Plan on weeks, not days. Even when the pet, the house, and the yard are all handled at once, three to four weeks is a realistic minimum, and a heavy infestation can run longer. That’s biology, not effort. The pupae are shielded inside their cocoons and keep hatching in waves after treatment, which is why the calendar is set by the flea’s life cycle rather than by how much you spray.

Yes, and before we come out. Your animals need to be treated for fleas and ticks first, since untreated pets reintroduce the problem as fast as we handle it. Your vet is the right source for what to use on them. We handle everything else.

Usually because it’s working. Treatment kills the adults quickly, but the eggs and pupae already in the carpet and yard keep emerging for weeks, and those new fleas die once they hit treated surfaces. What you’re watching for is the trend. Fewer each week means the cycle is breaking. If activity is still climbing after a month, call us back.

Longer than you’d think, which is why checking matters. In most cases, an infected tick has to stay attached more than 24 hours before Lyme can be transmitted, so removing one within a day greatly reduces the risk. Check yourself, your kids, and your pets after time outdoors, and pull any tick off right away with fine-tipped tweezers.

Not if fleas are already inside. Yard treatment cuts off the supply and it’s where ticks live, so it does real work. But once fleas have established indoors, the population in the carpet and pet bedding has to be treated too, or you’re solving half the problem.

Mostly, but not entirely. Both are busiest in warm, humid weather, and tick activity picks up again in fall. Fleas are the exception indoors, where a heated house keeps the cycle going straight through winter.