Flea Bites on Humans: What Do Flea Bites and Flea Eggs Look Like?

Flea infestations can be a huge nuisance in any case. While they don’t pose any serious risk for humans at first, they can be annoying to treat.

These insects normally take your pets as hosts, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t go for humans for their blood meal. Thankfully, flea bites are fairly easy to identify, especially on humans.

One of the most effective ways to treat your home and pets against a flea infestation is to get rid of any eggs or larvae that may be lying around your home. However, if you’ve never dealt with flea infestations before, the process may be challenging for you.

On this page, you’re going to learn how to identify flea bites and eggs. Additionally, you’re going to get some tips on how to get rid of fleas correctly.

What Do Flea Bites Look Like?

As you may already know, fleas are small insects that may not be easy to identify for everyone. Most adult fleas are approximately three millimeters in length, making them difficult to see, but not impossible.

Keep in mind that fleas feed on blood to survive, so you’re likely to find them in pets or hiding in your yard or home. You may not even notice if you got a flea bite until the symptoms appear.

Typically, flea bites on humans result in small red spots over your arms, legs, or feet. These bites come in groups of clusters with a slight touch of redness. In severe cases, your skin may get irritated due to an allergic reaction, causing these red spots to itch or get even redder.

Depending on the reaction, flea bites could also cause swelling around the area. Keep in mind that allergic reactions may range from minimal itching to breathing problems, so you need to assess the situation as soon as possible.

You must ensure not to scratch the flea bites since you can cause an infection on your skin. Fleas tend to carry bacteria and disease, which they can lay down when they’re biting you.

What Do Flea Eggs Look Like?

Even if you don’t have an existing flea problem at home yet, seeing flea eggs may be an indicator that there are adult fleas nearby. If you learn how to identify these eggs, you’re going to have an easier time getting rid of these fleas.

Unfortunately, flea eggs are sometimes too small to be noticed by the human eye. In most cases, they don’t go longer than 0.5 millimeters, making them even shorter than a grain of salt.

Flea eggs are typically white and have an oval shape. These eggs are often mistaken by dead skin cells, sand, or flea larvae. Flea larvae are the fleas right after they hatch from their eggs, and they’re approximately two to five millimeters in length.

While it’s not common to do, you may identify a flea egg by placing it under a magnifying glass.

If you don’t take care of flea eggs, they may pose a serious problem for you and your family in the future. Keep in mind that if you let these flea eggs hatch and grow, you’re letting hundreds of new fleas laying on your pets or home.

How to Get Rid of Fleas

Getting rid of fleas may be more or less challenging depending on where the source problem is. If you have pets at home, the source problem is likely there. However, remember that fleas can also invade homes without pets.

In the case that you have pets, ensure to treat your pets for flea eggs before treating your home. First, you may get a flea comb and use it on your pet to get most of the fleas away from its body. Alternatively, you may use insect growth regulators to prevent those flea eggs from turning into adults.

Keep in mind that insect growth regulators can prevent flea eggs from maturing, but they cannot kill them. Typically, it’s much better to get rid of fleas entirely. You may speak with your vet to determine what the best course of action for your pet is.

Flea treatments for pets also include the usage of topical products or shampoo to prevent re-infection. Once you made sure that your pet is free of flea eggs, you may proceed with eliminating flea eggs at your home.

What Can You Use to Get Rid of Fleas at Home?

First, you need to get a strong vacuum cleaner and steam cleaner to ensure that you take care of tough spots. Typically, fleas lay down their eggs on areas where your pet tends to lay down. If you don’t have any pets at home, fleas may gather in humid areas in your yard or inside your home.

You can get rid of up to 90% of flea eggs from carpets and beddings, so you need to start your cleaning process from there. Make sure to de-clutter your home before you start cleaning to make it easier.

If you don’t have such a bad flea problem at home, you can clean and use the same beddings. However, if you’re dealing with a bad infestation, it may be better to get new beddings.

In the case of your yard, you mostly need to keep it clean and maintained to avoid flea infestations; this involves getting rid of debris and trimming up your grass, bushes, and trees occasionally.

While these are all excellent ways to get rid of fleas at your home, they may not prevent them from ever getting there. There are some seasons known as “Flea seasons” where fleas and ticks are the most active, meaning that they may seek shelter in your home.

The cleaner you keep your home, the less likely fleas are going to gather in surrounding areas.

Conclusion

Fleas are able to jump over 200 times their body length; this means that they can easily jump from your pet or furniture to your body. If you know how to identify flea bites, you may be able to assess an ongoing flea infestation sooner and more effectively.

Remember that if you’re dealing with a bad flea infestation, you may need to seek professional help to ensure that you’re following the right process.

If you’re looking for the right team to handle the issue for you, Synergy² is here to help. We provide trusted services throughout the area, so contact us for the best pest control services around.