How Much Do Fleas Multiply?

Fleas can be very irritating and can also cause serious health issues for animals. They can even carry diseases that are harmful to humans. Thankfully, most fleas can’t survive on your clothes. However, you should be aware of their life cycle. Here’s how they reproduce.

Fleas have a life cycle that repeats itself with only minor differences among species. The adult flea lives for about 100 days, or two to three months without eating. The female flea, meanwhile, can lay up to 2,000 eggs during her lifetime. Approximately 5% of fleas in your home are adult fleas, while the rest live as eggs or larvae.

Adult female fleas lay eggs after a blood meal on a host. These eggs are small, white, and usually fall off the pet when it moves. In an average home, an adult female flea can lay up to 40 eggs per day. Once the eggs hatch, they hatch into larvae in less than two weeks.

When fleas hatch, they feed on the host’s blood to reproduce. They cannot survive several generations without a blood meal. This makes the problem more difficult to control. If you have a pet or are living in a home with an infestation of fleas, it’s important to kill them. Fleas multiply very quickly and you must act quickly to eradicate the problem.