Many rashly believe that fleas live only on animals, for example, on cats and dogs, and without them they quickly die without a source of food. Practice also shows that the average person quite vaguely imagines how many fleas live: here the general idea of parasites is that they live very long. After all, it would seem that they are constantly crawling in the fur of animals, while nowhere in the apartment and on the pet itself can one find the dead fleas.
In reality, there are no long-livers among the fleas, and these insects live for only a short time, and the environmental conditions have a very significant effect on the life span of the parasite.
About the terms of life of fleas in different conditions, about exactly where adults live in the apartment of parasites and their larvae,and also how long they can live without food - we will continue to talk about this in more detail.
The lives of fleas
The average lifespan of an adult flea is 2-3 months. During this time, the insect usually manages to make about 60-100 bites on its victim, and the female lays from 400 to 500 eggs.
All of these figures are characteristic of the ideal conditions of the parasite's existence, and it is implied that the flea dies by its natural death. For different types of fleas such optimal living conditions are well-defined combinations of temperature and humidity. For example, rat fleas live for about 2 months at a temperature of 14-15 ° C and humidity of about 60%, and chicken fleas live the same period at 40 ° C and a relative humidity of about 80%.
Approximately the same number of fleas live in the apartment, provided that they are not fought with special drugs here and they receive constant access to food.
With an increase in the average temperature in the habitat period life fleas shrinking. At the limiting temperatures for each species (for ordinary feline and canine fleas in flats, this is 36-37 ° C) insects live only about three to four weeks.In this case, the development of their eggs and larvae proceeds much faster, and in general, the life cycle of fleas and the cycle of their reproduction is greatly reduced.
On the contrary, at low temperatures, the life expectancy of a flea is stretched out, and at the lower boundary of its species temperature range, parasites can live even up to one and a half to two years.
It is interesting
At high temperatures, fleas grow larger than the average representative of the species. On the contrary, when the temperature drops, they become shallow.
Flea breeding cycle also depends on temperature. Their larvae develop at optimal temperatures for about a month, at high temperatures - just over a week, and at extremely low temperatures - up to 8 months.
About two weeks later, eggs develop, about three weeks the insect stays at the pupal stage.
In general, “from egg to egg” the flea breeding cycle takes from 10 days to 1 year. And the life expectancy of one flea from egg to death can stretch from one and a half months to several years.
As a rule, in nature, fleas do not live long, even in comfortable conditions - they are constantly destroyed by the owners themselves, biting them out of wool. In addition, fleas are dying from their own infections and parasites.
It is interesting
At the pupal stage, fleas can experience very harsh conditions — frost, icing, severe droughts, and insecticide action. In theory, a flea pupa is able to remain viable for several years.
Due to this specific life cycle, a flea is able to survive very unfavorable environmental conditions, and sometimes many of its owners. So, for example, if an animal on which fleas feed on dies, insects almost instantly leave its body (fleas cannot feed on blood on a dead animal).
Fleas-long-livers, or when parasites beat records
In general, of all the fleas, the largest species live longer, parasitizing mainly on ungulates.
For about a year, the so-called “motley worm” lives on sheep - a Tian-Shan flea, reaching a length of 7 mm. Some fleas, parasitizing on northern animals, can fall into a prolonged stupor in the winter period of the year and live in general more than 14-16 months. At low temperatures for these species, their lifespan can be several years.
But about the terms of life of fleas in humans and animals should be said separately - in view of the established stereotypes, many incorrectly believethat parasites live on their owners constantly.
How long fleas live on humans and animals: debunking established myths
Scientists are well aware that human fleas do not live on. They also do not live permanently on other mammals, including domestic animals (although many people think that the main habitat of the parasites is the fur of cats and dogs). Fleas generally cannot live on their owners all the time - they need to multiply in calm and safe places, and the body of humans and animals is not suitable for this.
In humans, as in cats and dogs, fleas jump only to get enough blood. The entire feeding process, consisting of several bites, can last from a minute to several hours, and after saturation, the flea jumps off the animal. However, due to the large number of parasites it usually gives the impression that there are a lot of them on the animal and they, in fact, live here.
So, given that fleas do not live on animals and humans, they should be sought elsewhere in the apartment. Usually they hide in the litter on which the animal rests, in the carpets and behind them, behind plinths, in the crevices of the floor, in piles of garbage in the corners, among the old rubbish.Here they also develop their worm-like larvae.
Fleas rarely live in clothes, although if they are wound up in an apartment, they can be found in the closet. The main requirement for the place in which they are located is short and quick access to food (animal or human).
Although without food, fleas live long enough.
Parasites without a host: how long can fleas live without food?
Like many bloodsucking insects, fleas can go hungry for a long time. Feline and human fleasmost often attacking a person can go without food for several months, while maintaining mobility and not falling into anabiosis.
However, no matter how many fleas live without food, parasites cannot reproduce without constant reinforcement. A female flea for laying eggs must drink blood.
Thus, even without an animal or human, fleas can live long enough, but they cannot reproduce.
On a note
In practice, this means that if people and animals leave the apartment for several weeks or even months, the fleas will calmly wait for them and bite them immediately after returning. Do not expect that while the owners of the apartment will rest on vacation, the parasites will die from hunger.And the fleas living in cottages and in private houses quietly parasitize the rats and mice living here, and therefore even in the absence of a man do not starve for most of the year.
