What is the purpose of the flea? How does it benefit the environment? Does anyone know? - Suzzette
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Hi,
I've searched and haven't found any purposes for fleas that we would like. It must be that they help diseases and bacteria travel from place to place and probably help with population control of mammals through passing on plagues, diseases and weakening the animals. Here is all I could find.
From: www.mothernature.com/
"FREEDOM FROM FLEAS We challenge you to come up with one really good reason for fleas to exist in a just world. In nine months, two fleas can generate 222 trillion descendants. They can live two years, they're built to survive the most frigid winters, and they can go months without eating. They can cause anemia and transmit disease and parasites.
From: www.epinions.com/
"However, there are those creatures that serve no purpose whatsoever. Fleas are such an example. They don't pollinate any flowers, nor do they prey on any destructive or harmful insects. Instead, they siphon the blood of unsuspecting animals and people all the while passing harmful organisms into their bloodstream! "
Here is another site that talks about fleas and their types and history:
www.bloodhounds.com/
Anybody else have any ideas?
Susan from ThriftyFun
Have you any advice on how to kill cat fleas? I vacuum twice a day and we've used spot on for fleas and various sprays for furniture etc we've even tried spraying freshly squeezed lemons juice onto the cat Coz apparently according to the Web fleas hate lemon juice so much they try avoiding it by coming to the surface of the cat. Then I spent about an hour and half combing through with a nit comb. I killed less than I normally catch on a normal day with the nit comb. Nicola
I would suggest flea spray or something of the sort. But the easy way to kill one if you spot it: Squeeze it between your thumb and index finger and roll it around.
Fleas serve absolutely no purpose. They only thing that fleas are good for is making your cat / dog itch and irritate their skin it is very costly to get rid of fleas the best flea killer or repellent that I have found for my dog you go to your vet and you get what's called a flea pill
Please research the side effects of any oral flea and tick preventative before giving to your animal. The results may be psychologically and financially more than you can handle.
I would highly recommend a flea spray called acclaim. We had a flea infestation in July from our cats. After using acclaim for couple of days we maybe saw odd flea for about two weeks after but since then we haven't seen one
91% Alcohol one a cup next time you comd your cat, kills them almost immediately, just dip the comd in the cup them pick out the one between the teeth and if you want, have a water cut to rinse the comd
Fleas will not easily die by catching them and rolling them between your fingers. u have to catch them make sure it doesn't get away and pinch it til it pops between ur finger nail.
Late response but I've recently been putting warm water mixed with dish soap into a spray bottle and spray it in every infected area. It's the only thing that has worked for me, even bombs have not worked. The dish soap has a thick layer to it which traps them and they die within minutes. Best luck to you and your cat :)
Grab them with clear tape off of white tube sox.
Roll up the sox and put them in the dryer.
Crush them with tweezers.
Tea tree oil stops the itch on a dime.
Get a flea trap. A pan with fly paper and a bulb above. It will at track all live fleas. There are commercial traps available. Or use a shallow pan of soapy water and a reading lamp above.
Fleas exist to complete the life cycle of the tapeworm. Fleas eat tapeworm eggs. Fleas bite cats/dogs. Cats/dogs (more cats than dogs!) groom themselves in response to the bite and in the process eat the fleas. Fleas get broken down in cats stomach releasing the tapeworm egg. Tapeworm hatches in cats intestines and latches on. Adult tapeworm sheds end segments, containing eggs, that squirm out of cats behind while she's sleeping (really gross to watch by the way) or are passed in the cat's excrement.
This is nauseating; however, we are "flea deep" in the process of eradication (having set off 15 fogger cans throughout our home, in addition to costly OTC medications). In light of this post, I'm wondering if it advisable now to pack up our three cats and head off to the veterinarian for tapeworm pills?
I am sure that someone could come up with a way to eradicate them, but not as long as it's a multi billion money maker. Somebody somewhere is getting paid a lot of money to keep fleas alive...
Hi, what ratio of soap to water and do you mean you spray your cat or the carpet etc?
Like mosquitoes, fleas are a food source for animals like frogs, snakes, ants, spiders, lizards and beetles. So you kill them off and the food source for many animals will be taken with their death. Weird right?
Diatomaceous earth can be applied to your cat like flea dust and on you carpets. Leave on for anout 20 min then vacuum it up
Trying to find the reason I have not yet they were created are creatures of God so as with any creatures that there has to be some good purpose we just have to look for it
Indorex is brilliant for fleas in you home you can buy it from a vets, but i would suggest ebay its so much cheaper x
Hi Nicola,
I was just reading through this because where I live there is a big flea problem caused by the landlord's negligence and the former dog which served as the host.
I have searched online and found Diatomaticious Earth. It's fossilised algae. It has many uses, great for our digestion, and also doubles up as a super flea killer or any pests for that matter
They are food for more valuable animals like spiders.
