Fleas form the order Siphonaptera and are wingless insects with adapted mouth parts that are used for sucking blood from their list of hosts primarily made up of mammals and birds. Some of the common types of fleas out of the 2000 species that are found all over the world are Cat Fleas, Dog Fleas, Human Fleas, Moorhen Fleas, Northern Rat Fleas and Oriental Rat Fleas.

They are usually dark in color and their long pair of hind legs allow them to jump really high, up to 18 centimeters in height and 33 centimeters in length. If a human could jump as well as a flea, one could jump as high as 160 feet and as far as 295 feet!

Contrary to their size, fleas have quite tough bodies and easily survive high amounts of pressure. This is why we often find that even mashing a flea between your fingers doesn’t kill it!

Flea eggs are laid in batches of around 20 and since these are mostly laid on the bodies of hosts, they are often found around the area where the hosts settle themselves. These eggs take anywhere between two days to a couple of weeks to hatch. Flea larvae primarily feed on organic matter, especially the feces of adult fleas. Their growth and survival depends upon the diet they get. With a good amount of healthy food, these larvae mature into pupae in a week or two after which they mature into adults in another couple of weeks.

A flea population is mostly made up of 5% adults, 10% pupae, 35% larvae and 50% eggs. In a lifetime, female fleas can lay up to 5000 eggs, so even if you find a few fleas around, a full-fledged infestation is always around the corner!