Without a host like a cat or a
The good news is, the fleas in your house are most likely to be cat or dog fleas, so although they will bite humans, they don't consider us a suitable host to live and breed on (they prefer dogs and cats). This means, eventually they'll just die off.
When it has a host, an adult flea can live about 100 days. But how long can they live without a host? Those fleas typically live only one to two weeks. The entire lifespan of a flea, from egg to adulthood, can last a few weeks or even a few months.
You might be asking yourself will fleas eventually go away? While some could last 2 – 3 weeks, they could also live for up to 12 months on the host it finds, so it is unlikely they will go away on their own. Fleas can also reproduce very quickly by laying eggs in carpet, bedding, or garden prolonging the infestation.
A red halo is often visible around the center of the bite. Fleas like to hide on your pet's neck, ears, back, belly, and near the base of the tail. On humans, you are likely to notice bites on legs and ankles. You may also find flea bites around your waist, armpits, groin, and in the folds of your elbows and knees.
Fleas can be brought into your bed from pets or humans and through infested clothing or furniture. They do need a host to survive since they feed on blood, so it's unlikely that fleas can live on your bedding or mattress for more than a week or two without an animal present.
It can take up to 3 months to break a total flea life cycle by using monthly flea treatments. For indoor flea control, vacuuming all floors, carpets, baseboards, pet bedding and furniture will help remove adult fleas and eggs.
Hair loss, dry skin, and lesions in the areas where your pet is scratching could lead to infection and more severe diseases if fleas are left untreated.
How Long Do Fleas Live In Your House? The average life cycle of a flea is about 100 days, but fleas' lifespans can be quite variable. If conditions are favorable, these insects can even live indoors for up to a year!
The mixture of the warm water of your washing machine and the detergents that you use should be enough to kill most of the fleas and eggs that have taken up residence in your laundry.
Wildlife like skunks, squirrels, raccoons or opossums, can leave behind adult fleas or flea eggs when they spend time around the house, in the attic or your crawl space. Mice and rats can transport fleas into your home.
They may come through with an old piece of furniture or clothing and skin of a person who already has been infested. Fleas typically don't use humans in particular as hosts, but they may travel through us. But fleas don't necessarily need hosts to enter our homes.
- As a general rule if you can pick fleas off an animal relatively easily; they are already slowing down and are busy dying. Healthy fleas are too fast to catch. Nothing can stop new fleas jumping from the environment onto a flea treated animal, and it can be hard to tell where they have picked them up from sometimes…
It's hard to know when the immature stages are gone, because they are hidden in the environment. One way is to place a flea trap in hot-spot rooms. Traps are useful for monitoring populations of newly emerging adults. Without pets (and with an IGR sprayed) there should be no more new eggs.
In just 30 days, 10 female fleas can multiply to over a quarter million new fleas in different life stages. Female fleas start producing eggs within 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 50 eggs per day. Optimum conditions for flea larvae are 65-80 ºF with shaded areas and high humidity.
Fleas are bad for your house and your health
While this is more likely to become a problem if you do have pets, fleas in a house without pets can cause serious problems for your family. A flea infestation should be taken care of as soon as possible.
The most obvious is if your dog is itching and scratching more than normal. You might also see tiny black specks (called flea dirt) in his fur or bedding. Flea dirt can turn a dark red-brown color when sprinkled with a little water. Running a flea comb through your dog's fur can also reveal fleas.
A recommended chemical product to control fleas on pets would be Petcor and Martin's Prefurred. Petcor 2 Flea and Tick Spray is a pyrethroid-based chemical product that has an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) that will kill the undeveloped stages of fleas (eggs, larval, and pupal) for a month on cats or dogs.
Getting rid of fleas is a difficult process due to the long lifecycle of a flea. Moderate to severe infestations will take months to control and require a four-step process for complete elimination: Sanitation.
Experts in multiplication
At a rate of 40 to 50 per day for around 50 days, a single female flea can produce 2,000 eggs in her lifetime. Flea larvae burrow deep into fabrics, bedding, and carpeting, so thorough, regular vacuuming and cleaning of your pet's bedding (in very hot water) is recommended.
Some of the best ways to get rid of fleas at home include cleaning bedding, vacuuming regularly, and wiping down floors and skirting boards to help destroy fleas at each stage of their lifecycle.