Other ectoparasites

Fleas are usually found on the hairs or fur of animals like dogs, cats and rodents. Its usual breeding areas are resting or sleeping areas like beds. They also attach to clothing and lodge in trash and in cracks and crevices of homes and animal pens. They move around by jumping up to as high as 30 cm. Signs on infestation are specks of blood in clothing or bedding.

Dog Ticks are as much a pest in homes as on dogs. Unkept and poorly groomed dogs suffer greatly as its larvae and nymphs rest on its body and hairs while the adult ticks reside on the dogs' ears and toes. Dogs tend to get Ticks from other dogs or infested kennels or clinics. Once infested, the female Ticks will lay up to 5,000 eggs in cracks and crevices, in carpets, baseboards or wall coverings in homes. Ticks can live for several years without a blood meal until a warm-blooded mammal comes. Both the male and female Ticks feed on blood.

Smaller than ticks, Mites are also eight-legged blood-sucking arthropods that are occasional pests to humans. There are a lot of species that can be encountered by man that has both economic and medical importance. There are Stored Product Mites such as those that infest Cheese, Flour or Dried Fruit. There are also House or Furniture Mites that may be seen in pantries or those with humid conditions. In contact with man, they can cause itchy allergies and even asthma. They feed at night or under the cover of darkness and hence usually found in cinemas; and also where there is a heat source like in restaurants and buildings. The Tropical Rat Mite though that is associated with Norway Rats are serious problems and do attack people. There are also Poultry Mites, Itch or Scabies Mites that affect both animals and humans. Then there are Dust Mites whose feces produce the allergens that cause rhinitis, asthma, dermatitis, etc. Dust Mites thrive on humidity and feed on shed human skin, as well as feathers or molds, and especially abundant in upholstered and mattresses.