Fleas multiply extremely fast. A single adult female flea can lay up to 40 to 50 eggs per day, starting within 24 to 48 hours after her first blood meal
. Over the course of a month, this can lead to thousands or even hundreds of thousands of fleas in various life stages in an infested environment
. Key points about flea reproduction and life cycle:
- A female flea lays about 20 to 50 eggs daily, with peak egg production occurring 4 to 9 days after the first blood meal
- Eggs hatch into larvae within 1 to 12 days, depending on temperature and humidity
- Larvae develop into pupae in about 7 to 11 days, and pupae can remain dormant for months or develop into adults in as few as 5 days under optimal conditions
- Adult fleas live up to 2 to 3 months with a host and begin reproducing within 24 hours of emerging and feeding
- Under ideal conditions, flea populations can explode exponentially. For example, 10 female fleas can produce over a quarter million fleas in 30 days
- Even starting with just 5 female fleas, the infestation can grow to over 4,000 adult fleas in a month assuming 25% egg survival
In summary, fleas reproduce rapidly, with a single female capable of producing thousands of descendants in a month, making flea infestations a serious and fast-growing problem if not controlled promptly
