Know the Enemy

by Kay Keziah

Fleas are a real problem for all pet owners. With spring right around the corner, I did some research on fleas. Below are some interesting facts and information that will help you understand the ways of the flea and assist in your defense.

Flea Facts:
1. Fleas are dark brown wingless insects 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch long.
2. They are agile, and can jump 8 inches high, and 13 inches horizontally.
3. Fleas have 4 Life Cycles:

Eggs: laid on their hosts and usually fall off the hosts. Eggs hatch from 2 days to 2 weeks (think about where your pet sleeps and hangs out!)
Larva: takes 5 to 12 days to develop to Pupae.
Pupae: can stay in this state average 14 days to 180 days before emerging as adult Fleas (can be up to a year).
Adult Flea: once an adult flea, they begin to feed on animals within minutes! An adult flea can live up to 180 days, on average.

4. Just one female flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day after she mates and has a meal of blood (up to 2000 eggs in her life time).
5. Female fleas consume 15 times their own body weight in blood a day (think anemia).
6. 95% of the flea population lives in some state in the environment while 5% of the population lives on the host animal.
7.To thrive, fleas need the relative humidity to be between 70% and 85% and the temperatures to be between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Fleas thrive in warm, dark, moist places!

Flea Preventive Plan
Nothing will work 100%, but having a preventive plan will help immensely. Keep pet bedding and sleep/rest areas cleaned weekly…at least a good shaking out of the bedding outside in the sun light. Where you shake the bedding out, use some baking soda (helps dry the fleas up). You can also sprinkle baking soda lightly on the pets bedding.

Vacuum regularly and seal the vacuumed debris up and throw sealed into garbage outside. If you have outside pets, clean areas weekly and use soap and water to wash the area, then treat with baking soda. Talk to your Vet about flea control you can purchase.

With this information on fleas you will be better able to fight a flea problem should one arise! Below are links to the sources of the data contained in this article. You may find them helpful.

Flea | Wikipedia
10 Facts about Fleas | pet MD
Fight the Fleas | VetMedicine