Flea & Tick Control in Columbus, OH

Fleas are a type of external parasite that feeds on the blood of people and animals. They are a pest that no one wants to discover on their Columbus property. Fleas are voracious eaters and consume more than 15 times their own body weight each day. Like many insects, adult fleas have 6 legs, antennae and are wingless. They are a reddish-brown color. When they're not using their powerful hind legs to jump out of sight, their small size makes people believe they are a fleck of dirt.

There are many reasons why fleas become a problem on properties. Whether you own pets or not, fleas have the potential to invade your yard or home. Any park, campground, athletic field, yard, or other outdoor area has the potential to become infested with fleas. These are common places where both wild animals and pets come and go regularly. Fleas that have found their way onto your clothing or the backs of your pets will find their way into your home. Fleas also hitchhike their way into homes or businesses inside of things like used furniture or rugs. They may move inside homes on the backs of rodents and other wild animals that have moved inside to nest.

If you own pets, fleas will spend most of their time on their backs. After mating, their eggs will drop off their host and onto your furniture, rugs, or bedding. Fleas introduced onto your property by wild animals live in areas of shade and damp soil. They are commonly found in tall grass or under shrubs, leaf piles, and decks.

Get rid of fleas from your Ohio home or business by trusting the experts at 1st Response Pest Management. We are a locally-owned and family-operated company. Our goal is to provide all our customers with peace of mind and pest-free homes. To find out about our eco-friendly approach to pest management, call today and speak with one of our helpful professionals!

Fleas can spread diseases to both people and animals. However, the spread of disease by fleas is not a huge concern in the United States. A larger worry when it comes to fleas is that they are intermediate hosts for tapeworms. These tapeworms can spread from fleas to both animals and people. Less dangerous but incredibly irritating, fleas bite both humans and our pets, leaving us itching for days on end. Many people are allergic to their saliva, causing bites to become even more itchy and uncomfortable. Those that are very allergic may develop allergic dermatitis. Bites can also become infected due to excessive itching.

You can help prevent fleas or ticks from entering your home by:

• Vacuuming floors, areas under furniture, upholstered furniture, mattresses, and the area where the floor meets the walls
• Change and wash bedding weekly, including pet bedding
• If possible, do not bring used upholstered furniture or rugs into your home
• If you own pets, regularly groom and bathe them using a flea-control shampoo
• With the help of your vet, place pets on a year-round flea preventative program
• Deter wild animals by removing bird or wild animal feeders from your property
• Keep grass cut short
• Remove leaf piles or other piles of organic debris from your yard

While many think of ticks as insects, they are actually arachnids and are related to spiders. Adults have eight legs, no wings, and an oval-shaped body. A tick's exact color, appearance, and host preference are species-dependent. Ticks do not jump or fly, so they move from place to place on the backs of their animal hosts or the clothing or skin of people.

Ticks are ectoparasites, which means they feed on the blood of their host (human or animal) by attaching themselves to the outside of the host's body. They have specialized mouthparts they use to cut into their host's skin. They then bury themselves into their skin, insert a barbed tube-like structure, and begin to feed on their blood. After feeding, a ticks' body swells in a balloon-like manner, and they grow in size.

Ticks are dangerous pests because they carry many diseases and bacteria that can make people and our pets ill. Diseases that ticks can spread, depending on their species, include Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, tularemia, ehrlichiosis, rickettsiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Ticks, while able to move inside homes on their host's body, are not indoor pests. Most species are not able to complete their life cycle indoors. Ticks are outdoor pests and therefore challenging to control and problematic in a variety of outdoor environments, including:

Prevent problems with ticks by putting into place the following tick prevention measures:

• Partner with the pest control experts here at 1st Response Pest Management
• Work with your veterinarian to place pets on a year-round tick control program
• After you and your pets spend time outside, inspect yourself and your pets for ticks
• Keep your grass cut short
• Remove overgrown vegetation from your property
• Remove things from your property where tick-infested rodents and other wild animals can forage for food, such as open trash containers, compost piles, and bird feeders