07 Fleas: Lifecycle
Description
This article is from the Fleas, Ticks, and Your Pet FAQ, by tittle@zmall.com (Cindy Tittle Moore) with numerous contributions by others.
07 Fleas: Lifecycle
You must keep in mind the life cycle of the flea. From egg to larvae
to adult is between three to six weeks: to get rid of fleas in your
house, you must break this cycle. As a practical matter, this means
you will almost certainly have to repeat your efforts in several weeks
to catch the fleas from the larvae that didn't get destroyed the first
time around. This is also why it is important to address the problem
of the eggs and larvae as well as the adult fleas.
After taking a blood meal, fleas either lay eggs on your pet or in its
surrounding environment. Eggs on your pet are often shed onto its
bedding or into the carpet. A pair of fleas may produce 20,000 fleas
in 3 months. Eggs hatch after 2-12 days into larvae that feed in the
environment -- generally on digested blood from adult fleas and other
food matter in their environment. The food required at this stage is
microscopic, and even clean carpets often offer plenty of food to the
larvae. The larvae are little wiggles about 3-4 millimeters long, you
may see some if you inspect your pet's bedding carefully. Larvae molt
twice within 2-200 days and the older larvae spin a cocoon in which
they remain for one week to one year. When in this cocoon stage the
young flea is invulnerable to any kind of insecticide and to low, even
freezing, temperatures. Only sufficient warmth and the presence of a
host can cause them to emerge. This long cocooning period explains why
fleas are so difficult to eradicate.
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