My dog is allergic to any of the flea meds so I get my rubbing alcohol out and search and usually get them by rubbing a cotton ball full of alcohol on the flea.. Works every time.. The fleas smell it and panic..Has worked for me
None of the flea controle sprays really work,I have tried them all.why not eradicate all fleas that bother animals?
Vacuum vacuum vacuum, fleas spend only a small portion of their lives on an animal.
I have used flea powder to spread throughout the carpeted areas of the house, work it deep into the carpet material. Let it stand for a few hours and then vacuum at least 3 times, using a high end vacuum can guarantee better suction and remove more eggs and the flea larvae.
It will also help to reduce the flea poop which by itself is a known allergen!
You must vacuum your carpet on a regular basis to ensure maximum removal and control!
If you want to get rid of fleas pray for a miracle. Weve been fighting them for over a month. However, prayers were answered when I saw a you tube video of an older lady who swears by this flea killer called VETS + BEST. You can get it on Amazon and its very affordable. We tried it! Used it in furniture, shampooed the cat with it, sprayed it on furniture and boxsprings & mattresses, mattress covers, Even on our clean sheets. We sprayed it every where you can think of including the cleaned out fireplace! This is the second day and so far no signs of fleas! Will let you know!
um try flea collors or shampoos i dont think alcholo is the best but what do i know i am just a va student
While I was going to veterinarian school I learned one very valid important thing and this is coming from somebody who had friends that would take me camping just so the mosquitoes can bite me instead of them. And this is also coming from a girl who sacrificed being at home and bored as a child instead I would spend the night at my friend's house who had seven dogs and Nine Cats a swimming pool and a Pachinko machine I want to come home with flea bites all over my body. So long story short why wasn't veterinarian school I learned a lot about household problematic infestation materials. The first thing was carpet the flea life cycle is forever if you kill one there's already another one born and the one before that is already infested your household so to keep flea infestation down remove your carpet and use ammonia on the slab and do your floors with a great sealant something that the flea eggs can't slip into. Number two, do not let your pets share bowls with their friends don't let them share toys with her friends a lot of internal infestation comes from saliva it's a long story don't make me go there. Number three when you treat your environment you treat your pet and then you rinse and repeat and then rinse and repeat again and you do it for like 3 months and don't forget the vacuum. Number for last but not least semi most important flea control flea control flea control. I'm not one for pesticides there's Alternatives natural remedies like geraniums and the lemon geranium there are lots of plants that repel pests like fleas ticks and mosquitoes the number five it's just faith say that you can accomplish this cuz it's a b****
I put white flat plastic bowls filled with soapwater on the floor. They jump into it to commit suicide because they know they're good for nothing.
What's the ratio?
I have often asked that very same question about Mosquitoes. Acctually, if you think about it, there are very few insects that help the enviroment. Take grasshoppers for example: In the great plains the 1800's, these grasshopers would travel together in millions and could eat an entire corn field in minutes, leaving the farmer with no crops to sell which means he would eventually lose his land. But you have to ask yourself: " Why do things have to benefit something to exist?" Look at human beings, do we benefit the enviroment? Absolutley not, but does that mean we don't have a right to exist? The flea works in the same way...Even though they are quite a nuisance.
Hope this was of help
Steven S.
Grasshoppers actually help control overgrowth, most all living creatures on this planet contribute something the overall planetary life cycle
Every creature in this world has a purpose! Animals, humans, fish, insects, birds, reptiles, and so on!
Since we are not smart enough to understand the importance of these creatures with our limited knowledge, we can't simply claim that there are no benefit! The one who created this complex universe, knows best the purpose of these insects! Who we are to judge about creation? Just deal with it and live your life!
Creation?
Are you a creationist? Just wondering. Although I'm sure that we have plenty of knowledge at our current stage to know if fleas had some underlying huge purpose. (I'm an evolutionist btw)
Other than that, I see them as more of a harm than a help. I can see where some of their uses could be good, but meh. Not good enough for my approval.
I'm sure they're just here because they evolved well (too well for my taste haha)
I think they are here to make our lives miserable, and to think about it they want us to feel what its like been a dog or an animal. This is their plan, they are very angry that they can not be seen and its like they don't exist so they try to pay back by biting us and our animals, seriously! I got bites all over me and I don't understand why they have to bite us when they have the dogs and the cats but then I came up with my idea "they hate being what they are: tiny, no-purpose creatures.
Sorry guys, but they are really getting on my nerves this summer.
I agree with you
Many insects and bugs serve the purpose to feed other animals and birds. Mosquitoes, grasshoppers and flies all serve this purpose. Even cockroaches serve a purpose, like flies, they are natures little garbage collectors. Maybe flees are food for something as well.
"They help dead things rot and enrich the soil. Flea larvae emerge from the eggs to feed on any available organic material such as dead insects, feces, and vegetable matter."
Adult fleas also spread parasites which is important in regulating the breeding frequency of some mammals. For example, a fox that has tape worms will have an effected breeding/heat cycle and therefore will reproduce slower and in some cases not successfully at all. Same goes for all mammals.
