Fleas are nasty little red-brown insects that love to infiltrate your home so they can prey off of you, your pets, and family. You’re probably here because you have an infestation in your home. For that I am very sorry but that is what I am here for! I’m going to teach you how to get these pesky little insects out of your house. If you want to learn how to treat a flea infestation click here and I’ll explain how to do that without using dangerous chemicals.
An adult flea is approximately 2.5 mm long. They’re generally dark in color ranging from brown to a red-brown color. They have six legs used to jump long distances from host to host seeing as they don’t have wings. They belong to the order Siphonaptera.
Reproduction has to be the scariest aspects of fleas. Yes they bite you and it does itch, but their reproduction rate has to be the worst part. A female adult flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day. They go through 4 different stages in their lives.
Eggs (Stage 1) –Fleas usually lay between 4-8 eggs right after a blood meal. Blood is necessary for a flea to reproduce if there isn’t any blood These eggs aren’t sticky so they generally fall to the ground when you or your pet walks around. I’m glad it falls off too, just imagine walking around then all of the sudden having little flea larva jump start crawling all over you. The eggs hatch between 1 and 12 days depending on the conditions it will hatch into.
Larvae (Stage 2) – Once hatched they become larvae. Lucky for us this is the stage where most of them die off due to their inadaptability to the environment. When they hatch from their eggs they immediately seek shelter in cold and moist areas such as cracks in the floor, carpets or pet bedding. Unlike adult fleas Larvae won’t eat a blood meal directly from a host but instead will eat mostly feces, dead skin, food crumbs, and other organic materials.
Pupae (Stage 3) – After they grow large enough they will turn into a pupae which generally occupies 10 percent of a flea infestation. This cocooned stage is the final stage before a flea matures and becomes an adult. The flea will not emerge from its cocoon until a host is nearby. Making it more difficult for us, the cocooned flea is protected from deadly chemicals, which is why it takes a bit of time to completely get rid of fleas.
Adult Flea (Stage 4) – When it hatches from the cocoon it needs to find a blood meal in 7 days or it may die. Once it eats its first blood meal a female flea will start laying eggs within 48 hours. An adult flea can lay up to 2,000 eggs in its entire life. The highest concentration of egg laying towards the end of its life.
Fleas live an average life span of between 2 and 3 months. It’s vital to get the infestation under control as soon as possible because they multiply at such a rapid rate and live for such a long time. I’m here to help you get through your infestation. For further information on fleas please watch the below.
To learn how to prevent fleas click here, to learn how to remove them from your home click here to take you to the treatment page.
