Detection of fleas, and monitoring

If pets are kept in the house, check their bodies and the areas around their cages often. One sure sign of infestation is the presence of flea dirt, black flecks.

It is important to also check in places where animals might find harborage, such as basements, crawlspaces, attics, eaves, roof structures and shrubs near your home

Long, white athletic socks worn over the shoes and trouser legs allow you to easily see and count adult fleas as you walk through an infested area. Socks also provide some protection from bites. You can certainly get bad allergic reactions from flea bites.

In situations where the flea population is likely to be small, light traps are especially useful. A small electric light attracts fleas to a sheet of sticky paper, where they are trapped. Research has shown that the most effective traps are those with a green light that can flicker on and off.

Check the traps once a week. If only a few fleas are caught, the infestation is very small and probably can be controlled by the monitoring traps themselves.

If 20 or more fleas are caught in a single trap in a week, this probably indicates a more serious infestation to the point where you can most likely see them in your home with your naked eye, particularly as they hop from one host to the next.