Sometimes people mistakenly believe that fleas from pets do not threaten humans at all. Contrary to popular belief, parasites do not die immediately without a main source of food. According to the general idea, such parasites live quite a long time and reproduce intensively. It is difficult to notice dead fleas, because most often fleas are found crawling in the fur of pets. The reality is such that there are no long-livers among representatives of the species. One adult can live no more than three months. Regardless of this factor, a short period of time is quite enough to cause harm to the reproduction of new offspring.
Animal fleas will not live on humans permanently. The insect jumps onto a food source only when hungry and looks for blood vessels. Environmental parameters also have a significant impact on the lifespan of the pest. In a couple of months, fleas can:
- Inflict one hundred bites on one victim;
- Lay more than 300 eggs, which will then hatch into larvae.
How long do fleas live?
In favorable conditions for life, fleas live up to three months, during which the female lays approximately 500 eggs. The most comfortable conditions for parasites are a temperature of 21-26 degrees above zero, and a humidity of about 80%. When the temperature increases by 10 degrees, the development of fleas almost doubles. A decrease in temperature, on the contrary, leads to a slowdown in the growth of insects and an increase in life expectancy up to 2 years.
The reproduction cycle of insects also depends on the temperature regime. At optimal temperatures, the development period of the larvae is one month, at elevated temperatures - up to 10 days, at very low temperatures - up to 7 months. Then the eggs develop within 14 days; the insect remains at the pupal stage for about 20 days. In general, the full development cycle lasts from 10 days to one year, and life expectancy - from 1.5 months to several years.
Long-lived fleas, or when parasites break records
In general, of all fleas, the largest species live the longest, parasitizing mainly on ungulates.
The so-called “variegated worm” - the Tien Shan flea, reaching a length of 7 mm - lives on sheep for about a year. Some fleas that parasitize northern animals can fall into prolonged torpor during the winter period and generally live for more than 14-16 months. At low temperatures for these species, their lifespan can be several years.
But about the lifespan of fleas on humans and animals, it should be said separately - due to established stereotypes, many incorrectly believe that parasites live on their hosts permanently.
How long do fleas live without food?
Fleas can go without food for about 2-3 months; their bodies are adapted to living in unfavorable conditions and the absence of a food source. But fleas cannot go on without food indefinitely, because they need fresh blood to reproduce and lay eggs.
When leaving the apartment with your pet for a long time, you should not expect that the fleas will die without the animal; they will definitely wait for the cat or dog to arrive and bite them. A peculiarity of country fleas and other types of fleas is their ability to sometimes feed on the blood of rats and mice, so they can wait for a long time for the owner with their pet.
Are fleas dangerous for humans?
The flea feeds on blood. To do this, she bites through the skin, injecting a substance into the wound that prevents the blood from quickly clotting. Along with saliva, pathogens that this parasite carries from other animals or people bitten earlier enter the wound. The wound is very itchy. A person scratches it, sometimes very hard, which causes the wound to increase in size and can become additionally infected. Cases of allergies to flea bites are quite common. In this case, the bite site becomes very red and swells. With multiple bites, a person’s body temperature may rise, general intoxication occurs, and fever occurs.
Fleas can cause the following diseases in humans:
- brucellosis;
- dermatitis;
- dipylidosis;
- pseudotuberculosis;
- erythema, etc.
Fleas can also transmit typhus, anthrax, and helminths to humans.
All this means that fleas in the house can and must be fought.
Habitats of fleas in the apartment and in nature
In an apartment, dark and quiet places are suitable for insects to live:
- animal bedding;
- carpets;
- upholstery of sofas and armchairs;
- children's soft toys;
- old clothes;
- mattresses and bed linen;
- behind the baseboard and under the linoleum.
On the street, blood-sucking parasites choose places of residence with close proximity to animals that can provide them with a source of food (squirrels, rabbits, hamsters, rats, gophers, etc.). Places for living most often include garbage cans, sand heaps, basements, bird nests, and the burrows of some animals.
There are several types of domestic fleas that live in close proximity to humans:
- fleas of dogs and cats;
- mouse and rat;
- basement and ground;
- bed fleas;
- sandy.
Fleas are insects, although small, but they cause quite a lot of problems. Their bites are very painful and cause discomfort to the animal in the form of itching and irritation. In addition, these parasites are carriers of many unpleasant diseases. Therefore, it is important to get rid of them not only from pets in a timely manner, but also to remove them from all possible corners of the apartment.
