1. What time of year are fleas mostly active?
- a)Spring
- b)Summer
- c)Autumn
- d)Winter
- e)All year round
e) All year round. Cold weather causes fleas to lay dormant during the cooler months. However the warmth provided by central heating allows fleas to thrive and breed year round. Treating your pet all year round will offer your pet’s continuous protection from fleas and ticks.
2. How many eggs does a female flea lay per day?
c) One female can lay up to 50 eggs per day. These drop off your pet and into carpets or bedding where they hatch into larvae, before becoming pupae and eventually hatching into an adult flea. Flea combs are the best way to remove both fleas and their eggs; they are a simple solution to part of the problem and easy to use.
3. Do fleas predominantely live on your pet?
- a)Yes
- b)No
b) No. This may come as a surprise to some but fleas only spend about 5% of their life cycle on the host animal. The other 95% of the time they are either in the home environment, as eggs, larvae and pupae. To thoroughly tackle fleas at all stages of their life cycle, it’s essential to treat your home as well as your pet.
4. How should I best treat a flea infestation?
e) All of the above. If you are treating a flea infestation, it can take up to 3 months to resolve the problem. Remember you should treat all of your pets for fleas. Bathing them with a flea and tick shampoo is also a good idea. Don’t forget to vacuum regularly, and washing your pet’s bedding at a high temperature is also recommended.
5. How high can a flea jump?
- a)10 times their own height
- b)50 times their own height
- c)100 times their own height
- d)200 times their own height
c) 100 times. Fleas are able to jump such enormous heights due to an internal spring and multi- jointed hind legs. Once hatched fleas use this remarkable ability to jump such large distances to jump from carpets or bedding onto host animals.
To read more about fleas click here.
We all hate the idea of our pets having fleas and ticks but sadly they are one of the most common cause of skin problems in dogs and cats, and cannot be ignored. Pet owners should take effective steps to rid their pets, and their homes, of these parasites and minimize risk of infestation by carrying out continuous year-round treatment, even in the winter months.
Take our fun, flea-sy peasy quiz and learn what you can do to fight off fleas and ticks...
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