How to Identify Fleas and Ticks

If you keep a pet at home, you may be concerned about how to identify fleas and ticks. These insects can bother both humans and animals, making it essential that you prevent fleas and ticks from living and breeding in your home. Remember, a veterinarian is your best resource for treating pets bothered by fleas and ticks, but HomeTeam Pest Defense’s pest management services are useful for treating your home so you and your pet can remain free from fleas and ticks.

Here’s a look at how to identify fleas and ticks that have welcomed themselves into your home.

Identifying Fleas

Fleas are small, wingless bloodsuckers that are very difficult to see with the naked eye. Looking at them straight on, they appear very skinny. Even from the side, fleas are no more than 1/16 of an inch long. To get around, fleas jump. Adults feed only on warm-blooded hosts. They deliver bites that can cause itchy irritation and play host to transport tapeworm. Fleas go through a metamorphosis from egg to larvae to pupae to adults. It’s important to understand the different stages of their lifecycle in order to treat a home effectively.

Identifying Ticks

When you understand how to identify fleas and ticks, you quickly learn that ticks are quite different from fleas, though they are just as unpleasant to have in your home. Adult ticks have eight legs and look almost like spiders when they aren’t engorged with blood. Once they latch onto a person or animal and begin to draw blood, they can grow to between ¼ and ½ inch long, making ticks very noticeable when they are fully engorged. Ticks are most often seen when they are feeding on their host, unlike their flea counterparts that like to actively jump around. When moving, ticks crawl.

Now that you understand how to identify fleas and ticks, it’s time to get rid of them. You can try different do-it-yourself products or you can call a pest exterminator to inspect and treat your home and your yard. Different methods of pest control for the home are required to get rid of either ticks or fleas. Sometimes it seems that flea treatments fail when, in fact, it may take 3-5 weeks for the treatment to be effective because of the different life stages of the flea. At HomeTeam Pest Defense, we know just what is needed to restore your home to a tick- and flea-free zone.

To learn more about how to identify fleas and ticks, please contact HomeTeam Pest Defense by calling 855-855-4873, or visit our website for additional information about our pest management services. We also invite you to join us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn for additional tips regarding pest control for the home.