What are fleas & ticks?
Fleas and ticks are not related to each other. Fleas are insects and ticks are arachnids, but they often get lumped together because they are both external parasites. This means they feed on blood, and they do it by biting your skin rather than invading your body. Athletic fleas are able to jump onto you for a quick bite and jump off. More cumbersome ticks have to embed themselves in your skin, where they will feed for up to several days. Reach out to us today for pest control in Round Rock and surrounding areas.
Are fleas & ticks
dangerous?
Fleas are much less dangerous than they used to be. The deadly disease they used to spread, bubonic plague, is now rare and easily curable. Although flea allergies and certain flea-borne diseases are more common in pets, fleas are generally not considered dangerous to people.
Ticks, on the other hand, are still very dangerous. They spread debilitating infections such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. While you generally don’t have a lot to worry about if you get bitten by fleas, tick bites are much more concerning.
Why do I have a flea & tick problem?
You typically get a flea or tick problem when these external parasites hitch a ride onto your property through one of several avenues. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you might bring them home yourself. If you have outdoor pets, these can also bring home fleas and ticks unless they are treated with a veterinary prophylactic.
However, even if you don’t have pets and are not really outdoorsy, you are still not out of the woods because one of the biggest vectors for flea and tick infestations is wildlife. If you have rodents or other wild animals regularly visiting your property, they can introduce breeding populations of fleas and ticks.
Where will I find fleas & ticks?
Fleas will nest just about anywhere that offers adequate shelter. They love to set up shop in the fur of untreated pets. If they’re feeding on humans, they will likely not live on our bodies because we don’t have enough hair. Rather, they will live in our beds, furniture, carpets, and outdoor spaces like bushes and grass. Anywhere they can get easy access to us is good enough for fleas.
Ticks, meanwhile, like to live in places where they are easily able to drop onto hosts from above or climb up from below. This means you will often find them living in long grass, shrubs, and trees that overhang high-traffic areas. Ticks are not at all athletic, so they have to be strategic about how they access their hosts.
How do I get rid of fleas & ticks?
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get rid of ticks and fleas if you already have a breeding population of these animals on your property. Foggers and dusts that you can buy at the store are typically not effective for these excellent hiders and fast breeders. This is why you will need professional help to get ticks and fleas off of your Round Rock property.
Here at EvoFoam Pest Control, our home pest control and commercial pest control solutions are much more effective than anything you can purchase at the store. Not only that, but our technicians undergo extensive training so that they can be well versed in all of the sneaky strategies fleas and ticks use to keep you from evicting them. This training allows us to effectively wield our control products to eliminate entire infestations instead of just temporarily reducing flea and tick numbers.
How can I prevent fleas & ticks in the future?
There are three main things you will need to do to protect yourself from a flea or tick infestation on your property:
- Protect yourself outdoors by wearing insect repellent and proper clothing.
- Treat all your warm-blooded pets with appropriate parasite-preventative medicine.
- Exclude wildlife, including rodents and birds, from your property.
Taking these three measures can go a long way toward helping you avoid having to deal with a flea or tick infestation. But if you wind up with one anyway, don’t hesitate to contact us here at EvoFoam Pest Control.
