do fleas live on people?
It’s rare that fleas could or would even try to live their lives on people. As explained in our FLEA CONTROL ARTICLE, fleas prefer a host which can supply blood and provide a sheltered environment for them to hide. Dogs, cats and other hairy animals can provide both a blood meal and lots of hair; lots to eat and lots of areas for adequate housing. For this reason most fleas prefer these animals on which to live. But since people have blood, fleas will most certainly jump on us to grab a quick meal. But in virtually all cases they’ll usually forage away and off our skin where they land to feed. This is because they feel vulnerable and unprotected out in the open.
I have seen where fleas have been able to hide in patches of hair, like on the scalp or up in underarm hair. But even in these rare cases the population was quite small and had no chance of thriving long. More importantly, fleas won’t be able to survive the normal process of a good shower so for anyone showering daily that uses shampoo, soap and anti-perspirant, the odds of a flea living more than a day is pratically zero.
Here is a direct link to our flea article which goes over all the gory details of just what they want, where they like to live, how fast they can multiply and how to control local infestations:
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