FLEAS
Fleas are a very real health hazard and are vectors of many diseases and fevers. Adult fleas account for only a tiny part of the flea problem. 95% of the problem is the immature flea stages which are the ongoing source of flea irritation in the home.
Most species move about a lot and remain on the host only part of the time to obtain a blood meal, which the female requires before producing eggs. They can jump up to 203 mm vertically and 407 mm horizontally.
Flea eggs account for about 50% of the problem as they fall off a host, like a pet everywhere it goes, and hatch on the ground, in nests or bedding, carpets, upholstery, or cracks in the floor. The eggs can contaminate a home very quickly hatching within 2 -10 days into eyeless, legless, active, wormlike larvae with 13 body segments and chewing mouth parts.
The next stage, flea larvae, represents about 35% of the flea population. They live in the base of carpet feeding on organic debris and spinning a silk-like cocoon covered with grains of sand, dust or other debris before they become pupae.
Fully developed fleas can remain protected in a cocoon to emerge 7 – 14 days later or can remain waiting for many moths for the right conditions to occur. Under adverse conditions this may be as long as a year.
Adult fleas are ready to mate and feed within 24 hours after emergence. Some flea species breed continuously, a generation taking only a few weeks in warm weather and a month or more in cooler weather. The adult flea represents only 5% of the flea population but is ready to lay eggs on their hosts again which fall off into a living area to develop yet again.
With irritation fleas, life can be uncomfortable. It is a fact of life that cats and dogs will have fleas, no matter what care and attention we give them. Left untreated, fleas can quickly get out of control. Once on a pet, fleas start feeding and begin breeding within 48 hours. A flea will lay up to 50 eggs a day and up to 2000 in a lifetime! With so many eggs being dropped from a pet’s coat into its living area, where they develop into adults, it’s easy to see how flea populations suddenly explode. Fleas are the most common cause of skin problems, and often responsible for causing allergies in dogs and cats.
To break the breading cycle the most effective means is to kill the flea eggs. The main problem months for flea activity are normally December through April.

 

Flea Treatment