Fleas Page Header

Fleas

  • Scientific Name: Ctenocephalides felis
  • Nicknames: None Available
  • Length: 1/8"
  • Color: Reddish Brown
  • Aggressive? Yes
  • Do They Bite? Yes
  • Poisonous/Venomous? No
  • Disease Carrying? Yes
  • Invasive Species? No

The Flea

Fleas have a laterally compressed body, a tough, smooth cuticle with many backward-projecting bristles, and relatively long legs. The mouth parts of fleas include stylets that are used to pierce the skin of the host animal, so that a blood meal can be obtained by sucking.

Fleas have a life cycle characterized by four developmental stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The eggs are usually laid close to the body of the host in a place where the host commonly occurs, for example, on the ground, in a bird or mammal nest, or in carpets or soft furniture in homes. Larval fleas have chewing mouth parts and feed on organic debris and the feces of adult fleas, while adults require meals of bird or mammal blood.

Fleas commonly spend a great deal of time off their hosts, for example, in vegetation or on the ground. They can generally survive for a long time without feeding, while waiting for a suitable opportunity to parasitize a host animal. Fleas are wingless, but they walk well and actively travel over the body of their hosts, and between hosts as well.

Fleas are well known for their jumping ability, with their hind legs providing the propulsive mechanism. As a defensive measure, a flea can propel itself many times its body length through the air.

Living Spaces

Animal Hosts, Dark Areas of Furniture and Bedding, Litter Boxes, Kennels, etc

Diet Choices

Blood

Fun Fact

Fleas were responsible for many disease outbreaks including Bubonic Plague

How Do We Remove Them?

One of the pest management experts at McMahon Exterminating will visit your home and provide a proper assessment and ID the bugs that are infesting your home or property to better understand the type of insects or pests that they are dealing with to properly coordinate a plan that will work best for you.

We help educate the customer on things that they might be able to do to help deter the pests as well, and will try to prevent this from becoming a reocurring infestation.

The treatment will begin and we will monitor the situtaion closely to make sure that the numbers are being depleted in the area. We will do an interior treatment on carpeting, bedding, furniture, floors, and basements along with frequent pet areas both inside and outside.

We want to try to deter the pests from coming to your area as opposed to just chemically treating them, as that will only be a short term solution for you but with McMahon's C.A.N. initiative and our three easy steps — Canvas the area, Act on those results, and Negate re-entry for the pest, we can work to getting your home to pest free status.