12/21/2023 0 Comments Bugs that look like fleasFleas are also generally smaller, ranging in length from 1.5 mm to 3.3 mm. Fleas are also reddish-brown but have a more oval shape that appears skinnier and longer, rather than flatter.Bed bugs are reddish-brown, flat and seed-shaped.Here's how to tell if you've caught bed bugs or fleas: This will ensure it doesn't escape to bite again while also allowing you to examine the bug before showing it to your professional pest control experts. If you've captured one of these little assailants, immobilize the pest with a piece of clear tape. How can you tell bed bugs and fleas apart? While bed bugs have not been discovered to pass on human pathogens, fleas have the ability to spread diseases such as typhus, plague and cat-scratch fever. This helps them transfer between hosts and "hitch rides" to travel to new sources of food (i.e., you and your family). Fleas can jump almost 200 times their body length: 13 inches. They have to crawl across your bed to feed. One bed bug can lay 200 in a lifetime (approximately 10 months to one year).īed bugs do not fly or jump. One flea can lay between 150 and 300 eggs every week. Adult bed bugs can survive up to a year between feedings. While fleas can live several months without a host in the pupa stage, adult fleas can only live about two weeks. To this end, cats, dogs and other animals (including outdoor wildlife) are generally associated with bringing fleas into the home, as opposed to bed bugs, which are generally brought in by people. While both require a warm-blooded host to provide blood meals, fleas tend to prefer feeding on hairy or furry animals such as cats and dogs. What is the difference between bed bugs and fleas? However, depending on whether you have bed bugs or fleas, the most effective treatment will differ. But before you drive yourself crazy scratching, it's important to know which of the two nearly invisible arthropods you're dealing with. So, whenever springtails or fleas become a problem, contact Orkin for science-based, integrated plans for controlling these pests.Regardless of whether you're dealing with bed bugs or fleas, you want them gone from your home. However, springtails located inside a home may indicate moisture from a plumbing leak, leaking roof or some kind of a moisture source that caused mold and mildew. Springtails do not bite and their impact on homeowners is limited to being a nuisance. Sometimes fleas will cause hair loss on pets as the result of a pet’s continuous scratching and biting of their fur where the fleas are located.įleas are also transmitters of diseases for both pets and humans and may cause allergic reactions as the result of their bites. Damage and Health Implications Fleasįleas are important medical pests that cause painful bites that may become infected if not properly cared for. Springtails feed on mold and fungi and do not bite. They are very hard to see unless they jump. Springtails are usually outdoor critters, but if outside conditions become too dry for them, they will move inside where conditions are more humid. Springtails normal habitat is in the soil, but they can be found in other places where the moisture content is high. Infestations of fleas usually are the result of an infested pet that spends most of its time inside.įlea eggs are laid on the host and when the eggs hatch, the larval stage drops off the host and seeks a hidden, protective location to develop into the pupal stage.įlea pupa are immobile and when the pupal stage has sufficiently developed, they will become adult fleas, which will jump on a host, feed on blood and produce another batch of flea eggs. Biology and Habitat Fleasįlea adults are blood-feeding insects that have piercing mouthparts which enables the insect to bite. When springtails coil and release their furcula it causes the insect to be “launched” into the air and avoid a perceived danger. Springtails are multi-colored insects that jump by using a spring-loaded body structure called a furcula, which is located on their abdomen. They have strong, muscled legs that enable them to jump long distances relative to their size. They are compressed (flattened) from the top to the bottom of their body, a shape that enables them to easily move through the fur of their hosts. Appearance Fleasįleas are small, wingless insects and are reddish-brown in color. Despite both fleas and springtails possessing the ability to jump, there are many important differences between these two insects that will help to identify if you are dealing with a springtail or a flea.
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