type of flea spend the winter in their pupal cocoons in birds' nests.
They emerge in the warmth of the spring sun..(where do they live..?..Florida..)
anyway, if they do not quickly find a bird to suck blood from, they
start to move about. In such circumstances they may well enter houses,
but one may also acquire them when gardening in the vicinity of infected
nesting boxes or nests. Bird fleas can, of course, multiply enormously
in hen houses, breeders, batteries etc. Fortunately, bird fleas only
live for a short time indoors, and they can only breed in birds nests.
It is a good idea to clean out nesting boxes very thoroughly in the
early spring. Ceratophyllus above is the most common
bird flea in Britain, being abundant in poultry houses and "Tit"
nesting boxes. Dasypsyllus is mostly found on small bird
spends little time on the host but rather settles itself in the nesting
material. It breeds during the bird nesting period when the host and
the young are available for regular blood meals. The larvae develop
in the nesting material and feed on detritus and undigested blood excreted
by the parents. Higher temperatures will speed up the development time,
which has been shown by many experiments (Cotton 1970) for one. Theories
have it that the adult fleas produce a new adult generation during one
reproductive cycle of the bird. It is known that adult fleas leave the
nest soon after the young birds have fledge, with some being carried
away on the young birds themselves. The flea larvae which remain in
the nest complete their cycle and reach adult size. Most of the imagos
(an insect in its sexually mature adult stage after metamorphosis) remain
quiescent until the following spring. Emergence from the cocoon being
triggered by, amongst other things, the rising temperatures.
Cotton M. J. 1970; The Life History of the Hen Flea Ceratophyllus
gallinae (Shrank) (Siphonoptera ceratophyllidae). Entomologist
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