Fleas in House

The flea species Pulex irritans has been called the Human Flea, not because it is half-man half-flea, but because it is known to pester human beings. However, these parasites aren’t limited to people, but also prey on other animals, from domesticated ones such as cats, dogs and chickens, to even foxes, wolves, monkeys, squirrels, deer, bats, rodents and others.

In fact, the human flea may as well be named the pig flea, as it seems to particularly infest pigs. Human fleas usually breed in abundance at pig-sties, which would make pig-farm workers especially susceptible to them. As such, they frequently occur in farm areas, and infestations in domestic settings are thus rare, but not impossible.

As with other species of fleas, human fleas are wingless insects, black to brown-black in color, and measure 1-4 mm in length as adults. The female human flea is capable of laying hundreds of eggs in its lifetime, typically laying 4 up to 8 eggs for every time that it feeds. Each measuring 0.5 mm in length, the light-hued oval-shaped flea eggs are deposited on the host’s body, as well as on their nesting places or beddings. Other places where these eggs may be found are on carpet edges, sofas, kennels and floor crevices. It usually takes only 10 days at the most for flea eggs to hatch.

Once the eggs hatch, the young human fleas first emerge as larvae. They start out at a length of 1.5 mm, but eventually grow up to 5 mm. At this stage in their development, they are worm-like in form, hairy and somewhat whitish in color, but with a particularly brownish-hued eyeless head. Flea larvae possess 3 thoracic segments and 10 abdominal sections each having singular rows of bristles. Having no legs, it is these bristles that they use to move themselves.

While the larvae of certain flea species are required to feed on dried blood, those of other species don’t need to, instead feeding on the various traces of organic refuse in the area where their eggs had hatched in. They can even nourish themselves on their own sloughed-off skin. The larvae thrive in highly-humid environments, and then from within 1 week up to a number of months, they would retreat into their cocoons, which are covered with particles of dust and sand so as to camouflage them to the ambience of their surroundings.

The flea cocoon, or pupae, are colored white at first, but eventually shift to a brownish colorization just before the emergence of the adult flea. In ideal conditions, it would only take 1 to 2 weeks for an adult flea to emerge, but unfavorable circumstances can cause the pupal stage to extend for as long an entire year. As long as this period may be, mature fleas can survive without feeding for lengthy durations. The life cycle of a flea can even take as long as a couple of years depending on its species and the climate.

Fleas in general and human fleas in particular cause more harm to people and animals alike than just giving them a bad itch. As they feed on blood, they also acquire whatever diseases their hosts have and end up transmitting them to others as they hop from one host to the next. Small these creatures may be, but the danger they pose to everyone’s health certainly isn’t.

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