At the mention of apartment fleas, many frown, mistakenly believing that these parasites infest only in unsanitary conditions.
In fact, even elite residences are not insured against uninvited guests.
Let's take a closer look at these parasites.
Where do apartment fleas come from?
Under room fleas mean about 30 species of bloodsucking insects up to 5 mm in size, parasitizing in a dwelling. In most cases, parasites bring pets but this attack may appear in apartments where animals have never been kept. Where do apartment fleas come from?
The main sources of infection are:
- Pets (cats, dogs, guinea pigs, ornamental rabbits, etc.);
- rodentssettling in basements and attics;
- rooms with high humidity (porches, basements, sewer niches).
The sources of the appearance of bloodsuckers in private homes are similar, to them is added also roof or cellarwhere favorable conditions are created for the breeding of insects (mud, dampness).
Unlike lice, apartment fleas do not live on the human body due to the absence of a favorable habitat (wool, pile). The exception is the head of hair, but fleas linger there for a short time, because they are not comfortable moving between long hair.
But this does not mean that the neighborhood with apartment fleas is absolutely safe.
First of all, fleas, like all parasites, feed on blood, which means that when approaching any warm-blooded creature (human or animal), the insect tends to move to it and bite. SecondlyThey carry several dozen diseases, including:
- typhus;
- encephalitis;
- hepatitis C.
Also, when hypersensitivity to bites develops an allergic reaction to insect saliva. Its consequence can be a sharp jump in body temperature to + 40 ° С, fever, and anaphylactic shock.
How to distinguish from other parasites?
Often apartment fleas confused with head lice. But these parasites differ both in body structure and color.
Lice are gray or light brown in color, whereas fleas are black, shiny. In addition, the body of the parasite is narrower, the legs differ only from the back, while the limbs of the louse are located closer to the head.
Finally, apartment fleas are much smaller. At first glance, they look like tiny grains of black.
IMPORTANT: Determine the presence in the room apartment fleas is easy. It is enough to put a sheet of white paper on the floor and watch it for a few minutes. If black specks appear on the paper, which will disappear, if you move the sheet, it means that the parasites have settled in the room.
In addition, to determine the presence of bloodsuckers in the house can be on their own skin. If on the lower extremities are visible chained bites, similar to mosquitoes, with small hemorrhages in the center - it means your fleas have already tasted fleas.
Fresh parasite bites look like little pimplesfilled with white liquid that turn red for several hours. The bites are quite painful., the affected place itches intensely for a while.
How long do they live?
The average duration of the life cycle of an apartment flea is 2-3 months. During this period, the insect is able to bite a person or animal up to a hundred times and lay up to 500 eggs. It is noteworthy that the existence of parasites in the apartment directly depends on the temperature regime.
With the usual microclimate for a house or apartment (28-30 ° C), parasites can live up to three months. If the temperature rises by 7-10 degrees, the life cycle of insects is reduced by 3 times. A flea lives only three or four weeks, but during this time it has time to lay several hundred eggs.
On the contrary at low temperatures (from 10 ° С to zero) insects live twice as long averages.
Apartment fleas do not settle on bare parquet or linoleum. Places of their dislocations are fleecy surfaces or pet hair. Most often they inhabit:
- in pet bedding;
- in floor carpets;
- in soft toys;
- for plinths;
- in old junk boxes.
This means that even in the absence of people in the room for a long time, the parasites will not become extinct from starvation or will move to another place. As soon as a warm-blooded creature appears in the immediate vicinity of the insect, the insect will come out of hibernation and bite it.
Due to the large variety of means for breeding apartment fleas, dividing living space with parasites is not necessary. It is desirable to fight bloodsuckers immediately after their discovery, until the number of egg-laying and larvae has increased significantly.
