Long Time No Flea

You're guide to fleas and their prevention.

Paper Fleas – What are they?

Paper fleas are a mythical office bug that many office workers believe make them itch while working. Despite many investigations though no paper fleas have ever been found. This usually occurs when office workers are dealing with large amounts of papers and files.

Do they exist?

As I stated above they are a myth. There have been extensive searches looking for these fleas in hopes of find the source to the mysterious itching that office workers have to deal with. Despite the desperate searches nothing has ever been found that proves the existence of paper fleas.

Where does the itching come from?

 The itching and small bite like looking red marks are real and not imagined. This itching feels like small pinprick sensations on your body. They can be caused by a few things.

  • Insulation – Insulation is often used in office buildings and homes. This insulation typically contains fiber glass which can cause skin irritation when the fibers come in contact with clothes or skin.
  • Fabric Fibers – Small fibers from old carpets or furniture can also cause skin irritation
  • Shards of Paper – If you’re working in an office you’re likely handling paper a lot. These small paper shards are released into the air from the cutting or tearing of paper. This can cause irritation
  • Allergies – Lack of cleaning in an office space can lead to increased allergies due to accumulating dust and allergens.

How to stop the itching

 You could start by contacting the building owner. There are some steps they can take to reduce the dust, allergens, and fabric fibers.

You can use a humidifier to reduce the dryness of an office space. You can also use moisturizer to reduce itching on your skin.

If there are bites on your skin its very possible that your office space could be infested by fleas. In this case you really should treat the infestation on your own in a workplace. I recommend calling an exterminator to take care of office infestations.

If you’re a business owner by all means take care of the infestation yourself. You can use my article on flea treatment to help you clear your office space of fleas.

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How long do flea bites last? What is Flea Dirt? Flea bites VS Bed Bug bites Flea Bites How do fleas get in your home?

How big are fleas?

It can be difficult to tell if the bug you’re looking at is actually a flea. The size of the bug can help you to determine whether or not its a flea.

How big are fleas?

fleasizeFleas are incredibly small though you can see them with the naked eye. They can be difficult to see, especially if they are jumping all over the place. Depending on they type of flea they average anywhere between 1.5 to 3.2 millimeters. Females are generally bigger than males and have larger abdomens.

Fleas may be small but they can be a real pain. If you notice you have fleas in your home you need to start treating them as quickly as possible to keep the infestations from becoming overwhelming. Check out our flea treatment page here to find out how to treat you home of flea infestations.

Size Comparisons:

  • Tip of Ballpoint Pen: Between 0.5 and 0.7 mm
  • Thickness of quarter: 1.75 mm
  • Poppy Seed: 1 mm
  • Average House Fly: 6 – 7 mm
  • Width of Average Finger Tip: 16 – 20 mm

>>Find out how to kill fleas with steamers here<<

Life Cycle and Growth

fleasFleas start off as eggs then progressively grow towards adult fleas over a period of one week to one month. Adult fleas start by laying up to 40 eggs in a day. These egg will hatch and turn into flea larvae. After the larva stage they become cocoons where they will transform into adult fleas.

Fleas body size increases after a blood meal. Female fleas body size will increase by 140

If you’re interest in learning more about the flea life cycle check out the article I wrote about their life cycle here.

When it comes to taking out fleas in all stages of their life cylce you’re going to want to use an IGR or Insect Growth Regulator. These will target growing fleas and keep them from rapidly growing and spreading even when in the pupae stage.

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What do flea bites look like?

With so many creatures out there trying to bite us it can be difficult to determine which creatures are biting you. I’m writing this article in hopes that you will be able to look at the bites and determine if they are flea bites.

Fleas will bite you anywhere they can get to. They most commonly bite you on your ankles or feet though. If your ankles and feet are covered in bites its very likely that it’s fleas.

>>Click here to find out how to remove fleas with steam<<

fleasFlea bites look like small red dots on your skin. Most of the time you wont notice the bites until they start to itch which is caused by the saliva of the fleas. When the bites start to itch most people scratch them hard enough to draw blood which leaves a small open hole on the bite.

If the bites are in a nearly perfect straight line then they may not be flea bites. You could have bed bugs. Bed bugs are very lazy and don’t want to move much so they walk in a straight line and continuously bite their host. If you suspect it may be bed bugs please check out my article explaining the difference between bed bug and flea bites. Click here read that article!

Below is a Gallery of flea bites on humans to help you better identify your bites.

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How to treat flea bites

Fleas can be incredibly irritating and will itch you into insanity. If you can you should treat the flea bites as quickly as possible to keep the bites from itching. There are various treatments for flea bites that will relive itching and help treat your wounds faster. You can use just about any anti-itching treatments such as cortisone or Aloe Vera Lotion.

If you want to know more about flea bites please check out this flea bites article that will provide more useful information like this!

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Do fleas have wings?

Fleas don’t have wings. Instead of having wings fleas have the ability to jump tremendous distances making it seem like they can fly.

>>Check out how remove fleas from cars<<

Wingless Fleas

Xenopsylla_cheopis_flea_PHIL_2069_loresFleas are member of the order Siphonaptera. Siphon meaning “tube” in latin and aptera meaning “wingless”. Fleas most likely descended from insects with wings. Though they don’t have wings they can still jump incredible distances so keep an eye out!

Jumping

Since they can’t fly they instead propel their bodies great distances. Fleas can jump and average of 8 inches horizontally. They have been recorded to have jumped 20 inches when hungry enough. Vertically though fleas have  been known to jump 13 inches high.

The distance fleas can jump depends on the type of flea. There are various different kinds such as rat fleas, cat fleas, dog fleas, and rabbit fleas.

>>Click here to find out how to kill fleas with steam<<

Can other parasites fly?

Bed_bug,_Cimex_lectulariusYou may be wondering if there are other parasites that can fly. Below I’m going to list the more common parasites and whether or not they can fly.

Lice – Lice cannot fly or jump. They aren’t able to live longer than 24 hours outside of a host.

Tick – Cannot fly. Since ticks cannot fly they instead sit on leaves or grass waiting for a host to walk by. This is known as questing. When a host walks by they either drop from a tree onto their host or crawl onto their host from grass.

Bed Bugs – Cannot fly or jump. They instead tend to crawl around looking for host. The reason they are called bed bugs though is because they tend to bite while you’re sleeping. This means they don’t really need to fly or jump. 

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