Many people are inclined to believe that fleas in an apartment can only appear with pets. And this is only if the pets walk alone and accidentally cross paths with street cats or dogs. If the owners walk with their pets and control their movement, then they will not be afraid of flea attacks. And what a surprise it is when these dangerous parasites are discovered in their home. The question involuntarily arises: where do fleas in an apartment come from and how to get rid of fleas in an apartment?
A flea bites a man
There can be a huge number of reasons why these parasitic animals appear in your home. They should be taken into account if you don’t want this misfortune to come to you.
But if fleas have nevertheless entered your apartment, then you need to take drastic measures, because they are not only annoying, but also quite dangerous . Fleas can transmit various diseases. Of course, you can try using folk remedies, but to ensure the destruction of parasites, you should turn to professionals .
Features of flea control
Fleas are wingless blood-sucking insects that can reach sizes up to 5 mm. Their body is flattened on the sides and has numerous spines and bristles. It is thanks to them that they have the ability to cling to clothing, including animal fur.
Fleas can even live on poultry, such as parrots. They are often found in the interwing space. In addition, fleas are able to live in burrows and nest substrates. With the help of three pairs of legs they can make significant jumps, which gives them the ability to move very quickly.
- It is incredibly difficult to crush a flea; it has a special flattened structure and a small head.
- With the help of long and strong legs, she is able to perform jumps up to 50 cm long.
- An adult insect is very tenacious; it can easily live without food for several weeks..
- The flea is distinguished by its high fertility, which ensures their rapid spread. One female can lay over a thousand eggs. After emerging from the cocoon, the female can be fertilized almost immediately. At the same time, just one meeting with a male is enough for her to subsequently lay eggs throughout her life. But for laying she needs fresh blood, as a result of which she will look for a victim.
Lifespan
How long do fleas live? The lifespan of a flea depends on its species and habitat, and can range from several months to three years. At elevated temperatures, when the air temperature is more than 30 C, the life cycle of the blocks is reduced by 40%. And at lower temperatures, the life expectancy of a flea, on the contrary, increases as its development slows down.
How long do fleas live without an animal or, in general, without a donor? Being outside the animal's body, the flea remains without food, but since these insects are capable of not feeding for a long time, the flea easily tolerates hunger for 30-40 days. At the same time, it can live for several months, although such a starving flea reduces its activity and stops reproducing.
Get rid of fleas in your apartment yourself
It is important to understand that getting rid of fleas on your own will require a lot of effort. This is especially true in cases. When owners have pets.
You should take care of your pets first. To do this, you will need to purchase special medications to rid your pet of fleas. In this case, after treatment, you should put an anti-flea collar on your pet, and also give it to someone you know while the premises are being disinfested.
After this, a thorough cleaning should be carried out. You should wash the floors with soapy water and wipe off the dust with a damp cloth.
Habitats
Where do fleas live? Strong, hardy, these insects are common everywhere, even in cold
Antarctica, where they can successfully parasitize the same penguins and seals. Most of their species live in the temperate and subtropical zones of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Fleas are active at any time of the year. They usually live near the nests and burrows of their potential donors: warm-blooded animals.
Apartment processing
To quickly get rid of fleas in an apartment, the treatment of the apartment must be thorough:
- you need to wash all the things you have. This applies to personal clothing, slippers, curtains, curtains, towels, blankets, and so on;
- you need to knock out pillows, mattresses and blankets on the street. It is advisable to “warm up” them in direct sunlight.
- You should use a powerful vacuum cleaner for upholstered furniture, paths and carpets. Pay attention to cracks and crevices in the floor, behind baseboards and in other hidden places;
- all surfaces of baseboards and furniture must be wiped with a disinfectant;
- you need to buy a specialized product - an insecticide.
However, we recommend that you consult with professionals.
There are many counterfeits or drugs on the market today that are simply not registered in our country. This means that there is a very high probability that they will be powerless in the fight against fleas or they will contain toxic substances that can harm the health of people and their pets. Some substances have a long-lasting effect and can accumulate in the body, leading to disastrous results, such as infertility.
After treatment with an insecticidal preparation, you should leave the apartment for several hours . After this, thoroughly ventilate all rooms by opening the windows. At the same time, you shouldn’t clean the apartment for a couple of days. During this time, it is advisable to move to another place.
If the remedy is effective, the adults will die. However, the struggle does not end there. It should be understood that in a week or two the problem will reappear. A new generation will appear and grow up and will also lay eggs. Therefore, it will be necessary to carry out several repeated treatments to avoid a new invasion. You need to act quickly and efficiently, this is the only way to prevent fleas from appearing again.
Many people, trying to get rid of fleas on their own, rarely achieve the desired result. The reasons for this are different: incorrect choice of drug, lack of repeated treatments, incomplete treatment, and so on. Therefore, the best option is to contact companies to carry out appropriate processing .
Interesting Facts
- In the 17th-18th centuries, fleas were so common among the French nobility that French aristocrats even had special items for catching fleas, so-called “flea traps,” which were small boxes like a medallion with a small hole into which fleas could accidentally fall.