Where do fleas come from?
Many people believe that fleas in the house are associated with pets. This is only partly true. Fleas can migrate from the street, from the landing, from neighbors. They can be brought from the street on your feet or shoes. The diet of these insects includes animal and human blood. A person will be able to guess that fleas have appeared in his home after he notices small bites on his body.
Where do fleas come from and what do they look like? These parasites can be up to 5 millimeters in size. Their body is flattened on the sides and has bristles. Thanks to such features, insects can easily, on the one hand, cling to animal fur, and on the other hand, move between the hairs. In birds, fleas can hide between feathers and in nests. Fleas have three pairs of legs and can jump distances that are many times their own size.
Flea bites are unpleasant because... cause severe itching, and in some - allergic reactions. In addition, fleas can carry diseases such as plague, hepatitis and others. Therefore, you need to get rid of them quickly.
Methods for eliminating fleas in animals
Pets must be treated first. There are many means for these purposes.
Special shampoos . The product is applied to the pet’s fur while bathing, after 3-5 minutes it is washed off with clean water, then the animal must be thoroughly combed.
Sprays and drops are very effective in controlling fleas. The drops should be applied to the animal's skin along the ridge to prevent the drug from being licked off. The spray is applied to the entire coat by spraying.
Anti-flea collars are used not only to get rid of parasites, but also as a preventive measure. Biological or chemical flea collars for dogs and cats can be purchased at veterinary clinics or pharmacies.
The basement is a favorable environment for parasites
Separately, it is worth mentioning the basements of private houses and high-rise buildings. Parasites can even appear in new buildings.
There is a concept called “basement fleas,” which includes all insects that can live in basements and be carried by animals and people. Most often these are rat or cat fleas. The opinion that there is no need to fight the insects living there is wrong. They are easily carried on the soles of shoes and in the folds of clothing. Plumbers, electricians and other people who must periodically go down to the basement for work, as well as the residents of the house themselves, can also become unwitting carriers. Mice and rats actively spread fleas. The fleas themselves don't sit still either. The need to feed forces them to climb ventilation and plumbing, and climb into housing through cracks in the floor.
To get rid of fleas in the basement, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the premises on the part of the management company (in high-rise buildings) and on the part of the owners and residents (in private houses). This is the elimination of leaks, broken windows and doors, and the extermination of rats. Flea control is also required.
Folk remedies against fleas in animals
- Treat your pet's fur with a solution containing essential oils of lavender and cedar (2 drops of oil per 500 ml of water). Spraying should be done daily for two weeks.
- Make a compress from a mixture of camphor alcohol, 3% acetic acid and regular cologne. Hold a plastic bag in the area of the cat's neck moistened with this solution. Then comb the coat well over a bowl of water.
- Dissolve regular table salt in warm water and keep the cat in it for about 10-15 minutes.
- Chop a couple of cloves of garlic and add half a glass of water, let it sit overnight, and rub the resulting solution into your pet’s skin.
- Combing the fur using baking soda; after the procedure, the animal must be washed.
- Treating the animal with lemon spray. Cut the lemon into several parts and boil in a liter of water. Leave the resulting liquid for 6-8 hours, strain and pour into a spray bottle.
After removing fleas from pets, it is necessary to carry out a general cleaning of all areas where parasites may live.
Dangerous representative of the flea family
An exception to all representatives of the flea family is the sand flea, which lives in the tropics. In her regard, it is quite appropriate to say that fleas also live on humans. The female sand flea bites into human skin and penetrates the capillary. Saturation ensures the rapid development of eggs, as a result of which the individual increases in size and is not able to leave the injection site.
An ulcer with pronounced swelling appears at the site of the lesion. The maturation of the eggs lasts from 5 to 7 days, after which the female shoots them, shrinks and most often dies, remaining in the epithelium. In rare cases, a female is able to leave the wound alive.
Room treatment
Today, the choice of products in stores to combat parasites is very large - you can find drugs in the form of aerosols, concentrated solutions, various powders and pencils.
Concentrates have the greatest effect and are low cost. One bottle of this product is enough to treat the entire apartment. However, the drugs are very toxic and have an unpleasant odor; the procedure must be carried out with gloves and glasses, in the absence of children and animals.
