Where Do Fleas Hide? 7 Fleas’ Hiding Spots

Written by Ryan in Fleas,Guides

Where do fleas hide? – this article presents my quick and detailed response. The information will assist homeowners to track down the fleas and exterminate them. 

But how will fleas get to jump *(up to 33 cm) onto pets and humans? Well, the bugs detect movement, vibrations, and breath to know when humans and pets are around. 

Where Do Fleas Hide? Top 7 Fleas’ Hiding Spots

As those flea eggs begin to hatch and their larvae emerging, this flea stage will be about 35% of that flea population in your household – to remove those fleas from the home. 

1. On Furniture – Do fleas Hide on furniture?

Adult fleas will lay roughly 500 eggs in total – with their reproduction cycle taking about 2 weeks while these immature stages may hide on furniture and beds. 

  • But how long may the fleas survive on the couch or furniture? Well, when starved and without water (such as on the couch) it’ll die with 5 to 8 days. 

When the dogs & cats land on your room furniture (armchairs, and sofas) or bed, they may drop those fleas eggs with these locations allowing them to pupate easily. 

So, as you seek to control these fleas, you’ll need to inspect the bugs favourite hiding spots including the upholstered sofa, crevices & cracks. 

  • Therefore, flea steamers and vacuums will be an excellent solution for controlling the fleas – but ensure you get to those crevices & cracks on the furniture.

Alternative methods to control the fleas on that furniture include using a repellent scent – water in a spray bottle + cedar oil (5 drops) + lavender oil (5 drops). 

2. In Beds – Do fleas Hide in Beds?

Yes, fleas will hide and live in beds & bedding – but how do they get there? Well, the fleas on the beds mainly climb up to take a single blood meal or get dropped by pets sleeping on your bed. 

  • Mainly you’ll find the fleas on the mattress, pillowcases, and between sheets. 
  • But with limited washing or bedding change (for long), the immature fleas could develop into adults and become a massive bug infestation. 

The signs that your bed is infested with fleas include; finding oval-shaped, dark, and small spots on your light-coloured bedding plus your pets scratching frequently.

Removal

Fleas and their babies won’t survive in intense heat – and thus machine-washing the bedding – including sheets, pillowcases, and blankets at extreme heat. 

  • Vacuum clean these pieces – including on the carpets or rugs that could have some eggs and adult fleas. Finally, dispose of that vacuum filters and bags – prevents re-infestation.

So, if your pets including dogs & cats tend to jump on your/ or your kids’ bed, then you could have some flea eggs or adult fleas that fall off onto the bed and start maturing. 

3. On Pets – Do fleas Hide in Pets?

Thus, to effectively control the fleas and their larval stages, you’ll require to check where these bugs hide and live.

  • While the bugs are biting you, they’ll inject saliva to prevent detection. 
  • But the flea larvae are hatched blind – and they’ll search for warm, dark while avoiding light – so they’ll burrow on those bedding, furniture, and carpet. 
  • The flea larvae will seek places that suitable foods like organic and faecal matter, these materials will be the food for the flea larvae.

There are a number of flea species that’ll land on various pests such as human fleas, cats (cat fleas), dogs (dog fleas), rabbits, and various mammals. 

  • The adult fleas tend to dwell mainly on the pet’s coat – they’ll use their strong legs for gripping onto the animal’s fur. 
  • Therefore, the fleas will lurk around that food source (pet’s blood) since they have lower reproduction and survival rates away from the animals. 
  • Notable, female fleas will have lower egg production (of viable eggs) when they lack that blood supply from their favourite hosts. 

Removal 

To remove the fleas from your pets, you can use a myriad of flea treatment methods depending on the growth stage of the bugs and the pet under consideration. 

Further, you must know that the adult flea population is usually under 10% and hence you must place to get rid of the other flea stages appropriately. 

  • This will include killing the flea larvae and eggs to prevent further population growth. 
  • You’ll mainly find the fleas under the pet’s tail, back of its neck, on the belly plus other areas with dense fur. 

For the areas that you keep the pet food, you’ll also require thorough flea-killing to prevent rapid growth and reproduction. 

  • So, the fleas will have camped around the fleas’ feeding area with the aim of jumping onto your pets to suck that blood meal. 

3. In Crevices & Cracks – Do fleas Hide in Crevices & Cracks? 

Well, YES, fleas can hide in bedding, carpets, crevices, and cracks – they’ll use debris, dirt, and saliva to spin their cocoon to allow them to be camouflaged easily. 

    • The fleas (including flea larvae and eggs) may hide in crevices & cracks of your upholstered sofa – to control these you’d require to use a steamer or vacuum.

Further, the fleas can hide in crevices and cracks of those hardwood floors of various furniture and baseboards. Notably, various flea treatments like insecticides don’t get deep down there. 

  • Alternative flea-control techniques will include using steamers, vacuums, and dryers at high temperatures will exterminate the bugs. 

Further, fleas may live under your carpets & rugs in both your apartment or house. They’ll even lay their eggs, and if viable, they’ll hatch into larvae.

Conclusion

Fleas will be a major nuisance to you and other homeowners due to the cat fleas being dark-coloured and having a tiny body size (4mm length) allowing them to hide in those odd locations. 

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