Can Fleas Drink Blood?

Fleas drink blood. These insects are parasitic, and their diet consists of human blood. Fleas feed by piercing your skin with their mouth parts and sucking blood. They then regurgitate the blood back into your skin. Fleas can carry various diseases to humans and animals. Some of these diseases include cat scratch fever, bubonic plague, and typhus fever.

The life cycle of fleas can last up to 100 days without a host. Without a blood meal, the fleas cannot lay eggs, and their population would decrease. After a blood meal, a female flea will lay about 40 eggs a day. The eggs hatch within a couple of days of the blood meal.

Fleas can feed on up to fifteen times their body weight in blood. They have been known to consume 13 microliters of blood each day. Despite their small size, fleas tend to overfeed, and after a blood meal, their color can turn purplish.

Fleas lay about 20-50 eggs after feeding on your pet. Flea eggs are smooth and ovular and whitish. A fertilized adult female flea can lay up to 800 eggs during her lifetime. Flea eggs are often deposited onto the skin or hair of their host. They are usually dropped on the area of your pet where it spends most of its time.