TIARA Standard Poodles

Life Cycle

Fleas prefer to spend their entire adult life on their host but obviously are shaken loose during the activities of the host animal (jumping, running, scratching, grooming.) Inspection and vacuuming of a home should always be thorough. Hotspots that often require extra attention are usually where pets frequent. Adult fleas, flea eggs and future food for larvae all fall off of the host in the same general area. Being sensitive to light, the larvae are usually close by but underneath or behind objects.
Put your knowledge of the adult flea habits and the complete flea life cycle as the major tool in flea management.

Fleas pass through a complete life cycle of four stages.

The flea population is typically
made up of 50% eggs,
30% larvae, 15% pupae and only 5% biting adults.

Completion of the life cycle from egg to adult varies from two weeks to eight months.

Normally the female flea lays about 15 to 20 eggs per day up to 600 in a lifetime.

Usual hosts for fleas are dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, foxes, chickens, and humans.

Eggs loosely laid in the hair, drop out where the pet rests, sleeps or nests (rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, cat or dog boxes, kennels, sand boxes, etc.)

Eggs hatch in two days to two weeks into larvae found indoors in floor cracks & crevices, along baseboards, under rug edges and in furniture or beds.

Outdoor development occurs in sandy gravel soils (moist sand boxes, dirt crawlspace under the house, under shrubs, etc.) where the pet may rest or sleep.

Larvae are blind, avoid light, pass through three larval stages and take a week to several months to develop.

Their food consists of digested blood from adult flea feces, dead skin, hair, feathers, and other organic debris. (Larvae do not suck blood.)

Pupa mature to adulthood within a silken cocoon woven by the larva to which pet hair, carpet fiber, dust, grass cuttings, and other debris adheres.

In about five to fourteen days, adult fleas can emerge or may remain resting in the cocoon until the detection of vibration (pet and people movement), pressure (host animal lying down on them), heat, noise, or carbon dioxide (meaning a potential blood source is near). If no stimulation occurs, adult fleas may lie in wait in their cocoons for up to a year.

Most fleas survive the winter
in the larval or pupal stage
and grow best during warm, moist winters and spring.

Adult fleas cannot survive or lay eggs without a blood meal, but may hibernate from two months to one year without feeding while remaining in their cocoons.

There is often a desperate need for flea control after a family has returned from a long vacation or moves into a previously occupied home. The house has been empty with no cat or dog around for fleas to feed on, yet even a few may have been present when they vacated. While no family or pets are on the premises, flea eggs hatch and larvae pupate. The adult fleas fully developed inside the pupal cocoon remain in a kind of "limbo" for a long time until a blood source is near. The family returning from vacation is immediately attacked by waiting hungry hordes of fleas. (In just 30 days, 10 female fleas under ideal conditions can multiply to over a quarter million different life stages.)

Completely developed adult fleas can live for several months without eating,
as long as they do not emerge from their cocoons.

Newly emerged adult fleas live only about one week if a blood meal is not obtained.

Optimum temperatures for the flea's life cycle are 70°F to 85°F and optimum humidity is 70 percent.

Breaking the cycle with an Insect Growth Regulator like Precor or drying out the environment with Boric Acid Powder, not just killing the few adults is the secret to flea control. It is our recommendation that you contact a professional that uses either of the products listed above and have your home environment treated under contract of guarantee. Make certain the company is licensed and bonded. Ask groomers and veterinarians in your area for referrals.