The Flea Life Cycle

Understanding the flea life cycle is the first step making sure fleas will be gone permanently.  If you don’t focus on all of the fleas life cycle stages, when treating your home and pets, you will see the problem come back, most likely worse than before!

Watch The Video Below to Help You Fully Understand The Flea Life Cycle:

As you can see the flea life cycle is a vicious cycle and very difficult to get under control if you have an outbreak in your home.  Keep reading on for a more detailed look at all of the fleas life cycle stages and to understand the breakdown of the stages during an infestation.

Fleas Have 4 Stages in Their Life Cycle:

1.  Egg
2.  Larva
3. Pupa
4. Adult

The Flea Population Breakdown During an Infestation is:

• 50% Egg
• 35% Larvae
• 10% Pupae
• 5% Adult

When you have an infestation you have all 4 stages of fleas in your home and will need to address all of the issues to completely rid your home of the fleas.  Below you will find a detailed description of each of the fleas life stages.

What Are The 4 Stages of The Flea Life Cycle?

1.  The Egg:  This the the first stage of a fleas life.  The flea egg is the size of a grain

of salt.  A flea egg can take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks to hatch, depending on the environmental conditions.  

The warmer more humid air is ideal for a flea egg to hatch, cooler less humid temperatures may cause the flea egg to take a little more time.

2.  The Larvae:  When the flea egg hatches it is in the larvae stage.  During this stage the flea larvae are blind and avoid sunlight.  A flea egg can take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks to hatch, depending on the environmental conditions.  

The warmer more humid air is ideal for a flea egg to hatch, cooler less humid temperatures may cause the flea egg to take a little more time.

The flea larvae only measures 1-2 millimetres in length, making it hard to see with the human eye.  After hatching, the larvae will go to a dark space, under furniture, deep into carpeting or anywhere it can stay in the dark but still remain warm.

To survive, the flea larvae eat droppings from the adult flea, known as “flea dirt”.  The larvae stage lasts approximately  5 days to 2 weeks, depending on the environmental conditions.

3.  The Pupa:  The 3rd stage of the flea life cycle is the  Pupa stage.  During this stage, the larvae wraps itself into a cocoon to continue its growth into an adult flea.

The pupa stage lasts about 1-2 weeks, before hatching into an adult flea.  When the pupa gets a sign that a host is near they will come out of their cocoon to feed.

Some examples of a sign they pick up on, alerting them that a host is near, are vibrations, excessive heat and carbon dioxide.  Any of these signs will trigger the flea to hatch and start eating for survival.

4.  The Adult Flea:  This is the final stage of the flea life cycle.  When the larvae gets a trigger that a host is near, it hatches as an adult. The adult flea will immediately look for its host.

An adult flea needs blood within hours of emerging from the cocoon.  If it goes longer than a few days without food it will die of starvation.

After the female flea eats she will lay her eggs within 24-48 hours.  She will lay approximately 50 eggs at a time and over 5000 eggs in her life span of 3-4 months.

How Can You Stop The Flea Life Cycle?

To stop the flea life cycle in your home, you will need to treat not only your pets but your entire home inside and out.  If you only treat your pets, the fleas will remain inside your home and may become completely out of control biting you and your family members.

If you don’t also treat the outside of your home the fleas will continue coming inside of your home through other hosts aside from just your pets.  The adult flea can catch a ride undetected inside your home from the outside on humans and even items that get brought inside and outside of your home.

To completely get rid of the fleas and all of its life stages, read the articles below and follow the steps given.

Find Step by Step Instructions to Get Rid of Fleas by Following These Links:

• Get Rid of Fleas on Your Dogs
• Get Rid of Fleas on Puppies
• Get Rid of Fleas on Cats
• Get Rid of Fleas on Kittens
• Home Flea Removal
• Outside Flea Removal

If you have any questions or information you’d like to share, please leave a comment below.  We’d love to hear from you! 🙂