What Do Flea Bites Look Like? | Get Rid of Fleas

Identifying What Bit You?

We receive many panic calls throughout the year. When nature moves into a home, it’s cause for alarm. Anytime you have red welts on your body, it’s concerning. The most challenging for most people is determining whether the bite came from a flea or a bed bug, as the marks can be similar.

Bed Bug Bites

When you see tiny bite marks on your body, your first thought might be that you have bed bugs, which can send tinges of panic down your spine. Bed bug bites are small, red welts that have a darker center. They typically appear in clusters or a straight line, which helps to identify them.

Bed bugs bite as they feed, so the linear pattern helps identify the pest using you as a buffet. By nature, these bloodsuckers like to feed in the same area, and they will bite you multiple times. The marks left behind by a bed bug are commonly found on areas such as the hands, face, neck, and arms, as these are great feeding sites at night.

Remember, a bed bug looks for an exposed area to feast while you’re asleep. Another characteristic of these bites is they’re typically painless. However, as they heal, the bites become incredibly itchy welts. Some people are allergic to bed bugs’ saliva, which can cause itching and discomfort to be more intense.

Flea Bites

Flea bites have no distinct pattern and can appear anywhere on your body. Their bite marks are scattered because they jump and move quickly. Even when eating, they don’t tend to stay in one place too long.

The bites of a flea are small and red, and they have a red halo around them. Unlike bed bugs that might not itch initially, a flea bite itches from the moment it occurs. While a flea can bite you anywhere, the most common areas are on the legs and ankles.

Since fleas live on the ground and in your carpeting, they tend to bite the things or parts of you closest to them. Fleas can’t fly, but they jump well. The part that makes identifying these bites so tricky is that you can have one isolated bite, which can be blamed on a spider or any other crawling creature.

However, as the number of fleas in the home increases, so will the number of bites on your body. If you’ve identified that your pets have an issue with fleas, and you suddenly develop red welts on your legs, it’s self-explanatory what’s going on.

Differentiating Factors

While bed bugs and flea bites share many similarities, recognizing their characteristics is critical to correctly identifying the culprit. Bed bug bites often form in clusters or lines on exposed areas, while flea bites are more random and scattered. Observing the scattering, appearance, and symptoms, such as intense itching, can aid in finding the culprit.

You’ve Got Fleas… Now What?

Fleas are most active in the Garden State in the spring and summer. However, depending on the temperatures in the area, you might start battling these pests as soon as March and still be fighting them into the fall and winter seasons. You can have a flea infestation anytime, especially if you didn’t completely eliminate them during their prime season.

Eggs can get lodged into carpets and cracks in wood flooring. While it typically only takes a couple of weeks for those eggs to hatch, the cooler temperatures can cause them to take longer. When you thought you had won the flea battle and could sit back and rest, along comes round two, which makes you question your sanity and contemplate moving.

Arming for Battle

The question we get most is how the fleas got into the home. We often hear this from people with cats who never go outside. How can they possibly get fleas if they’re not out where the fleas live? The answer is relatively easy, as fleas are intruders that can hitch a ride on a human.

They don’t need a pet to give them a comfy ride into your home, as a person’s pant leg or shoe will work fine. Once the flea enters your space, they need to find nourishment. To further complicate matters, fleas can live for up to 30 days without a meal. However, they can’t reproduce without the proper nourishment, as their bodily functions depend on it.

Once they feed, the female can begin her work of laying eggs. It’s unsettling to realize that a female flea can lay one egg an hour, which makes 20-30 a day. She can lay 30-50 eggs in those 24 hours if she’s eaten a large meal that allows her to produce more. One tiny flea can lay up to 2,000 eggs in her lifetime, so a ton of insects will hatch in your home and wreak havoc.

What’s remarkable is that there’s never just one flea, as an infestation can have thousands. It’s easy to see how things can quickly get out of hand. If you see furniture sitting along the curbs in your neighborhood during the spring and summer, it may not be from bed bugs. Many people get tired of battling fleas and will rip up carpeting and throw out furniture trying to combat these insects. Thankfully, there’s a better way.

Tackling the Infestation Head-On

You’ve come to the part of the journey where you’re not going to let some tiny bloodsucker win control of your home. You’re going to tackle this issue head-on. The first step is to head to a hardware store for spray, and you contact your vet for flea medications. Both are good choices, but many forget the most significant and crucial step.