What determines the life expectancy of fleas?
In addition to low temperatures, other factors may also affect the longevity of fleas:
- Humidity - with low but tolerable humidity, fleas live a little longer, although the influence of this factor is not as significant as the effect of temperature.
- The presence of food. Fleas can go on a hunger strike for a very long time, while their life expectancy during a hunger strike also increases.
- The constancy of the physical parameters of the environment. In the case of regular temperature fluctuations, the parasites can periodically fall into a stupor, and in general, their lifespan increases.
It is always worth remembering that fleas are typical parasites whose breeding success is determined not so much by speed and timing as by the number of descendants of each individual flea. So, during the time of its relatively short life, each flea can easily become a great-great-grandmother for hundreds and thousands of descendants, and it’s not worth expecting that this process will slow down for some reason in a particular apartment.Therefore, when breeding fleas, you should carry out their total harassment, destroying both adult insects and larvae.
Only in this case, the parasites can be removed quickly and completely.
An example of how fleas from the basement populated all the high-rise apartments
An interesting video about the life, nutrition and reproduction of fleas
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Vacuuming the floor at the dacha ... Then I didn’t show up there for a long time, and after 1 year and 9 months I came to the dacha and cleaned the vacuum cleaner. So these creatures made themselves cocoons from dust and lived there. When the cocoon was crushed with your fingers, the flea jumped-jump))
In the article nonsense write? How can a flea live for 2-3 months without food, if it only lives for 2-3 months?
You read, read the article that a flea lives for several years, and in the end wrote 2-3 months. Although the article says that it is a myth.
I like the drum how much she lives, how to get rid of them?
That's it, all legs are stung, I can not sleep. There is no cat at home, and you enter the basement - they climb on you. And today I’ve slept for three hours a night, I was completely bitten, I thought I would stay without blood. And it itches, even the words do not explain it.
They can not stand wormwood, you can break and spread the branches on the floor at home.
It is a myth. Excellent endure it. All the floors of the apartment were covered with wormwood, he rubbed his feet with the juice of the stems of the wormwood - so what? Fleas as jumped freely, and jump, and feet bite right through the bitterness of juice dried on the legs.
Lies.Wormwood does not help.
They are derived elementarily. Checked on his apartment. They took a cat flea collar (we took a piece that was superfluous, that is, was longer than the one that was put on the cat's neck), scissors cut this piece into 5-6 smaller pieces and scattered on the carpet, where there were fleas. A day later, there was already "no one lived and did not bite his legs." Then they threw these pieces into another part, and then they just lay on the floor, on the carpets. It helped a lot.
Is it really that simple? )) I can not believe it.
Fleas got
Hate fleas
From the basement fleas moved into the apartment. Liquid Cooper helped. And inexpensive, by the way.
Shoe them all and listen where you ran ...
In our house, then, from the tramp of deafness! These creatures are everywhere, and itchy in the evening and at night the whole body, the torture of hell. I think the fleas came up with the Nazis!
We went to the vet, we were given a pill there and drops were dropped between the shoulder blades, this is enough for 12 weeks.I thought it would not help, but no - at night, they (fleas) died and fell. I removed from the bed in the morning and then found dead ones too. It helped very well, you only need to re-receive it again - and that’s it, fleas were gone.
Can you tell me which pills you used?
What kind of tablet is this? And how to use it?
I understood about cats, but about dogs - can we use collar pieces too?
In my opinion, they can not withdraw. We started with dichlorvos, then bought an ampoule in a pharmacy, diluted it, and baited it was useless. Then the powder in all corners did not help either. Now periodically process kerosene. How they lived, and live! For today, 14 caught. What to deduce now, I do not even know. We ourselves have all been bothered by this chemistry, and they are on the drum in general.
Our neighbor cat picked up fleas from the street. Fleas after some time, and we bred. In one evening, killed 8 pieces. There is a small child in the house. Placed everywhere wormwood, lemon peel, garlic - the result is zero. When these creatures began to jump into arrogant, called the service, poisoned by cold fog.I had to go to my parents for a while. Returned home, and the fleas both lived and live. And how to be, at least do not come back home.
On the contrary, fleas do not live in dry and hot rooms, they live and breed only in damp rooms with moist air! St. Petersburg has a very humid climate, so there is just paradise for them. Fleas there jump on the sidewalk in large quantities everywhere. We have a damp basement in our house, because in spring streams flow into it, and in the basement it is always dark, so it never dries out. After the lattices were placed on the basement vents, the basement ceased to be ventilated. Humidity in the basement has increased significantly! We have no cats in the basement for 10 years, as we have installed the grids. But in the basement a lot of fleas divorced, which spread to all floors in the house!
With dogs, a leopard got a good pick ...
I have a cat, a cat and kittens in my private house. Fleas are everywhere, even on the bed. A neighbor advised “Bars Forte” for dogs, an aerosol per 100 ml (costs 300 rubles). I sprinkled a kitten on my head and neck - the effect was visible after 4 hours.The fleas themselves fall, who have eaten the poison, and barely move. After 10 hours, I collected 30 fleas from the floor, they were already dead. Now I am going to spray all the animals and on the carpets a bit.