Fleas spent the summer growing their populations in your furniture, and in your carpets. They'll keep on having babies, and eating on your pets, if you don't take action to control their reproductive activities right now.

Every spring and summer flea control is a constant effort for me. I have three dogs, and keeping them free of fleas isn't easy. Those fleas are mighty persistent about maintaining a home on our pet's bodies.

An even bigger chore is keeping your home flea free. Fleas have babies faster than rabbits, and once they get started you really must work to get their numbers under control. Let alone eliminate them all together.

The constant scratching of your pets is bad enough, especially when you have a large pet and that scratching means a lot of noise. Fleas bother me the most, though, when there are so many of them that they start crawling on, and biting, me.

I just about go nuts when I climb out of bed in the morning, walk across the floor, and suddenly feel a bunch of these bugs crawling on my legs.

I go to hopping around like there's some old time cowhand shooting into the ground around my feet, wanting to see me dance.

Fleas jumping on me when I sit on the couch watching television bother me quite a bit too, but not quite as much.

I experienced those flea attacks a few times before I became a pest control technician and learned how to control fleas, and not give them a chance to grow their families too big. I don't have much trouble keeping them in check these days. Still, it's an ongoing job keeping up with them.

You can control fleas if you know the how to techniques for pest control inspection that lets you find those areas where they gather, and take the right treatment steps.

The first step in every flea control effort is vacuuming, and a specific process proves most effective for putting that vacuum to work.

Pull the cushions off your furniture. Over time fleas set up housekeeping under those cushions, and this is an easy area to miss when you start your flea control procedures. Vacuum all the furniture, including the cushions, to suck up all the fleas and flea eggs you can get.

Next, vacuum your pet's beds. Fleas infest any pillows they sleep on if those pets have fleas on their bodies. If you can, wash those pet beds. Washing with a good laundry soap kills the live fleas, and often dries up the eggs so they don't hatch.

When you finish with the pet-bedding vacuum the carpets. Pay particular attention to those areas where your pets hang out the most. That's where you find the most fleas, and if you have a chance to shampoo the carpets your flea control effort will have even more effect.

Last treat under the furniture cushions, and the carpets, with a chemical for fleas. I don't advise putting chemicals on your pet's bed. Most chemical labels state they're not harmful to your pets, but they might make them sick. Best to exercise caution, and be safe.

Wait a week, and repeat the process.

That keeps you free of fleas for a couple of months, and maybe through the whole winter, but if you have pets the fleas will be back. Your pets carry them in from the outside.