July 2nd, 2018 by Chris Chapman

Fleas are one of the country’s most common pests and are found the world over. While the problems they cause in the UK are limited thanks to modern hygiene standards and modern science, they’re still common enough that you should be aware of them as a flea infestation is no joke. So how much do you know about the bloodsucking beasts? Read on to test your knowledge with these fascinating flea facts.

1. They’re Older Than We Are

Humans have been studying fleas for centuries (they even get a namedrop in the Bible), but they’ve been around for much longer than that - fleas have been on the planet for roughly 100 million years. We’ve only been here for the blink of an eye in comparison – a mere 200,000 years! This speaks to the fleas' resilience and adaptability, something which sees them survive today even in societies like ours with our advanced flea-killing measures! This means you should always be on the lookout for signs of fleas, as they have 100 million years of experience on you!

2. Fleas Used to be Enormous

The oldest fleas we’ve found evidence of were up to 10 times larger than the fleas of today and were absolutely horrifying! These super-fleas had extra-tough mouthparts to help them break through the tough skin of the dinosaurs they fed on. Thankfully, these fleas couldn’t jump – this evolved at an unknown point in history.

3. Fleas Lay Lots of Eggs

A female flea can lay around 2000 eggs over her lifespan. Contrary to popular belief, they only actually lay eggs on a host animal, like a cat or a dog. However, these eggs will usually fall off the host and spread into carpets, sofas, and beds. This is how flea infestations can quickly take over a home if conditions are right – even if you treat the area and kill every last flea, there could be thousands of eggs just waiting to hatch to infest your home all over again! Use some Biopren spray, which will stop flea eggs from hatching in the first place.

4. They Drink a Lot of Blood

You never end up with just one flea bite – fleas are extremely bloodthirsty and can suck up 15 times their own body weight in blood on a daily basis. Female fleas will usually lay eggs within 2 days of its first meal. However, fleas are resilient and can survive for over 3 months without a blood meal if they have to!

5. They Love Humidity

You might think that fleas don’t like the damp, but they actually thrive in high humidity. Most fleas love the heat, but hot, dry areas don’t tend to have much of a problem with fleas. Warm, humid areas, on the other hand, are a hotbed of flea activity. Humid conditions speed up the flea lifecycle, meaning they’ll quickly breed and grow their numbers. This is something to be aware of come the summer!

6. They’re Year-Round Pests

While fleas are much more common during the warmer, more humid summer months, they can survive during colder weather too. They wouldn’t have been around for so long if they couldn’t! As long as fleas have a regular supply of blood from any animal (including humans – fleas aren’t picky!), they can survive in some pretty harsh conditions. Some species of flea, such as the Antarctic flea, can survive for up to 9 months under ice and snow.

7. They Caused the Black Death – and We Helped Them

Anyone who remembers their history lessons at school will probably remember all about the bubonic plague outbreak that hit Britain in the 1600s, which was commonly called the Black Death. You probably know that fleas spread the plague to humans, but what you might not know is how humans helped the fleas to spread! People back then believed the plague was spread by stray cats and dogs so they’d cull any that they found. In reality, the plague was spread by fleas that lived on rats, and with less stray cats and dogs to keep the rats in check, their populations exploded along with the fleas who fed on them!

8. Fleas are Great Jumpers – and Here’s Why

Fleas can jump around 12 inches, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but that works out to over 150 times a flea’s body length! Most people know this about fleas already, but what many people don’t know is just what makes fleas such great jumpers. The secret lies in a natural protein called resilin, which is one of the most elastic substances known to man. It’s extremely bouncy and (as the name suggests) resilient. Fleas have a big lump of resilin at the top of their hind legs, and studying this could have huge implications for science, engineering, and medicine!

9. Their Lifecycle Isn’t Set

Fleas have a variable lifecycle, which makes them particularly tough to get rid of. Most insects have a set lifecycle which has several stages, from an egg through to a larva and into adulthood, sometimes with stages in between. Fleas have four stages to their lifecycle; an egg, a larva, a pupa (a cocoon that allows the flea to transform), and an adult. As we mentioned earlier, humid conditions will speed up a flea’s lifecycle, whereas colder or drier weather will prolong it. If conditions aren’t perfect, a flea can delay moving onto the next stage of its lifecycle. This means you should always treat your home a second time to make sure you get rid of all of them!

10. Fleas are Deaf and Blind but Are Great Navigators

Fleas don’t have ears and, while they do have eyes, they’re pretty much blind. Instead, fleas navigate by sensing heat, light, and the magnetic field of the Earth. If it can’t sense a host nearby, a flea will always begin to hop to the north. This means that, in ancient times, fleas were often used as a navigational tool. Vikings who were lost at sea would catch the fleas that infested their bodies and put them down on their boat. The flea would point them north, allowing the lost sailors to find their way!