Ten Fun Flea Facts You Might Not Know

The ordinary flea is a lot more interesting than one might think. Here are a few entertaining flea facts to expand your knowledge of these pesky little invaders.

Fleas belong to the arthropod family. This makes the flea a distant cousin of crabs, shrimp, starfish, scorpions, beetles and butterflies. There are more members of the arthropod family than any other animal family on Earth.
There are approximately 2000 different known kinds of fleas around the world. They live on mammals -- including humans – and sometimes on birds.
Adult fleas are parasites. They eat only the blood of warm-blooded creatures. If a flea can not find a host animal to feed on, it will die within a few days.
The outside of flea's body is covered with a hard exoskeleton. This shell protects them by making them very difficult to squish.
A flea can jump 200 times the length of its body. If you were a flea, you could jump over 2 football fields in one leap.

Fleas have special, turned-out claws on the end of their legs that allow them to do a “ninja-grab” on any passing critters as they are flying though the air.
Flea mothers lay up to 600 eggs per season in groups of about 20 eggs. Eggs will hatch within a day or two into small, white larvae.
Flea larvae are completely blind and are afraid of light. They hide in dark cracks, looking for food. In addition to old skin, hair and other organic matter, flea larvae also eat the feces of adult fleas.
Fleas are sensitive to temperature. Young fleas can stay inside their cocoon for up to six months, waiting for the weather to warm before they emerge as adults. They don't like to get too hot, though; you can kill fleas by washing their hiding places in very hot water.
Fleas are also picky about humidity. Flea eggs need more than 70% humidity before they'll hatch, and the flea larvae need to live in a place with at least 50% humidity. In dry areas, such as deserts, most fleas die long before they reach adulthood.

This flea facts article has been sponsored by http://www.animalloversforum.com – a free, family-safe, member-based site sponsored by Munster Animal Hospital. Pet owners and caregivers worldwide can join this growing pet forum and find free articles, meet animal-loving friends and find help for their animal issues.