An adult cat flea is no larger than 1/8 inch long, reddish-brown in color, and wingless. They have piercing-sucking mouthparts through which they obtain blood meals from their hosts – often you and/or your pets.
LIFE CYCLE
The adult cat flea remains on the host for feeding, mating, and egg laying. The female Cat Flea lays about 20 to 50 eggs a day. Cat flea eggs are pearly white, oval, very small about 1/32 inch long, and hatch in about 2-5 days. Since the eggs are smooth they easily fall from your pet and land on surfaces such as bedding, carpet, and places around your home or your pet’s environment that they frequent. Flea larvae are no larger than 3/16 inch long, hairy, and wormlike. Flea larvae develop more quickly at higher temperatures and at cooler temperatures, adult fleas can remain in their cocoons for up to a year.
At room temperatures, the flea life cycle can occur in about 18 days. An adult cat flea lives about 30 to 40 days on the host. You can find fleas on pets throughout the year, but numbers tend to increase dramatically during spring and early summer when conditions favor larval development.
ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS
Fleas can cause discomfort, pain, and transmit disease in people and animals. Fleabites consist of a small, central, red spot surrounded by a red halo. Some people and pets suffer from flea allergy, often associated with intense itching, hair loss, reddening of the skin, and secondary infection. Just one bite can initiate an allergic reaction.
Cat fleas serve as intermediary hosts of dog and cat tapeworms. Cats or dogs can acquire this intestinal parasite while grooming themselves if they ingest adult fleas that contain a cyst of the tapeworm. Children occasionally can acquire these tapeworms too and children and adults can contract a form of Typhus disease from the cat flea.
MANAGEMENT
Control of fleas on pets must occur in conjunction with regular cleaning of pet resting areas inside and out of your home. Once fleas infest a home, control will require a vigilant program that includes vacuuming, eliminating fleas on pets, and cleaning up and possibly treating outdoor areas frequented by your pet.
There are many effective and convenient flea prevention products meant to be used on your pet. These products are more effective than flea collars, shampoos, and sprays. A few drops of the spot-on formula applied to the animal’s shoulder blades move through the animal’s coat or are absorbed into the animal’s skin, providing whole-body treatment. Pet owners can often find these products readily available at a local vet office or pet store.
Controlling cat fleas in buildings requires an integrated pest management approach. An inspection to determine areas where larval development occurs is the first step. Flea populations are highest in places where dogs or cats regularly sleep. You usually won’t find flea larvae in heavily trafficked areas of your home or locations exposed to lots of sunlight.
Regularly cleaning areas where you find adult fleas at any stage is very important. Vacuum floors, rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, and crevices around baseboards and cabinets daily or every other day to remove flea eggs, larvae, and adults. Vacuuming is very effective in killing larvae in the carpet, picking up adults, and allowing the emergence of adult fleas from their cocoons. Wash you pet’s bedding and if your pet sleeps on your bed, in hot, soapy water at least once a week. Thoroughly clean items you bring into the building, such as used carpets or upholstered furniture, to prevent introducing fleas into your environment from these sources.
Golden Hills Pest Control
Monday - Friday 8AM – 4PM
East Sacramento, Rocklin, Rancho Cordova, Orangevale, Lincoln, Citrus Heights, Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove, Folsom, West Sacramento, Fair Oaks, Carmichael.
Monday - Friday 8AM – 4PM
