Open Invitations

Fleas fester in obvious places like pet beds and overgrown shrubbery — and in areas easily overlooked, such as an upholstered car seat where Fido sits shotgun. Then there’s the pet fur that’s gummed up under the refrigerator. Many circumstances require “detective work” as David Bonett of Capitol Exterminating described.

Sometimes, the old white-towel trick will churn up fleas that mistake the vibration for the pet encounter they’re after, especially if the root of the infestation is not immediately evident. This is a strategy Bonett deploys for callbacks, which only amount to 10% of his flea cases, he said.

“We drag an old towel or T-shirt across the floor throughout the house, and the adult fleas will immediately jump on it,” Bonett said. “They feel the heat and movement.”

Occasionally, the towel will pick up flea feces, too.

Louis Dorton, South Plains Pest Control, sometimes pulls on white socks and scuffles across the floor. “Scooch across carpets to see if they pop up,” he said.

Hunting through attics and crawlspaces, along building foundations and under fence lines also proves helpful. Indoor and outdoor inspections are integral, with 81% of PCT 2025 State of the Flea Control Market survey respondents noting they always inform customers about the need to treat outdoors where flea problems originate.

Here’s a look at some common culprits PMPs target during flea inspections and some harborage zones that aren’t always easy to identify.

LOW AND BELOW. There were no pets in the house. But the neighborhood had plenty of wild visitors, recalled Craig George, owner of Planet Pest Solutions in Kansas City, Mo. He recalls a house he returned to five times because of fleas outdoors that were getting into the home.

“We tracked it down to a line of shrubbery, and there was a low spot where raccoons could get under the foundation of the house,” he said. “They had a nest with babies, and the whole thing was infested with fleas.”

Once treated — the low spot, that is — the problem went away, George recalls.

Bill Welsh is vice president of operations for Troy, Mich.-based Rose Pest Solutions, serving six states. His location had been treating a house for fleas every two weeks. “Come to find out, there were raccoons in the crawlspace,” he said. “Sure enough, as soon as we got them out, we solved the problem.”

And customers are grateful. “They’re on your person,” said Welsh of the blood-meal-feasting parasites. This is exactly why fleas are a small part of revenue but a big part of helping customers understand the importance of general pest control.

George recalled a resort client with an outbuilding and flea infestation. “There was a crawlspace under it full of feral cats,” he said. “They said they didn’t know — this was their claim. Those cats were inundated with fleas, and we did have some callbacks on that one. You’d walk into the building where they keep garden equipment and your legs were covered.”

His treatment for this account (see details on page 8) was a 1-2-3 protocol of barrier, wall-to-wall residual with an IGR and fogging agent.

LOOK UP. Fleas usually congregate in low-lying spots where it’s dark (no lights, please) and humid areas where there’s excess moisture. Yard work is a pain, but customers are inviting a problem when they disregard fence-line brush, overgrown landscapes, tall grass and related critical hiding places for fleas.

If a pet is on a flea preventive, the parasite may hop “on board,” feed and perish after ingestion. Some fleas may still find their way indoors, but they’ll likely gravitate toward the pet and die a similar death.

However, there are instances where an infestation occurs where a pet doesn’t have access or there’s no pet at all, yet people are getting the “memo” that something bites at home. Welsh points to chimney tops where squirrels and other wildlife can nest and invite fleas that infiltrate attic spaces.

Or crawlspaces, as Welsh discovered. “I never thought about asking the homeowner if we could look in there,” he said. That’s where he found the raccoons. “Once we solved the wildlife issue, problem solved.”

FREE-RIDERS. A pooch visits the dog park, tags along to a soccer game and wallows in the field or takes a hike. Next comes a ride home in the car. Even if a dog is on flea-tick-heartworm preventive, fleas can leap into appealing dark, warm crevices in the vehicle.

Then they can get a free ride into a home at a customers’ expense.

Is this common? Not really. But it happens, and Welsh said Rose service technicians remind customers to vacuum out the car and treat vehicles as they would their home. Sanitation is key in any location.