- It was fleas that caused terrible epidemics of bubonic plague in the Middle Ages, which claimed many human lives. The plague fleas themselves were carried by rats and mice.
- Fleas are true jumping champions among insects; the length of a flea's jump can exceed the length of the flea itself by 100 times! Only cicadas jump further than fleas in relation to body length.
- The first serious scientific study of fleas began in the 19th century. A great contribution to their study was made by a certain Charles Rothschild, a wealthy English banker and part-time entomologist. He also collected the world's largest collection of various fleas, which is now kept in the British Museum.
Professional flea treatment for apartments
You should also approach specialists for professional treatment wisely. Only highly qualified employees can be guaranteed to rid your apartment of annoying and tenacious insects in a short time. At the same time, the cost of the services provided will be incomparable with the troubles you will have to go through trying to get rid of apartment fleas on your own.
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The advantages of professional processing are expressed in the following facts:
- specialists select the most effective insecticide , which will affect both adult insects and larvae and clutches. This way you can get rid of fleas in your apartment almost instantly;
- used for processing will be safe for residents and pets, which cannot be said about numerous store-bought drugs;
- For premises, only those preparations are used that will not affect the appearance of walls, furniture and other surfaces.
- Spraying of products is carried out using special equipment, which allows the chemicals to penetrate into the smallest cracks and secluded places where fleas can hide.
- Experienced exterminators know all the main places where parasites like to settle. They pay special attention to them, which allows them to destroy insects with maximum efficiency and eliminate the likelihood of their reappearance.
- Professional extermination of this type of insect will only take a few hours, while removing fleas yourself can take up to several weeks. In the latter case, there will be no guarantee that fleas will not appear within a couple of weeks.
- Professional treatment allows you to completely get rid of fleas in your apartment. In this case, a guarantee is given for the work to be completed within a certain time . This means that if fleas appear again after some time, re-treatment will be carried out free of charge.
- A visit to the site to carry out work on disinsection and flea disinfection in the apartment is possible immediately on the day of your request.
What substances are included in effective anti-flea products for the home and for animals?
When choosing a drug, it is worth considering that fleas, like many other insects, have a chitinous shell that protects them from the harmful effects of the environment. In the composition of the product for the destruction of parasites, you should pay attention to the following ingredients:
- Pyrethrins are a group of insecticidal components of natural origin that have a nerve-paralytic effect on insects. Low toxicity, can be used to rid pets of parasites (externally).
- Pyrethroids (permethrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, etc.) are compounds related to pyrethrins that have a more powerful effect. Toxic to humans and animals, affecting the nervous system. Before use, remove people and pets from the premises.
- Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid insecticide that paralyzes insects.
- Nitenpyram is a drug for internal use used to rid animals of fleas.
- Selamectin is a semi-synthetic drug. Suitable for treating adult, healthy pets.
- Fipronil - used to treat animal hair. It is characterized by fast and effective action.
At the initial stage of infection of a premises or during preventive treatment of pets, preference should be given to the least toxic substances.
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Author: Pavel Chaika, editor-in-chief of Poznavaika magazine
When writing the article, I tried to make it as interesting, useful and high-quality as possible. I would be grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism in the form of comments on the article. You can also write your wish/question/suggestion to my email [email protected] or Facebook, with respect, the author.
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Fleas.
What do parasites eat?
What do the fleas Pulex irritans, Ctenocephalides felis, Xenopsylla cheopis and other species of these insects eat every day? These small pests have a small mouth proboscis through which they drink blood from a particular animal or person.
Compared to many other bloodsuckers, for these insects blood proteins are the main food.
Both females and males are parasites. After puncturing the skin, the bloodsucker releases special specific substances that simultaneously stop blood clotting and activate blood flow.
Blood addiction threshold
When eating the blood of their “carrier” (cat, dog, etc.), at a certain point in time, fleas pass a specific point, after which they then need blood every day. This is similar to a person becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol.
How long do fleas live without blood? Removed from an infected cat or dog and after 5 days of feeding, male fleas quickly die after 48 hours, and females - 96 hours.
Such bloodsuckers live 14 days after leaving their owner, if the initial feeding time was 12 hours. After all, then the threshold for flea dependence on blood is not reached.
How long does a flea live outside an animal at extreme temperatures?
Cold and frost
Sub-zero temperatures are lethal to fleas. At temperatures just below zero, adults emerging from cocoons die within 5 days. At 3-5 degrees above zero, fleas die within 10 days. The lower limit of survival is +8 degrees - at this temperature, 50% of fleas survive for 20 days. So in winter, fleas cannot live outside without an animal. Immature fleas are more sensitive to cold than adults. Eggs and larvae will not develop if the temperature does not exceed +13 degrees.
Heat and dryness
Heat above 35 degrees is deadly for fleas. At low relative humidity, fleas die within 2 days. In addition, the larvae die inside the cocoons at this temperature. The flea population does not survive outdoors if the heat above +35˚C lasts more than 40 hours during the month.