The most famous con, “Taran”, “Dobrokhim”, etc.
Aerosols in cylinders can be used to treat office and residential premises. They are not affordable for everyone, but they are very convenient and easy to use, and sometimes have a pleasant aroma.
The treatment should be carried out with the windows and doors closed; it is possible to ventilate the room 2 hours after the procedure.
The following brands are popular: “Raptor”, “Dichlorvos”, “Reid”, etc.
Powders and pencils : mainly used to remove flea larvae in places where they are most concentrated (basements, attics, cellars). They are low cost and have a good effect in getting rid of parasites.
You can purchase the following names: “Phenaxin”, “Tornado”, “Baygon”, etc.
If you are unable to cope with harmful insects on your own, you can use the services of a special service that will professionally help solve the problem quickly and reliably.
The preparations used by the services are highly toxic, so it is better to leave home for 2-3 days during treatment, and upon return, thoroughly wash the floors and wipe all surfaces with special products.
What determines the lifespan of fleas?
In addition to low temperatures, other factors can affect the lifespan of fleas:
- Air humidity - with low but tolerable humidity, fleas live a little longer, although the influence of this factor is not as significant as the influence of temperature.
- Availability of food. Fleas can go hungry for a very long time, and their life expectancy also increases during hunger strike.
- Constancy of physical parameters of the environment. In the case of regular temperature fluctuations, parasites may periodically fall into torpor, and in general their lifespan increases.
It is always worth remembering that fleas are typical parasites, the success of whose reproduction is determined not so much by the speed and timing, but by the number of descendants of each individual flea. Thus, during its relatively short life, each flea may well become a great-great-grandmother for hundreds and thousands of descendants, and you should not expect that in a particular apartment this process will slow down for some reason. Therefore, when removing fleas, they should be completely hunted, destroying both adult insects and larvae.
Only in this case can parasites be removed quickly and completely.
An example of how fleas from the basement inhabited all the apartments of a high-rise building
Methods of disposal
Parasites cannot live permanently on the body, head, or hair of people. To avoid blood-sucking attacks, repellents are used. There are also various preparations for killing parasites that should be used to treat premises.
In stores you can choose a suitable product that will help remove insects from your home.
Sprays and aerosols
Treatment with these compounds will protect even with a large concentration of blood-sucking insects.
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The most popular:
- Biban;
- Off-extreme;
- Gardex;
- Gall-Rat.
Aerosol Raptor is used to kill fleas in the house.
The insect repellent spray is distributed more evenly on the skin and clothing.
The aerosol helps to quickly get rid of parasites. The most popular is Raptor. Solfak, Tetrix, and Effective Ultra are also used.
After treatment, the home should be washed thoroughly to remove any remaining toxic substances. You cannot use the first disinfestation agent you come across, as this can lead to mutation of parasites, which will complicate further fight against them.
Powders and suspensions
Powdered preparations and suspensions give results a little slower. For spraying, use a special anti-dust tool for powder insecticides. The carpet is thoroughly vacuumed the next day.
Folk remedies
When you cannot use chemicals, you can resort to folk remedies. A mixture of vinegar and water in equal parts is an effective protection against fleas. The solution is used to treat wooden surfaces.
To repel blood-sucking parasites, dry wormwood with inflorescences can be placed in the corners along the baseboards.
Things to know
In order to understand in time what you are dealing with, you must know what flea bites look like on a person. This is the only way you can distinguish them from mosquito bites, bed bug bites, or an allergic reaction to food. Fleas cause the most discomfort when they bite. Allergic swelling may occur within a few hours. Its intensity will depend on the individual characteristics and inclinations of the person. In addition to the fact that the affected area itches, it also hurts a lot.
Since flea bites on humans look the same as mosquito bites, it is the pain of the bitten area that makes it possible to understand that this is a mark from another insect. Unlike mosquitoes, these bloodsuckers do not inject an anesthetic substance. Instead, only irritating saliva enters the body.
Do fleas bite people or not?
Fleas can bite people, most often on the feet, ankles and legs. They can bite three times in a row. This is called "breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Usually the first bites do not cause damage to the skin, but if a person is exposed to fleas for a long period of time, a hypersensitivity reaction may develop.
What does a flea bite look like on the human body?
The visual effects of flea bites can last for several days, but may get worse if you are more sensitive to the bites or if the area of the bite becomes infected.
