Flea Bites On Humans - What You Need To Know

The thought of flea bites is upsetting when the fleas are biting your pets but the idea of flea bites on humans is positively distressing. There is a stigma attached to flea bites and of having fleas. We talk of undesirable places as flea pits and of undesirable people as flea ridden. Most people accept that their pets will encounter pests at some point but can not countenance the idea of them themselves having fleas. If you think that you may have them, most probably because you have discovered flea bites on your body, then this is what you need to know.

Flea bites on cats and dogs mean that they have fleas. Flea bites on humans does not mean that they 'have fleas'. Cat and dog fleas are very common. They live on the animal as well as around the house. While these pests will bite humans as readily as they bite their pets, unlike the poor animals, they will not live on the human. It is a popular misconception that animal fleas get onto human bodies and live there constantly tormenting their host. They don't, they jump on, feed and then jump off. So, you may have bites but you almost certainly do not 'have fleas'. However, if they are in your home and will continue to bite you until you get rid of them, all of them.

You do not need to have a cat or dog living in your home for your house to become infested with cat or dog fleas. All you need to do is to get a couple on your clothes and carry them into the home and they'll quickly populate the place. In fact, you don't even have to come in direct contact with an animal to pick up a flea or two. They can live in the grass outside your home and you can unwittingly walk them into the house. If a piece of second hand furniture has fleas and you bring it into your home, the creatures will soon spread out and populate the house. Basically, if you have a house then fleas can get in.

The first clue you will have that you have fleas will be small pin prick like bites around your ankles. These will itch, quite badly in some cases. If you scratch them or are particularly sensitive to bites (some people react badly to the flea's saliva) then these bites may redden and become raised. The reason that the ankles are usually the most bitten area of the body is due to the way fleas attack humans. These pests are sensitive to heat and motion. It will lie in wait and when a human walks past it will leap in the air and land on the foot. The ankle just above the sock line is the easiest target and there is where the fleas will bite.

A simple and effective test to see if you have fleas in your home is to put on a pair of white socks and take a walk around the house. The fleas will be a dark red/brown color and will show up easily as they jump onto the white sock. Once you discover that you have fleas in your home you will want to get them out of your home.

Killing fleas by hand is extremely difficult. You can seemingly squeeze the life out of the flea only to have it jump out of your fingers as soon as you open them up. There are only three viable ways to kill fleas.

Poison them with an effective flea killer. These come in powder and spray form.

Drown them. A shallow bowl of water with a lamp shining into it is an effective trap but will not wipe all the fleas from your home. The fleas are attracted to the warmth of the lamp and leap into the bowl only to drown in the water.

Starve them to death. Fleas can live a long time without feeding. This is how they can lie waiting in an empty house for months, waiting for some tasty humans to move in. You can buy specialist traps that work on the same principle as the water trap above but with an extremely sticky sheet instead of water. They glue the unlucky fleas in place trapping them forever. Remember traps will not wipe out all the fleas in your home but are a good indication that your home is free of fleas. No fleas in the trap, no fleas in the house.

Whatever method of killing the fleas you choose, as soon as you discover fleas bites on your body you need to get the vacuum out and go over the whole house. Make sure that you empty the bags outside. The fleas and flea eggs sucked up into the vacuum cleaner are not dead. if you empty the bag indoors then you are simply emptying a bag of fleas into your house.