believe it or not: Fleas & Ticks

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September 10, 2013

  • Fleas have been on this planet for about 100 million years.
  • There are more than 2,000 species and subspecies of fleas (that we know of).
  • If it doesn’t have to move around much, a flea can live anywhere between 2 months and 100 days between meals.
  • If they were human sized athletes participating in the Olympics long jump, certain fleas could break the current world record by about 970 feet.
  • A female flea lays eggs within 35 to 48 hours of its first blood meal.
  • There are more than 800 species of ticks on this planet.
  • There are anti-inflammatory and anesthetic compounds in the saliva of hard ticks that make it less likely for their hosts to notice they’ve been bitten.
  • The saliva of hard ticks contain proteins with changing compositions, making it difficult for a host’s immune system to detect a threat, which decreases the likelihood the host’s immune system will recognize it’s being compromised.
  • Male ticks die right after mating.
  • The majority of ticks use three hosts, feeding on a different host for the larvae, nymph and adult life stages, respectively.
  • Like mites, scorpions and spiders, ticks belong to the Arachnida class.
  • Hard ticks have a long feeding session, whereas soft ticks have several feeding sessions separated by a few hours.

Source: www.petcarerx.com

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