# Fleas?! WTH **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405 "2024-06-27T15:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/1 "2024-06-27T15:08:56Z")
In the last two weeks I’ve found little bugs on my arms or legs about six times. I saw two today so far. I think they are fleas? They are tiny and black with long, narrow bodies. Although they have been assorted sizes. And I’ve been itching. Not unbearably and I think a lot of it is the power of suggestion. Here’s the thing: I have no pets. I have not been around animals at all lately. I have a clean home, I vacuum weekly and wash my bedding in hot water, and it is my understanding that humans can’t have fleas. What gives? Where are they coming from and what can I do about it? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/2 "2024-06-27T15:13:54Z")
You’ll probably have to fog your home. You can buy aerosol foggers, probably at your local hardware store. The problem is that you need to kill the nits as well as the hatched fleas. When I used to have the problem in CA, I put a fogger in each room, activated them, then left the house for several hours. Upon return, I opened all the windows and turned on exhaust fans to clear out any residue. Or you can hire someone to do it for you. You’ll still have to leave your home while it’s going on. The pest control company can confirm whether or not it’s fleas. Oh, and fleas hitchhike on your clothing. If you have a pet that’s outdoors, they could be hitching a ride on him. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/3 "2024-06-27T15:23:24Z")
> **[After 17 Years and 1,800 Tests, Researchers Find Cat Flea Pesticide Remains...](https://entomologytoday.org/2018/07/11/17-years-1800-tests-researchers-find-cat-flea-pesticide-remains-effective/)** > > A 17-year study that monitored for resistance among cat fleas to the insecticide imidacloprid finds no evidence of decreased susceptibility. The study involved researchers in 10 countries, who tested more than 1,800 cat flea egg samples. This is a cat flea, other fleas doesn’t look much different. There is human fleas too. I wouldn’t call it a long narrow body, though they are tiny and black. They have those oversized hind legs so they can jump fast and far. Their bites look more or less like mosquito bites, but they will usually be in places where they can use their hind legs to put pressure into the bite. If it isn’t human fleas they will probably die on their own. They can’t live on human blood. Is there a dead animal close by? The fleas will abandon the dead host and some might jump on you. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/4 "2024-06-27T15:27:36Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Here’s the thing: I have no pets. > **[Human flea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flea)** > > The human flea (Pulex irritans) – once also called the house flea – is a cosmopolitan flea species that has, in spite of the common name, a wide host spectrum. It is one of six species in the genus Pulex; the other five are all confined to the Nearctic and Neotropical realms. The species is thought to have originated in South America, where its original host may have been the guinea pig or peccary. > Pulex irritans is a holometabolous insect with a four-part lifecycle consisting of eggs, larvae,... ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/5 "2024-06-27T15:34:58Z")
Fleas won’t be “assorted sizes”. Got a picture? I’ll ID it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/6 "2024-06-27T15:38:33Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > Got a picture? I’ll ID it. One way to get a picture is to use clear tape to “capture” a flea, then press the tape onto glass. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/7 "2024-06-27T15:39:49Z")
I’ll give it a shot next time I see one. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/8 "2024-06-27T15:50:49Z")
Are they jumping? Fleas jump and fat ones probably have eggs. I hope they’re just biting gnats for your sake. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/9 "2024-06-27T16:06:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > > Here’s the thing: I have no pets. > > [Human flea - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flea) Not to mention that some fleas prefer carpets and/or rugs, only emerging to feed. My parents had a hell of a time with [sand fleas](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24458-sand-flea-bites) infesting the carpets in their suburban New Orleans home. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/10 "2024-06-29T04:44:13Z")
Long narrow bodies are not what I associate with fleas. If you try to capture one and it doesn’t jump, it’s not a flea. You can’t drown them, but recently I figured out that you can trap them with a bit of Vaseline ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/11 "2024-06-29T04:47:01Z")
Do you stay home all the time, because you could have gotten them elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/12 "2024-06-29T07:36:31Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Long narrow bodies are not what I associate with fleas. Sounds more like tiny ants. They’ll crawl on people, and anything. But they don’t jump like fleas. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/13 "2024-06-29T08:01:17Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > If it isn’t human fleas they will probably die on their own. They can’t live on human blood. Unfortunately, they technically can. For awhile at any rate - long enough to be a nuisance. With enough feeding (say a deeply sleeping host) they can survive a few months. Fertility does go down by at least a factor of 10, so reproduction drops sharply and will probably disappear entirely. So eventually they will die out, but you might have quite the little annoyance fest until they do. Human fleas are not terribly common in the United States. I’ve certainly never seen one in the flesh and I took a class in Medical Entomology back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/14 "2024-06-29T15:40:13Z")
I saw some human fleas as a child, at a flea circus. They were behind glass and tied down with wagons and such. The flea circus ended in 1965, but I can’t have been more than 6 years, so probably in '61 or '62. [![](http://www.johntorpmusic.dk/Hearse.jpg) ](http://www.johntorpmusic.dk/Hearse.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/15 "2024-06-29T15:59:09Z")
I have tried the tape thing twice. Both times they got away and I was unable to take a picture. They do jump. They are really tiny, black, and have long, narrow bodies. I don’t think I’ve been bitten. I do think they are more prevalent at one end of the couch because I haven’t been sitting there today and I haven’t seen any. I’ve been washing all my clothes in hot water. I don’t know what difference it will make. The only thing I can figure is when I went into a kind of dense trail a couple weeks ago at the park. I might have carried something home. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/16 "2024-06-29T17:48:08Z")
Another flea characteristic is they cannot be smashed or squished like most bugs. Their shell is HARD. If you trap one, use your thumbnail to crack the shell in half, as to split in into two parts: anterior and posterior. If you aren’t being bitten, I have to wonder if you are really dealing with fleas. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/17 "2024-06-29T17:54:56Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > I wouldn’t call it a long narrow body, though they are tiny and black. > [@Zyada](#): > > Long narrow bodies are not what I associate with fleas. Huh? If you look down on a flea from the top, they have very narrow bodies. We had huge problems with fleas when i lived in NJ. They came in with the cat, and jumped on us, too. I have much too much experience looking at, catching, pinching, and disposing of fleas. (Yes, you can’t crush them with anything flat, but if you pinch them with the tips of your fingernails you can kill them.) ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/18 "2024-06-29T18:36:15Z")
I’m too short to see them from the top 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/19 "2024-06-29T18:40:05Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Here’s the thing: I have no pets. Are you in a pier-and-beam house or a house with a crawl space underneath? Sometimes the source of fleas is from rodents living under the house. The fleas migrate up through the floorboards. In this case, spraying the house will just temporarily mitigate the problem. You’ll need to get rid of the rodents to eliminate the fleas. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405/20 "2024-06-29T23:55:22Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Are you in a pier-and-beam house or a house with a crawl space underneath? Manufactured home. We just got rid of a skunk under there. 😭 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleas-wth/1003405.md?page=2)