What Is With The Booming Flea Populations?

They seemingly come out of nowhere! One day you are outside enjoying and flea-free backyard and the next day - boom, fleas everywhere! The humid warm air found throughout Pennsylvania’s entire summer season provides the perfect environment for flea populations to flourish. Add to that the fact that the wild animals, which fleas feed on, are also very active during the summer months, moving about from place to place, leaving fleas behind as they travel, makes summer a tough season to protect yourself and your pets from coming into contact with fleas.

While it is certainly not the only way that fleas enter Pennsylvania homes, one of the most if not the most common ways that a home becomes infested with fleas is by pets bringing them inside. Wild animals like mice, squirrels, skunks, and deer introduce fleas into backyards as they travel through; then when your dog or cat is outside playing or enjoying a nap on a patch of sunny grass, those fleas jump onto your pet and settle into their new home. You call “Fido” or “Fluffy” in for their dinner and presto, fleas are inside your home!

To help protect your home from becoming home to parasitic fleas this summer, the professionals at Witt Pest Management want to offer you some easy manage flea prevention tips:

• The most helpful and important tip is, if you own pets, use a veterinarian prescribed flea preventative medication on them.
• Before bringing pets back inside, do a quick check for fleas.
• Regularly bathe and use a flea comb on your pets.
• Remove things from your yard that could attract rodents and other wildlife to it; eliminate overgrown shrubs and bushes, remove bird feeders, pick up uneaten pet food between feedings, make sure outdoor trash cans have locking lids on them, and get rid of excess clutter.
• Inside your home, vacuum all floors and carpets regularly, wash all pet bedding on a regular basis, and if possible, keep pets off of upholstered furniture and beds. If your pets do sleep on your bed, make sure to wash and change your bedding frequently.

To learn more about fleas and how to protect your property from being overtaken this summer, contact the Pennsylvania pest professionals at Witt Pest Management today!