Whenever you have a conflict, the best way to resolve it is to go to the root of the problem. The same is true in the world of insects. You must go to where the fleas originate so that you can get control and stop them from coming inside.

Fleas can become immune to medications and chemical sprays, so you need to stop them at their source, so the battle inside is much easier. The fleas live in your yard, so treating your lawn becomes imperative in this war.

Treating the Yard

So many people overlook their yards in the fight against fleas, and this oversight can lead to a continuous cycle of infestations. Lawns, gardens, and outdoor areas can harbor flea eggs, larvae, and pupae, creating ample opportunities for re-infestations. When you treat your yard, you disrupt the flea life cycle at its source, preventing these pests from entering your home.

Yard treatments, such as pet-safe flea control products and insecticides, target fleas in their natural environment. The best part is that this approach also helps with indoor therapies, providing a more effective solution. Your pets are often the primary carriers of fleas, and outdoor environments contribute significantly to infestations.

By treating your yard, you safeguard your pets and family from potential flea bites, allergic reactions, and the discomfort associated with infestations.

Treating Your Pets

You love your pets as they’re members of the family. You don’t want insects biting them all day and night, as it’s miserable. While flea bites and saliva can cause intense itching, it’s not the only issue for poor Fido.

Fleas can cause many health problems, especially if left to reproduce and become out of control. Pets can get dermatitis, tear out their hair, and even develop anemia if too many fleas live off their blood supply. Other diseases and tapeworms can develop from ingesting fleas while scratching and biting.

What you decide to treat your pet with is up to you. Both natural and medicinal treatments can combat this problem. The key is that you must do something. Bathing the animal in dish soap is helpful for the fleas on them, but it does nothing to disrupt the lifecycle of the fleas and keep them at bay.

Your vet can recommend effective treatments that will bring the pet relief and stop it from being a host for dinner.

Treating Your Home

Now, you’ve come to the part of the battle where you take back your home. First, you must identify the problem areas and where the fleas are most prevalent. The places you should look include the following:

• Pet beds
• Carpeting
• Furniture and human beds
• Any areas where your pet spends most of their time indoors.

While treating the entire home, you want to concentrate on these places to ensure no fleas or eggs are left behind. Here are some steps to help get rid of fleas inside the home:

• Washing Bedding and Linens – Wash all pet beds, blankets, sheets, and pillows in the hottest water possible. Washing them will kill off any fleas, eggs, and larvae that may be hiding within the fibers and materials of these items.
• Vacuuming- The vacuum is your best friend during times of infestation. It’s best to use the kind that has the cups you can empty. Make sure you vacuum every day and use the crevice tools to get into the corners and crevices of your home. You must dispose of the bag, empty the cup into a sealed bag, and take it to the trash when you’re done. This will help prevent any re-infestation.
• Set Flea Traps – Flea traps work well and are becoming increasingly popular. Many of these devices have lights and provide warmth to draw fleas. Once they come into the trap, they become stuck and perish.
• Defoggers – Some people use defoggers to help penetrate all their home’s little nooks and crannies. These are highly toxic, so you must remove yourself and any pets from the house for several hours.
• Diatomaceous Earth: Sprinkling DE around your home is an effective and non-toxic option for controlling fleas. Dust it on carpets, pet bedding, and other infested areas. Be sure to use food-grade diatomaceous earth as it’s safe for humans and won’t harm pets or babies should they ingest it.

Long-Term Prevention Strategies

Regular cleaning is vital to keep fleas and other pests away. By maintaining a clean home and vacuuming regularly, washing pet bedding, and keeping clutter to a minimum, you can help avoid infestations.

Since your yard is where fleas and other insects live, it’s best to use pet-safe flea control products to help minimize the risk. Many people think they only need to treat their pets for fleas and ticks in the spring and summer months, but any vet will tell you that treatment should be all year long.

Consistency in treating your home, yard, and pets is the key to avoiding any infestation in the future. If you notice your pet scratching, it’s essential to have them evaluated by a vet. Even if you can’t see any fleas, it doesn’t mean they’re not there. Catching them early can help get them under control quickly, and it will be less trauma for the pet.

Calling the Cavalry for Help

As with any pest control issue, it’s always best to involve the professionals if you feel the situation is beyond your control. While there are still things you will need to do, like wash your bedding and sanitize the home, calling a trained technician is like getting help from the cavalry. However, it’s best not to wait until you’re at wit’s end to call for assistance, as the sooner you attack the infestation, the easier it is to combat.

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