Flea and Tick Prevention
Pennsylvania lawns are great for entertaining in the summer, but lurking in the shadows is a hidden threat. Fleas and ticks are tiny, blood-sucking insects that can live in many places around your yard. They lie in wait until they can hitch a ride on your cat or dog and gain entry to your home. So before you let the pets and children play outdoors, make sure you understand the threat that fleas and ticks can pose to your family.
How to Identify Fleas and Ticks?
Fleas and ticks are tiny creatures and hard to see unless you get one on you. Fleas are reddish-brown, wingless, with narrow bodies no bigger than 1/6 of an inch long. Fleas prefer the blood of your pets rather than humans. But fleas pose a much bigger risk when they get into your home than ticks do. Fleas in the home are not anything to shake a stick at. A female flea can lay up to fifty eggs a day for up to six months, which can land in your carpet and furniture upholstery. Fleas can cause allergies, tapeworms, and Murine Typhus.
The American dog tick, lone star tick, and deer tick are common species of tick found in Pennsylvania that feed on the blood of small mammals and livestock. These ticks are known to transmit Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Ticks can be brown, black, reddish-brown, or yellowish in color. Ticks are capable of biting in their larval, nymph, and adult stages. Ticks prefer the taste of deer and human blood.
The best way to avoid them is to stay away from the areas they live in. Fleas and ticks love wooded, brushy, or areas with tall grass. They also dwell in cool shady areas of your yard, such as under trees, bushes, decks, and porches.
Preventing Fleas and Ticks
You can utilize several methods to prevent fleas and ticks from causing you a headache this summer. All of them include ways to reduce flea and tick hiding spaces in your yard.
Cut Your Grass
Fleas and ticks like to hang out in tall grass. When you don’t mow your yard regularly, these lawn pests might think it’s an open pasture and a great place to wait for animals or humans to pass by. When you keep the grass short, it discourages fleas and ticks from putting down stakes and forces them to look elsewhere, hopefully outside of your yard.
Trim Your Trees and Shrubs
Trees are usually the last place we think of harboring fleas and ticks, but they can, and when a tree grows too close to a house, insects and other pests can enter your home.
Put Up a Fence
It may not be feasible to clear out all the areas in and around your yard of flea and tick hiding spots. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to put up a fence to keep pets and children out of high-risk areas. You can also add lattice around your porch and decks to discourage your pets from hiding under them.
Hire The Pest Experts at LawnRx
At LawnRx, we want you and your family to stay safe from fleas and ticks. With our effective flea and tick control program, we can ease your mind by eliminating and keeping these pests out all year.
Give us a call at (724) 539-1003 for more information on how you can get started. You can also request an easy quote here. For more monthly tips on all things lawn care, check out our blog, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for our current deals and news.