Female fleas start producing eggs within 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 40 to 50 eggs per day. These eggs drop off the host onto your carpeting, flooring, pet peds, etc… and can quickly infest your home. In fact, in just 30 days, 10 female fleas can multiply to over a quarter million new fleas in different life stages!
At any time, about 57% of the fleas are eggs, 34% are larvae, 8% are pupae, and only about 1% are present as adults1.
Why killing flea eggs and larvae is essential
Flea eggs and larvae are the first 2 of 4 stages in the flea life cycle. If these two are not terminated, then larvae will easily molt into pupae.
There are three physical cues that allow a pupae to turn into an adult flea:
- Vibration
- Pressure
- CO2 (released when you or your pet exhale)
Basically, cues let a pupae know that it is a good time to become an adult, because someone (dog, cat, you) is in the area. A pupae can remain alive an average of 6 months or more without receiving these cues, so why is this an issue? Here are some examples:
Scenario 1
Your dog had fleas last summer in your summer home. You treated it and killed all the adult fleas and closed the house down for the winter. You returned next summer and instantly your dog had fleas again. What happened? Chances are your carpet was full of pupae and once you opened the house up, they detected the cues and adult fleas literally jumped off the carpet onto your dog.
Scenario 2
You just moved to one of the Southern states in the US and your dog, who never had fleas, now does. What happened? Well, you need to know that optimal conditions for flea larvae are 65-80 ºF with shaded areas and high humidity. Chances are we just described your new environment.
So what does this all mean?
- You should always use a product like Hartz® UltraGuard Pro®, which not only kills adult fleas but also kills flea eggs and larvae
- You should always treat your pet, home and yard to ensure the best protection possible against flea infestations.
Quick Tips:
- If your pet has fleas, be sure to also treat its environment including the yard.
- Vacuum, Vacuum, Vacuum- to get all the flea pupae to molt into adults and be captured in the vacuum bag. (Be sure to change the bag each time)
- Use a product that clearly says it kills flea eggs and larvae, such as Hartz® UltraGuard Plus™ and Hartz® UltraGuard Pro® which contain an extra ingredient that targets pre-adult fleas.
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