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Fleas make their homes on animals. They can be found on humans, cats, dogs, opossums, rats and other rodents. They can sense an animal's body heat, movement and breath. This helps them to find places to live and breed. Typically, fleas can live for about 100 days. Under perfect conditions, a pair of fleas could have more than 20 trillion babies in one year. They are known to have incredible jumping power; they can jump up to 150 times the length of their body.
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Fleas are holometabolous insects, going through the three life cycle stages of larva, pupa, and imago (adult). The flea life cycle begins when the female lays after feeding. Adult fleas must feed on blood before they can become capable of reproduction. Eggs are laid in batches of up to 20 or so, usually on the host itself, which easily roll onto the ground. As such, areas where the host rests and sleeps become one of the primary habitats of eggs and developing fleas. The eggs take around two days to two weeks to hatch.
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Flea larvae emerge from the eggs to feed on any available organic material such as dead insects, feces, and vegetable matter. They are blind and avoid sunlight, keeping to dark places like sand, cracks and crevices and bedding. Given an adequate supply of food, larvae should pupate and weave a silken cocoon within one to two weeks after three larval stages. After another week or two, the adult flea is fully developed and ready to emerge from the cocoon. They may remain resting during this period until they receive a signal that a host is near - vibrations (including sound), heat and carbon dioxide are all stimuli indicating the probable presence of a host. Fleas are known to overwinter in the larval or pupal stages.
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Once the flea reaches adulthood its primary goal is to find blood - adult fleas must feed on blood in order to reproduce. Adult fleas only have around one week to find food once they emerge, though they can survive two months to a year between meals. A flea population is unevenly distributed, with 50 percent eggs, 35 percent larvae, 10 percent pupae, and 5 percent adults. Their total life cycle can take as little as two weeks, but may be lengthened to many months if conditions are favorable. Female fleas can lay 500 or more eggs over their life, allowing for phenomenal growth rates.
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The Lifecycle of the Flea
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