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Spring (and fleas) is here! |
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The Flea Life Cycle
Thanks to the many flea control products now on the market, flea management is easier than ever. Understanding the flea's life cycle will help control the fleas around your home and yard.
To get a bit technical and in giving you a little bit of information you probably didn’t want to know, the flea is a part of the Siphonaptera order, and has a siphon-like mouth and no wings. There are more than 2,000 species of fleas, but only a few affect your pet. The cat flea is the cause of almost all pet and environmental infestations.
From Egg to Adulthood
Again, on the technical side, fleas are metamorphic, meaning they grow from embryo to adulthood. Similar to butterflies, they evolve from eggs to larvae to pupae to adulthood. It can take as few as 12 to 350 days for cat fleas to go through growth stages and emerge from cocoons. The flea population typically is made up of 50% eggs, 30% larvae, 15% pupae, and only 5% biting adults.
The optimum temperature for fleas range from 70 degrees to 85 degrees, but the flea can also survive in temperatures as low as 37 degrees. Most fleas spend winter as adults on infested animals or as pupae in cocoons in areas protected from freezing. Flea populations typically increase about 5 or 6 weeks after warm spring weather begins and escalate during the fall in Midwestern and northern states.
Female fleas lay up to 50 eggs in a day and about 2000 eggs in her lifetime. Eggs can be found in an animal's hair, and then drop off onto everything your pet touches or is near, including bedding, carpet and soil.
After 1 to 6 days, the eggs hatch into larvae. Larvae dry up easily and relative humidity less than 50% is fatal. The typical larval stage can last 5 to 11 days, but if the humidity, temperature, and food availability are just right, the larval stage can last up to 3 weeks.
Full-grown Biting Adult Fleas
The newly freed adult flea will leap at any likely warm-blooded host, and can survive as adults for 2 weeks to 6 months, depending on its environment. Newly emerged adult fleas can survive only about a week without a blood meal. Female adult fleas will feed numerous times daily, for up to 3 to 4 hours at a time.
Fleas prefer cats and dogs, but humans, ferrets or domesticated rabbits can also become hosts. Adult fleas will not leave their hosts on their own free will and must be dislodged or killed with flea control treatments. Grooming and brushing, using a flea comb will dislodge the parasites.
The breakdown is a little overwhelming as for every adult flea found on a pet, about 100 fleas are developing in the pet's environment. It is important to treat the fleas on your pet as well as in your home and yard.
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