# "Snow fleas" -Where Do they come from?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 5, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540 "2005-02-05T17:27:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540/1 "2005-02-05T17:27:59Z")

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On my walk in the woods yesterday, I saw a ton of black dots on the surface of the snow…so i bent down to take a look. The snow was alive with jumping sprintails (snao fleas)…the ambient temp. was jusy around freezing…so how do these little buggers survive the winter.  
Are they a harbinger of spring?

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**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540/2 "2005-02-05T19:40:29Z")

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- 
  - 
    - You might consider listing your physical location–at least a country. I have no idea what “snow fleas” are, and have never seen them in the central US…  
~

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540/3 "2005-02-05T19:54:43Z")

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[Snow Fleas, by Roy Lukes](http://doorbell.net/lukes/a011201.htm) (in Wisconsin)

> [@](#):
>
> Yesterday, January 5, the outdoor air temperature at 39 degrees F. in the afternoon, you would think that someone had sprinkled coarse black pepper or iron filings all over the snow. Literally millions upon millions of infinitesimally tiny snowfleas were having their day on the surface of the snow. The tracks I made on my hike into the woods were, upon my return, absolutely “peppered” with these tiny one-sixteenth-inch creatures…

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**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540/4 "2005-02-06T01:09:12Z")

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Springtails are plentiful year-round. They are just more noticeable on snow than they are on dark-colored earth.

Lots of info & photos here:

[http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/snow\_flea.htm](http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/snow_flea.htm)

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**Author:** ![3.885AM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/58956e/32.png) [@3.885AM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3.885AM)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540/5 "2005-02-06T04:53:24Z")

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I remember these from when I was a kid in NH, it seemed that they were most prevalent when the temp was just above freezing, as I recall. We called them snow fleas as well.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-fleas-where-do-they-come-from/288540/6 "2005-02-07T05:06:54Z")

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This is new to me. However, I have often heard people say, “I’ll have to get the storm windows up before the snow flies.” 😛