The Flea's Life Cycle

Did you know the flea's life cycle has four stages? Those dark specks jumping around on your dog are the adults, which account for only 5% of the average flea population. What do the other 95% look like? Let's find out!

Let's Start With The Adult Stage
of the Flea's Life Cycle

That's how the flea gets a free ride into your house, along with a free meal (the first of many!).

They can even jump from one dog to another.

So if one Golden Retriever in your household has fleas, it's a safe bet that his buddy is playing host to the pests, too.

To keep the flea's life cycle going, adult fleas who have had their first blood meal must eat every 24 hours.

For that reason, most adult fleas will remain on their food source, which is your dog or another warm-blooded animal.

Once on the host, the female flea takes two or three blood meals a day and gets busy right away laying eggs.

Second Stage of the Flea's Life Cycle -- Eggs

The flea eggs are white and roundish. Seen with the naked eye, they look like large grains of salt.

The female flea actually sucks much more blood than she needs for herself. That's so that right along with the eggs, she can deposit a large amount of flea feces, often called "flea dirt," which serves as food for her babies. (I hope you aren't trying to eat dinner right now.)

These eggs aren't sticky, and they usually fall off your dog and end up in Fido's bedding and in your carpet, furniture, floorboards, grass and soil.

The Wiggly Third Stage of the Flea's Life Cycle--Larvae

Flea larvae happily take up residence in your home's carpeting, floor cracks and crevices.

They can also be found along baseboards, and in furniture or beds.

They feast on the flea feces left by their mother (rich in dried blood, as you'll recall).

They also eat pet dander and other organic matter found in the carpet and bedding.

Depending on the amount of food present and the environmental conditions, the larval stage lasts about 5 to 18 days (longer in some cases), then the larva spins a cocoon and becomes a pupa.

Winding Down the Flea's Life Cycle--The Pupae Stage

The adult flea can emerge from the cocoon as early as 3 to 5 days, or it can stay in the cocoon for a year or more, waiting for the right time to emerge.

When is the right time? (Never, say pet lovers everywhere!)

A flea's pupae can lie dormant for months, and then hatch when the climate is ideal.

Your warm home provides a perfect year-round environment for fleas.

But these insects have survived for thousands of years in a wide range of less friendly environments.

The adult flea emerges from its cocoon full-sized and ready to go. When the flea senses vibrations, carbon dioxide, or warmth (which tell it an animal host is near), it pops out, looks around and immediately takes a leap.

Although fleas greatly prefer the flavor of dogs and cats, they'll settle for your ankle.

The length of a flea's life cycle can vary greatly, based on how long each stage lasts. The whole cycle can take anywhere from two weeks to two years, depending on the temperature, humidity, food, and species.

How Do I Know If My Dog Has Fleas?

Look for bits of brown "flea dirt."

When you wipe them with a wet paper towel, they dissolve into a red liquid (because it's digested blood).

If you see small, fast-moving brown shapes, chances are they're fleas.

You should also check your Golden's bedding for the presence of flea dirt or adult fleas (the easiest stage of the flea's life cycle to spot).

It's also easy to find out if you have fleas in the home. Just put on a pair of white socks and walk around on your carpet and wood floors for a couple of hours. If you end up with black specks on your socks, it's a good bet you have fleas.

Double-check by scraping the specks onto white paper and wet the paper with water. If the specks turn red or reddish brown, they're flea feces filled with blood. Yep, you've got fleas in the house!

Types of Fleas

Dog fleas are the next most common, and feed on humans, cats, and other animals, as well as dogs.

Hedgehog fleas are occasionally found in Great Britain, and human fleas are rare on both continents.

Sticktight fleas, or Tropical hen fleas, don't jump around on their hosts like most of the fleas we see. Instead, they burrow into the skin, lay eggs, and live out the whole flea's life cycle in one place (creating skin ulcers in the process). Fortunately, sticktight fleas are more commonly found on birds than dogs.

What Do Fleas Look Like?

All fleas are wingless, so their main mode of travel is jumping.

Fleas have six legs, and their hind legs are very long and powerful, making them one of the most proficient jumpers in the world, able to jump 200 times their own length.

Fleas are usually black or brownish-black and less than 1/8 of an inch (3mm) long. Viewed closely, the flea body is hard and shiny, and as tough as it looks. (If you've ever tried to kill one just by squeezing it, you know what I mean!)

Flea Problems

Adult fleas are more than just a nuisance to people and their pets. They can also cause medical problems like flea allergy dermatitis and tapeworms.

You need to apply whatever flea solutions or home remedies would be most helpful for your particular situation. Of course, flea prevention is still the best way to go.

A flea needs a blood meal to live and reproduce through the flea's life cycle. That means flea bites always puncture the skin.

It's actually the flea saliva, rather than the bite itself, that causes extreme itching in dogs and people who happen to be sensitive to the saliva.

Somehow, it doesn't seem to matter what actually caused the itching. Any time you get fleas on humans--or dogs--it just gets doggone itchy!

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