Fleas, which normally cause itchy bites on exposed areas of your body, don’t bite everyone. If your skin temperature is below 85 degrees Fahrenheit you normally won’t get bitten. More women and children have a higher skin temperature and thus are bitten more often than men. So if only some people in your household have flea bites, it doesn’t necessarily mean they were bitten away from home.

Since most fleas can’t reproduce from human blood, pets or stray animals are the normal source. A common scenario is your pet gets infested in the yard then drops eggs wherever it goes in your home, usually carpets, upholstered furniture and beds. As you walk across your carpet, the motion alerts the fleas that a blood meal is available so they emerge from their cocoons as adults and start feeding on you and your pet usually biting your calves, ankles and feet. When you sit on your furniture, any accessible area of your upper body, such as arms, also becomes fair game. If your yard is infested you not only get bitten but adult fleas can hitch a ride into your home on you.

Many other animals can also cause infestations, such as raccoons, skunks, squirrels and even rats. They set up housekeeping in your attic or under your home allowing the fleas to continually infest your living areas. In order to rid your home of fleas, you may have to hire a professional exterminator for live animal trapping.

Pets can be treated with a variety of products available through your veterinarian. A continuing pest control program is highly recommended to stop future infestations from occurring. Stray animals that set up housekeeping in or around your home are another issue. They must be identified, trapped and removed from your property. This will allow an exterminator to perform a flea treatment on your house and/or lawn to be more effective and reduce the chance of future infestations.