Basement fleas - tiny parasites of high severity

Basement fleas are hardly distinguishable to the human eye, and they can be examined in detail only with a microscope. And to speak about the fact that this or that specimen is a parasite of this or that animal, and only a specialist in some areas of biology can do it at all.

Nowadays, macro photography has become widespread, thanks to the followers of which we can see the basement flea in the photo in great detail.

For comparison, we show how basement fleas look with the naked eye. In fact, these are small dark moving dots, nasty climbing on the surfaces of our home, and sometimes the body.

A brief excursion into biology

Classification

Fleas - a detachment of arthropod insects of bloodsuckers with a complete transformation. They are secondarily wingless, since they have lost their need and ability to fly in the process of evolution. In the adult phase, these insects are ectoparasites capable of transmitting infections from host to host.

Our help! Ectoparasites are pests that live on the surface of the victim’s body.

Currently, scientists have described more than two thousand species of these insects, which are divided into fifteen families and about two hundred genera. The most harmful of them in the medical and economic terms are allocated to the category of “ordinary fleas”, these are such as:

• human flea;
• rabbit
• canine;
• feline;
• rat.

Description

The flea’s smooth body is compressed on its sides and has a certain number of bristles, with which the insect clings to the hairs or feathers of its host. The body length varies from one to five millimeters, in rare cases, in a blood-fed female, it grows to a centimeter.

Fleas have a special structure of the oral apparatus, which biologists call stinging-sucking, so there are no mandibles in insects.

Our help! Mandibles, or mandibles, paired oral apparatus - an analogue of the jaws in animals, designed to grind food.

Three pairs of legs strong for its weight grow from the chest of the insect, with the help of which the flea is able to move quite quickly. Fleas often jump using the middle pair of legs for short jumps, and the back for the farthest jumps.

Lifestyle

Fleas do not fall into hibernation, but live on the bodies of their owners all season. They are also found in nests of animals and birds. A particularly strong population is observed during incubation of eggs in birds and the birth of offspring in animals, since nests and burrows in this period are characterized by increased humidity and heat.

In summer, you can often see a picture of how animals and birds bathe in dust or wood ash. In this way, they get rid of parasites, including blood-sucking fleas. This picture is most familiar to residents of the countryside and poultry farmers by the behavior of their favorite chickens.

A separate part of flea species generally does not leave the body of a once populated animal. This happens with parasites of those animals that do not have permanent shelters.

Food

Fleas feed on the blood of their master.Unlike mosquitoes, bloodsuckers here are not only females, but also males. In different species, the saturation process occurs in different ways. Some suck blood rarely, but in large numbers, so that they can’t even completely digest the entire amount of sucked blood. Other species prefer to eat often in small doses.

After eating, fleas most often jump from the owner or move to another animal, but there are those who remain faithful parasites. After saturation, these creatures do not leave the owner, but freely creep between its feathers or hairs.

Spread

Despite the heat-loving nature of the flea as a detachment as a whole, it is distributed throughout the continents of the earth, even found in Antarctica on the body of penguins. But the main resettlement of these insects still falls on the territory with a mild and humid climate resembling our basements.

Reproduction and generation cycle

Fleas are insects with complete transformation; after mating, the female lays eggs most often directly on the host's body, firing them from her abdomen. In rare cases, masonry is carried out in a warm place in the nest of an animal or bird.

Our help! Complete transformation of the insect includes four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, and imago.

Thanks to the host's warmth, the eggs are incubated in just two weeks. Hatched larvae live in holes or nests, but can also be found on the host body. They feed on various decaying residues, including the litter of their parents with undigested blood.

After three molts, the larva begins to cover itself with a silk-like cocoon, in which it soon pupates.

Interestingly, the release of an adult insect from a pupa in different species is confined to a certain season. Nature has calculated so that upon hatching these parasites can find a new host.

An adult insect - an imago - according to the calculation of biologists, can survive up to one and a half years, but in reality their life cycle is limited to two to three months.

Danger

Basement fleas in an apartment pose a great danger to the people living in it. Firstly, these creatures bite rather painfully. Secondly, having moved to the human body from the previous owner, the insect is able to transmit any infection. Thirdly, they infect cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits and our other pets.

Attention! Often fleas settle on homeless people, and once in an apartment they can bring us their disease.

Where do they come from?

Fleas get into the living room in several ways.

1. Climb out of the basement through ventilation or crevices. This is especially true for multi-storey buildings, in which there is usually no master's view of all utility rooms.
2. Pets bring them after a walk where contact with an infected animal is possible.
3. On items of clothing or shoes when visiting places infected with insects, especially for people associated with working in cellars and other damp and dirty places.

Attention! Basement fleas are carriers of many dangerous diseases. They become the cause of human infection with plague, hepatitis, brucellosis, salmonellosis, encephalitis and some others.

Prevention

There is no doubt that it is better to prevent any misfortune than to fight it later. Therefore, to prevent the appearance of fleas in your home, follow the simple directions for prevention.

1. The first paragraph, we denote the cleanliness and dryness of the room. Most often, fleas settle in the darkest and dustiest corners of the apartment: under furniture and baseboards, in carpets and rugs.
2. Carefully inspect clothing and shoes after visiting problem areas, and it is better to immediately wash and wash them.
3. The same applies to animals after a walk, especially if your pet talked with his buddies.
4. Buy a flea collar for your dog or cat. It has both a preventive and a therapeutic effect.

Signs of infection

Signs of infection of the premises with fleas are spots that appear on the body from their bites.In addition, inappropriate pet behavior should alert you. They will often itch and even bite people.

With a large degree of defeat, you can see the fleas themselves, especially in hard-to-reach places.

Fight

To the question of how to get rid of basement fleas in an apartment, we answer this way - we need an integrated approach that includes the following activities:

1. We destroy insects on pets.
2. We carry out the disinsection of residential premises.
3. We process the probable places for fleas to enter the apartment.
4. We poison rats and mice.
5. We carry out the destruction of fleas in the basement. In a private house on their own or hired by a service. In an apartment building, this work should be carried out by your management company.
6. Equip your animals with protective flea collars.

Now let's move on to some of these points in more detail.

Animal Removal

To remove fleas from the body of pets, special remedies for basement fleas, which are sold in every veterinary pharmacy, will help. These are brands such as:

• Hartz
• "Leopard";
• Front Line
• "Beaphar".

In addition, the animal can be washed with a special shampoo or put on an anti-flea collar.

Pest control

To destroy fleas in the apartment, the same means are used as against other parasites. For example:

• "Dichlorvos";
• "Aktara";
• "Masha";
• "Bankol";
• and many others.

From folk remedies, you can list such effective herbs and drugs as:

• pyrethrum;
• tansy;
• rosemary;
• sagebrush;
• fir and pine needles;
• aloe juice - agave;
• aroma oils;
• spices such as rosemary, coriander;
• vinegar.

Dry herbs are laid out in the corners and next to the bed, and liquids are dripped over alleged clusters of insects.

Baiting rodents

In the case of the spread of basement fleas from an invasion of rodents, it is worth using poisons, not mechanical traps: mousetraps or Velcro. The fact is that poisons can destroy the entire animal population.

As an example of the most effective poisons we give such as:

• "Zookumarin";
• "Rat death";
• "Storm";
• Pied Piper.

Basements

The cleaning of basements in a private house is done by the same means that we indicated for the treatment of residential premises. As for apartment buildings, the management company is responsible for the disinfestation of utility rooms, and the residents of the house have the right to demand that they fulfill their duties in full.

Interesting information supplementing our today's report is contained in the video, which you can watch by clicking on this link.