About Fleas & Ticks
Fleas and ticks are quite different in appearance, but have similar behavior and treatment. A flea is typically associated with our pets or other outdoor animals, but just like ticks, they can hitch a ride on our clothes, in our hair and in furniture. A flea is a wingless insect, jumping 100 times their own height or eight inches vertically and up to sixteen inches horizontally. Fleas are smaller than ticks, almost invisible to the naked eye with tube-like bodies 1/16 up to an 1/8-inch long.
Ticks are often associated with heavily wooded areas. Although West Texas isn’t known for our trees, they do easily live in brush and grassy fields and survive off mule deer, livestock and other wild mammals. Ticks are arachnids with eight legs, and can be black, brown or red. Larvae, nymphs and adults all feed on humans, the blood of mammals, birds and even reptiles and amphibians. Ticks can grow to be ¼-inch long.