Summary
Cat fleas are more active at night than during the day. They can be loosely labeled as nocturnal. They can also be described as vespertine since their activity peaks at dusk. Still, fleas are never completely inactive, making their behavior difficult to categorize.
Details
Circadian Rhythm of Fleas
Cat fleas don’t sleep, but they do have circadian rhythms of activity and rest. They’re more active at night than in the daytime. Consequently, flea traps are most effective at night.
Fig 1 Mean activity of cat fleas (y-axis) at every hour across a day (x-axis). The scotophase (dark cycle) occurred from 1000 to 2000 hours.
Fleas “wake up” a few hours before dusk. Their locomotive activity peaks at twilight, then gradually decreases throughout the night until reaching the lowest point at dawn. Fleas don’t move much throughout daylight hours Fig 1. Egg-laying occurs in similar patterns. Most eggs are laid in the middle of the night, and the fewest shortly after dawn.
Fleas are never completely inactive. Feces are excreted randomly or constantly throughout all hours of the day.
Nocturnal or Vespertine
Nocturnal
It’s difficult to categorize cat flea behavior. They can be described as nocturnal, since they’re relatively inactive during daylight hours. However, their activity never completely ceases. Additionally, known studies were done in laboratory settings, not on animals. Fleas may be more active on hosts.
Vespertine
Cat flea behavior is also loosely crepuscular. Crepuscular animals are active at twilight—dusk or dawn. Narrowing this down, vespertine animals are exclusively active at dusk. The term implies that activity terminates at full darkness. While cat flea activity does peak at sunset, they remain active throughout the night. Thus, they don’t strictly fit this label either.
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I came from am apartment that was infested with fleas. They were in my clothes and everywhere. I lived with my daughter and her family temporarily before getting my own place. Now the fleas are everywhere my new apartment. They don’t bother anyone else just me. They are in my hair and on my clothes. I’m at my wits end. I was awake all night. I could feel them. The apartment I left I believe they had a cat. I don’t know what to do.
Please see our page on how to get rid of fleas for comprehensive control information.
Your graph shows fleas more active during the morning and day, yet the second sentence of the details says they are more active at night. There is an issue with one of these items.
The graph doesn’t correspond directly to hours of a normal day. The scotophase (nighttime) occurred from 1000 to 2000 hours. You can see the graphs peaks at 700-900, right before the dark phase of the cycle (dusk).