Understanding the life cycle of a flea will help explain why it is so difficult to completely end a flea outbreak. A multistep approach is the only one that will really work because of the flea's life cycle.

A flea's average life cycle is divided into four stages: adult, egg, larvae and pupa. Treating only one stage will not stop the problem, as the flea has a ability to actually delay it's hatching stage. It is this remarkable ability to delay hatching that makes it so important to disrupt the life cycle by addressing all stages of flea development. The lifecycle must be broken in order to eradicate a flea infestation.

Four Stages Flea Lifecycle

Stage 1: Adults: Adults feed on blood, and excrete blood droppings ( flea dirt ) for the larvae to eat when they hatch. Adults eat about once an hour and females lay one egg every hour.

Stage 2: Eggs: The flea egg is a tiny, pearl like oval that lands in your pet's hair, setteling down to the skin. Unlike some insect eggs, it is not sticky, so the flea egg is free to fall off your pet at any time as it walks through your home, sleeps on the couch, bed, etc. The egg will hatch into a larva within a few days.

Stage 3: Larva: The flea larva is a tiny worm like creature that avoids the light. It burrows deep into carpet fibers, crevices in furniture, deep into your pet's coat, cracks in floors, under area rugs, etc. Flea larvae feed on the flea dirt that the adult fleas have left for them. They then spin a cocoon and become the pupa stage.

Stage 4: Pupa: The cocoon stage of the flea can last anywhere from just a few days to as long as two years. It's in this stage that the flea is most difficult to kill, the cocoon protects the developing flea and allows it to remain dormant until the time is right to hatch.

Hatching can be triggered by many things, temperature, humidity and even pressure and vibration. To the flea, pressure and vibration alert it to the presence of a warm blooded host, and it knows it will immediately be able to feed upon hatching.