Summary
It’s possible to have fleas without pets, especially when a home or apartment was previously infested. Example: The past occupant moves out while larvae are developing in the carpets. The fleas reach adulthood and go dormant when they can’t detect a host. A new tenant moves in and the fleas emerge to find a blood meal. With no cat or dog, fleas should go away on their own. Vacuuming will speed up the process.
Make sure the pests you are dealing with are fleas. If they are bed bugs, a more intensive pest control regime is required. What do fleas look like?
Details
Where the Fleas Came From
Dormant Pre-Emerged Adults
After pupating, adult fleas go dormant inside their cocoons. The fleas remain there until they detect heat and physical pressure, which indicate a nearby host. The quiescent (dormant) state can last as long as five months. However, once stimulated, the pre-emerged fleas exit their cocoons in five seconds.
Fleas can occur without pets when moving into a home which was previously infested with fleas. When the previous occupants moved out, immature fleas were developing in the carpets. The fleas reached adulthood and became quiescent in the absence of a host. New residents moved in, walked on the carpets and triggered the fleas to emerge. In these instances, fleas are abnormally aggressive. They will attack and feed quickly, as they have been without a host and food for an extended period of time.
A similar situation can occur when wildlife enters into a house, making it their temporary habitat. The animals (e.g. raccoons, opossums or feral cats) typically enter in through basements, attics or crawl spaces. When they eventually leave, immature fleas will be developing in the home. The cocooned adult stage is reached, and they then wait for a host.
Hitch-hiking on Clothes
It’s possible for outdoor fleas to jump and attach onto a person’s clothes. The insects then hitchhike into homes. However, this rarely occurs.
How to Eliminate the Fleas
Fleas Can’t Survive on Humans
Fleas will go away on their own in the absence of a primary host. Fleas occasionally bite people, but man isn’t a preferred host. They can’t produce enough eggs on human blood to keep the infestation going. Plus, cat fleas won’t breed or lay eggs on people. Instead, they take a blood meal and then leave. Additionally, fleas are adapted for furry hosts. It’s difficult for them to jump and attach to hairless human skin. If they do successfully attach, the fleas are easy to see and kill.
It’s possible to prevent flea bites while waiting for the infestation to end. Wear long pants and tuck the legs into socks. Fleas can’t jump much higher than the ankles, and rarely bite higher than the lower legs (unless the person is sitting on the ground).
Vacuum Regularly
Flea pupae and pre-emerged adults are fairly resistant to insecticidal carpet treatments. They reside at the base of carpeting where sprays can’t penetrate.
The best way to eliminate the dormant fleas is to regularly vacuum carpets. Vacuuming creates heat and pressure, the exact stimuli which trigger emergence. The adult fleas quickly leave their cocoons and move to the carpet canopy where the vacuum cleaner sucks them up and kills them.
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I think the “However, this is a rarely occurs.” part has some sort of a grammatical error.
Thanks, I corrected it.
I have actually been bit by fleas on various parts of my body. I have no pets, and they would also hitch a ride on my from outside. I didn’t believe that at first, until an entomologist told me it was the only reasonable explanation, and to look down at my feet. Sure enough, fleas were jumping out of the grass, onto my feet. Once inside, they had been attacking me primarily at night. I caught one on my daughter’s chest, but I would get the bites on my arms, hands, legs, anywhere really. They would get into my bedding either from being on my feet and me not noticing or jumping up there. I have seen so many things online saying fleas can jump 6 feet. And so I do have to question that one fact you have here. Case in point… I used to walk apartments after people moved out. I used to fear walking any apartment that had a pet. One apartment was so bad that they went up my pants, but me all over my legs, and even got up my shirt(untucked) and bit me around my waistline. I did not sit down on the carpet at all. Another leasing consultant took over this job from me after I was promoted and he came back with a flea attacked for the back of his neck. I just don’t see how this is possible if they can only jump a few inches.
I also have a question. Without a pet host, how fast to fleas lose the ability to jump? I wish there was something written here on the cycle of a malnourished flea. Like what happens as they try to feed off of human blood alone, how much crawling or jumping they’ll do, how frequently they try to feed during these times, any other pertinent details, and eventually death.
Unfortunately, I haven’t read any studies that address as specific of questions as you asked. However, here are two pages the cover the general topics:
How long can fleas live without host blood?
Can fleas live on on human blood?
So my dog had died recently but our house has never had any fleas. However a few days before his death fleas had jumped on to my mother and got into the house. This is our first flea infestation and we no longer have a pet and theres no nearby animals that spread them. So how severe can an infestation get with no pets
Without a pet in the home, the infestation shouldn’t be severe at all because they won’t be able to reproduce on human blood. The only exception is human fleas (P. irritans). This is a fairly uncommon species though. See our page on how to identify human fleas.