How Can You Tell Fleas From Other Small Biting Insects in Great Shelford?

In a Great Shelford family house with a garden, a dog and a river path nearby, there are several suspects for itchy ankles. Fleas are one of them. The others are harvest mites, which come from grass and not from the home, and mosquitoes, which come in on warm evenings. The easiest way to separate them is to ask when the itching started.

Itching That Starts Hours After Being Outdoors

Harvest mite larvae are tiny and orange-red, and they cling to skin when you brush against long grass or low plants in late summer and autumn. The bites itch intensely, often six to twelve hours or more afterwards, and concentrate where clothing is tight: ankles, behind the knees, the waistband and under straps. They do not live in the house, and they do not breed on pets or in carpets. If the itching fades within a week or two and does not follow you indoors, harvest mites are the likely reason.

Itching That Carries On Indoors

Flea bites also gather around the ankles and lower legs, which is why they get confused with harvest mites. The difference is that fleas keep biting for as long as they are in the house. If you and your family are still being bitten after weeks of staying out of the garden, or the dog is scratching, look at the carpet instead.

• Check where the dog sleeps and the rugs around it
• Comb the dog over white paper for gritty black specks that go red when damp
• Walk the carpet in white socks and see whether anything jumps

Mosquitoes and Others

Warm evenings by the Cam bring mosquitoes into some Great Shelford gardens, so a bite on the arm after a barbecue is rarely a flea.

A mosquito bite stands up as a raised, itchy weal on exposed skin such as arms and face, usually after a warm evening or a night with the bedroom window open. It does not cluster at the ankles in the way that flea bites do. If bites are on skin that is covered while asleep and come with spots on the bedding, bed bugs are worth considering instead.

Getting a Definite Answer

When checking has not settled it, a pest inspection and survey at £120 fixed cost finds out what is in the house. For confirmed fleas, our flea control service costs £220 for the first room and £60 for each further room, covering the property and not just the animal. The flea treatment cost guide explains the process. A repeat visit is free if the problem returns within 14 days.

Keeping the Garden and the House Separate

A larger Great Shelford family house tends to have more rooms to cover, more rugs and several places where a dog sleeps, so one tidy room does not mean the others are clear. Change into clean clothes after gardening, wash the ones you wore, and see whether the itching stops. If it does, the garden was the cause and no pest treatment is needed inside.

If you would like advice on what you are seeing in Great Shelford, call 01223 902388 or send us a message on WhatsApp.