Flea Reproduction
The immature flea jumps onto the animal and begins
to ingest its first blood meal almost immediately.
Mating usually occurs within 8 to 24 hours, allowing
the laying of eggs within 24 to 28 hours of first
infesting the dog or cat (Dryden, 1994). The female
flea is capable of laying eggs for an average of
100 days and it has been reported that fleas may
live up to 113 days on cats (Dryden, 1995).
The flea’s ability to multiply is phenomenal. The
female flea lays, on average, 27 eggs per day over
50 days (a total of 1350 eggs per flea). Most of
these eggs are usually laid within the first 10
days of infestation. Approximately 40% of eggs will
survive and develop through to the adult. If the
female flea survives only one week, she may have
laid 162 eggs, of which 65 may develop through to
the adult stage within 3 weeks.
The life cycle can be completed in as little as
2-4 weeks under appropriate weather conditions.
The following graph illustrates the enormous reproductive
capacity of the flea if permitted to multiply uninterrupted
on the animal.
