Gearing up for flea season can mean protecting your pets with flea medication and watching where you walk with your dog, but how do you protect your home from fleas? Can humans get fleas? How long do fleas live?

Here’s what Tucson homeowners should know about why you may have fleas, whether they’re dangerous, how to get rid of fleas, and the best way to protect your Tucson home from fleas with pest control in Tucson.

Why Do I Have Fleas?

Discovering you have a flea infestation is never fun, and for most homeowners, the first question they have is why is it there? There are a couple of possible causes of a flea infestation, but the most common is through a pet.

If you have a dog or a cat that spends a lot of time outdoors, fleas may hitch a ride on your pet, bite them, and start laying eggs directly in their fur. Even if you don’t have pets, fleas can also enter your home through other animals, like rodents or wildlife.

Fleas tend to prefer animals as hosts since they can lay their eggs on them and hide in their fur, but they can sometimes travel on humans as well. It’s not impossible for fleas to enter your home on a human, but it’s not as common.

In other cases, flea infestations may happen because you’ve brought a flea-infested item into your home. If you purchase secondhand furniture, there’s always the risk that these items could have fleas or another type of pest living in them.

Are Fleas Dangerous?

Flea infestations may be a hassle, but are fleas dangerous? Unfortunately, yes, fleas can pose dangerous health risks – to both people and pets. For pets, fleas can be troublesome for a couple of reasons.

Not only can they cause allergic reactions in a lot of animals leading to excessive scratching and hair loss, but some fleas can spread tapeworms as well. If your pet accidentally ingests a flea, it could also end up with a tapeworm. 

In other cases, severe flea infestations could even make smaller animals, like puppies and kittens, become anemic over time. Fleas may not use people as hosts, but they can still bite us and spread disease. Not all fleas are carriers, but these pests can potentially spread tularemia, bartonellosis, the plague, and other diseases to humans.

How Do I Get Rid Of Fleas?

Given how dangerous fleas can be for your pets or your family, getting rid of them is a big priority, but how do you get them out of your house? When it comes to flea control, the best solution is a professional one, and that comes from the specialists at Pest Friends. As a locally-owned pest control company, our focus is on providing you with treatments that are tough on fleas but gentle on the environment and your pets.

If you’re interested in getting rid of the fleas in your home or around your property, the best form of flea control comes from Pest Friends – contact us today to learn more about our flea control services or to schedule an inspection of your home.

What Is The Best Natural Way To Prevent Fleas?

Getting rid of an existing flea infestation may mean enlisting professional help, but when it comes to preventing fleas in the future, there are some natural ways to reduce the risk of a flea problem, including:

• Make sure you’re treating your pets for fleas throughout the entire year, not just during the summer.
• Regularly check your pets for signs of fleas during baths or when brushing them.
• Try to regularly wash pet bedding and other items that your dog or cat uses, as these items can often house fleas.
• Practice good sanitation with food and trash around your home to lower the risk of flea-infested wildlife stopping by.
• Keep up with lawn maintenance, like cutting the grass or trimming tree branches, to limit the areas where fleas can hide. 
• Avoid secondhand furniture, which could house fleas or other types of pests.
• If you purchase furniture secondhand, make sure you inspect it very closely for signs of fleas. 

Along with these natural tips, working closely with professional pest control can help you ensure your home stays completely flea-free.