Professional Flea Control in Greenwich

Signs You May Need Flea Treatment in Greenwich

• Bites around the ankles and lower legs. Small, intensely itchy, often several close together, and concentrated below the knee because that is where fleas can reach from the floor.
• A pet scratching more than usual. Particularly at the base of the tail and along the back.
• Flea dirt in the pet's coat or bedding. Dark specks that turn reddish-brown when placed on damp tissue.
• Small dark insects that jump. On the pet, on light-coloured flooring, or on socks and trouser legs.
• Bites in a property with no pet at all. Common after moving into a home where the previous occupants had animals.

Most of the Infestation Is Not on the Animal

Adult fleas feed on the pet, but the eggs do not stay there. They fall off wherever the animal goes - the carpet, the bed, the sofa, the car - and hatch into larvae that move away from light and down into the pile, the gaps between floorboards, the edges of the room and underneath furniture. The larvae then spin cocoons, and inside the cocoon the pupa can wait.

That waiting is the single most important fact about flea treatment. A pupa is physically protected inside its cocoon and is far less affected by treatment than an adult or a larva. It emerges in response to stimulus - warmth, carbon dioxide, and above all the vibration of something walking past. Which is why an empty house that has been treated can produce a wave of fleas the day someone moves in, and why the instructions below are the opposite of what most people expect.

How Flea Treatment Works

Treatment is applied to the floor areas, the perimeter of each affected room, under furniture where larvae shelter, and the areas the pet uses most. The edges and the under-furniture areas matter more than the middle of the floor, because that is where the larvae go and where a vacuum cleaner rarely does.

Before the visit

• Vacuum thoroughly, including the edges and under the furniture. This removes debris the larvae feed on and the vibration encourages pupae to emerge, which puts them where the treatment can reach them.
• Empty the vacuum into an outside bin straight away.
• Wash the pet's bedding on the hottest wash the fabric allows.
• Clear the floor so the perimeter and the space under furniture can be reached.

After the visit - and this part is counter-intuitive

• Keep walking on the treated floors. Normal foot traffic is what triggers the remaining pupae to hatch, and hatching is what brings them into contact with the treatment. A room that is shut up and avoided is a room where pupae sit and wait.
• Do not clean the treated floors for two weeks. No mopping, no wet cleaning, no vacuuming. Cleaning removes the treatment before it has done the job it was put down to do.
• Expect to see some fleas after the treatment. That is pupae hatching into a treated floor, which is the process working rather than failing.

Fleas in a Property With No Pet

It happens regularly, and it usually has one of two explanations. Either the previous occupants had an animal and the pupae have been sitting dormant since the property emptied - waiting for exactly the footfall that a new tenant provides - or there is animal access to a subfloor, a loft or an outbuilding. If you have taken on a property and started being bitten within days, that is worth mentioning at the enquiry, because it tells us which rooms to prioritise.