A family firm with over thirty years pest control experience in the Teddington area
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All adult fleas are parasites of warm-blooded animals and birds. They are flat from side to side and have a long pair of hind legs, which are well adapted for jumping. The most common flea in the U.K. is the cat flea but they can also live on dogs, humans, etc. Their mouthparts are adapted for piercing and sucking. They are not known to spread disease, but can cause a painful bite. Because of the life cycle of the flea, controlling them is a long and difficult process. Fleas can only reproduce after having a feed of blood from their specific host.
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The female flea can lay as many as 25 eggs per day, which means that during her lifetime of approximately one year, she may lay a total of 800-1,000 eggs. The eggs develop into larvae in about 5 days. After 3 weeks the larvae spin a silk cocoon in which to develop into the adult. After about 2 weeks in the cocoon the adult is now ready to leave but can only do so if a suitable host is available, if no host is available the adult flea can stay in the cocoon for up to one year. The whole process from egg to adult takes about 4 – 6 weeks. Once the adults have emerged from the cocoon they normally live for 2 – 4 months if feeding regularly. Adult fleas can survive for over a year at lower temperatures. The adults are about 2 – 3 mm long; brown to red in colour and with a tough outer shell that makes them difficult to kill by squeezing. The adults spend some of their time on the host, but most of their time is spent in the host's bedding or regular resting-place from where they can climb or hop onto the host when they require feeding. Bites on you or family members can produce an allergic reaction. The typical symptom of a flea bite is a small red spot 5mm or so in diameter. In sensitive individuals, however, the response can be worse and the bite intensely itchy. |
