do fleas live on furniture?

My question is, can fleas live in and on furniture. If so for how long?

Yes and no. As explained in our FLEA CONTROL ARTICLE, adult fleas aren’t comfortable out in the open so yes, they can live on a couch. However, they won’t last long. If any person or pet came to the couch, adult fleas on it would naturally seek this warm blooded person or pet hoping to hitch a ride and to take advantage of what this host would provide: a stable living environment. As our article explains, if you left a flea on a couch without food, water or shelter, it would probably die in 5-8 days.

But that’s just half of the story. The second half involves the real problem. Remember, it’s really the flea larvae and eggs which represent the long term “problem” when it comes to fleas and not the hatched adults you see. So if there was just one adult flea on the couch it could very well have laid hundreds of eggs which could in turn make the couch a “flea generator”. Failure to treat it would allow the flea life cycle to go on indefinitely. Adult fleas still wouldn’t want to stay on it but since eggs turn to larvae which turn to pupae which hatch to adults, they’ll just keep appearing endlessly making it seem as though they’re living long periods of time. In fact it’s the never ending flea cycle that’s replenishing all the adults since they don’t live long.

Read our Flea Control Article to learn more about why the flea cycle is the real problem with this pest and why stopping the cycle is how you get flea control.

Flea Article:  www.flea.net/flea-control

Flea Cycle:  www.flea.net/flea-control#flea_cycle