About Fleas
Fleas are parasitic insects that feed on the blood of their host. They have existed for 100 million years and are believed to have fed on dinosaurs. Of the 2,000 known flea species in the United States, cat flea is the most common. Though its name implies otherwise, the cat flea can also be found in humans and other animals, including dogs, raccoons, ferrets, skunks, and birds. Fleas thrive in Florida's warm, humid climate and can infest homes by hitching rides on these animals or even the belongings of vacationers.
What Do Fleas Look Like?
Fleas can be hard to spot, and they reproduce rapidly. A single female can produce more than 2,000 eggs in the span of 50 days! Pets can bring fleas into your home, resulting in a high degree of discomfort and potential danger to animal and human hosts. Their bites are uncomfortable, and fleas can spread disease, including the deadly bubonic plague.
Fleas are dark, reddish-brown insects that grow up to 1/6”, about the size of a sesame seed. Their bodies are flat and consist of a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs, two eyes, and two short antennae. The flea’s body is covered with hard protective scales called sclerites and tiny hairs that help them attach to their host. The mouth of a flea consists of three mouthparts — two laciniae, an epipharynx, and the labium — used to pierce the host’s skin and suck its blood. The flea’s back legs are longer than the front, which enables them to run quickly and jump up to 13 inches horizontally and 7 inches vertically!
The flea’s life cycle has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. A couple of days after mating, the female adult lays 40-50 eggs on her host's body. Because the eggs have nothing to adhere them to the host, they typically fall off and continue their development where they land. Within a week, the eggs hatch into larvae, and after another week, the larvae spin cocoons to become pupae. After another couple of weeks, the pupae develop into adults. Depending on environmental conditions, each cycle stage can move more slowly or quickly. This flexible life cycle can take as little as two weeks and as long as two years for a flea to become an adult.
New adult fleas must have a blood meal within a week or die. Generally, a flea usually lives between two and three months. However, fleas are capable of surviving a few months between meals if they don’t expend energy. A female flea can lay 2,000 eggs over the course of her short lifetime, quickly causing a serious infestation on its host and the areas it frequents.
What Are the Unique Characteristics of Fleas?
Fleas feed exclusively on blood. They are commonly found on dogs and cats but will attack other animals, including humans, as the opportunity arises. Fleas can spread quickly but generally do not move directly from host to host. Instead, as they develop in the host’s environment, new fleas seek out targets. When a flea finds a host, it can remain there for a couple of months, feeding repeatedly for over two hours at a time. Female fleas, which tend to be larger than males, can ingest up to fifteen times their body weight in blood.
What Are the Habits of Fleas?
Fleas require blood to survive, so they seek out hosts that can provide sustenance. They thrive in moist air and multiply faster in high humidity. These parasites are attracted to heat, carbon dioxide, and movement to seek out their hosts.
Where Are Fleas Commonly Found?
Fleas prefer low altitudes that are warm and humid, like here in sunny Florida, but will live anywhere they can find a suitable host. In the United States, fleas are most abundant in the Southeast and West Coast. They are least active in the dryer, colder states in the North, Midwest, and West.
Fleas are most commonly found on mammals, though they will also live on birds. In homes, fleas burrow into carpeting, furniture, pet beds, clothing, or any other location, and they can develop undisturbed.
What Are the Risks of Having Fleas?
When fleas bite, they inject saliva, which causes irritation and itchy red bumps. When hosts scratch, it aggravates the area even more and can result in a secondary skin infection and hair loss. Fleas are also known to transmit other harmful parasites and bacteria that can result in tapeworm, cat scratch disease, typhus, and general pest allergy dermatitis. Fleas have also been known to cause anemia and carry bubonic plague! Left untreated, the conditions can become serious or even fatal.
DIY Flea Treatment
Once you’ve spotted a flea, act quickly! The presence of a live flea means there are likely eggs and pupae nearby. Most do-it-yourself solutions target adult fleas but do not prevent those in earlier stages from developing. To minimize the spread of fleas, follow the preventative steps we've outlined. However, a flea problem can be difficult to control, so your best bet is to hire a professional exterminator.
Flea Prevention Tips
Fleas multiply quickly, so the best way to manage an infestation is to stop it before it happens. These guidelines can help keep your family, pets, and home free of fleas:
- Apply a monthly topical flea-repelling treatment to your pet as your veterinarian prescribes.
- Regularly vacuum your home, especially areas where fleas may be hiding.
- Wash pet bedding in hot water.
- Keep animals away from areas suspected or known to be flea-infested.
- Bathe pets as directed by your veterinarian.
- Treat your yard with insecticides designed to kill fleas. (Better yet, hire a pest control professional to do this for you!)