Also, the spread of diseases is historically documented to have some links to fleas. Fleas were even the first form of biological warfare, being sent into cities on rats that would infect entire populations will plagues so the cities could then be overtaken.
Both of these are examples of population control.
"If you really want to stretch their value to us : they tell us when a rabbit is about to give birth ! Adult female fleas can detect the changing levels of hormones in the rabbit's blood that indicate she is getting close to giving birth. This triggers sexual maturity in the fleas and they start producing eggs. Then they stop for a bit and start again every time she gives birth. I suppose this information must be important to someone! What about this - Fleas have the same sleep cycles as their hosts. Research is on to investigate human sleep disorders, and the flea may turn out to help in the advancement of this knowledge."
Fleas now are the keys to many forms of research into human illnesses, diseases and disorders and may hold the secrets to many treatments and cures.
Source of quotes: www.bihartimes.in/
May as well ask "Why do roaches exist?" It's rather a mystery of a nature that it can create such beauty in the world, yet also produce useless and harmful things. The same can be said of good and evil people. There are very useful and kind human beings that create and able to save the world, yet so many others that can bring destruction and suffering to the planet. So not everything serves a purpose. It just is. The dinosaurs had to endure natural disasters and sickness long before humans arrived on the scene (although that's not why they became extinct. They were a more successful species than humans by living so long, yet they were wiped with no explanation, either).
I don't believe fleas were created to cull humans and animals. There simply is no absolute explanation for everything. Probably better hygienic living conditions by humans would help lessen disease that is spread, and finding a way to be rid of harmful insects. They probably have the cure, but as usual governments keep it hidden.
Only nature knows why these things happen. Maybe originally the Greeks were right: perhaps there are several capricious gods playing around with the planet. Who knows?
They keep vets in business? LOL just joking...vaseline makes them slow down so you can pick them off...the answer lies in the food chain, of the smaller creatures........They even have fleas on them who are asking the same question about their own fleas.
The purpose of the flea is simple: To teach dogs that they are dogs.
but fleas go on any host as long as the host is warm blooded and humans are warm blooded so are you calling humans dogs too?
Corrie Ten Boom wrote THE HIDING PLACE, a book about her experiences in the Nazi Concentration Camps and not only gave a reason for fleas but a reson to thank God for them.
They did used to perform in flea circuses but now due to Corporate re-organisation, they are all unemployed. A possible useful purpose if enough could be harnessed together, and made to jump similtaneously could be to launch the space shuttle.
Touche
Outwitting the flea.... I think I once outwitted a 3 yr old, but could not prove it with panel of 5 yr olds. They laughed me out the door when I tried to speak on outwitting the flea. I noticed they were all itching like crazy. I suspected the flea mob had "gotten" to them...
Just wondering, if fleas carry diseases, can they transmit HIV/AIDS??
No.... fortunately HIV, the virus that progresses to AIDS, does not live long outside the human body. Hence the name Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Same thing with mosquitoes. Although both of these insects can carry other diseases and transmit them to humans and animals.
The wee fleas are here for a very good reason, they keep the pile on the carpets very nice indeed!
I have a life long GRR for fleas. Ive never figured out why there are fleas. I just wish that we as humans can inflict the same amount of frustrated annoyance to them at least once!
Ti Anoy and aggravate the hell out of pets and their owners
As my dog and cat have both had their share of fleas this summer, I was just wondering what purpose fleas serve. After reading several responses, I decided (for my own satisfaction) that fleas have no purpose except to irritate pets and their owners. On the humorous side, fleas do probably serve one purpose and that is to keep dogs, cats and humans busy scratching or picking the darn things off. Keeps us out of mischief that's for certain. :-) I actually use my fingernails and go through my pet's hair and put the fleas into a small bowl of water; drowns them immediately!
Fleas are meant to keep an animals population down in the long term. If there were no fleas then an animal, like rats, would breed without anything to stop them. Fleas introduce diseases to rats, which can then keep the population down. And whenever the rat dies, so does the fleas it was carrying because they no longer have anything to feed on. So in conclusion, fleas help keep animal populations down.
I want to know the same thing. Every bug or insect has a purpose. I've never heard what a flea does for the environment. If anyone knows please pass this on to me
I have found using "Rebel Green Fruit & Veggie Clean" kills them instantly. I spray it all over my small 10 lb PooShiPoo dog and work it into a lather. Then rinse off in the bath tub and then lather him up again with Miracle ll soap and rinse. The water is full of them and all over my hands but still in a few hours there are more. I don't want to do the chemicals after reading the side affects. He has an outdoor cat he is friends with; the usual sniffing and brushing against each other! Never ending!
Some creatures are parasites, and this is one if them. They serve no useful purpose.
I found this site due to hearing a part of us whom were worried about fleas being extinct. ...ha, seen no good reason to worry in this site...but I'd guess maybe opossum food...makes me want an opossum.
Sprinkle salt in your carpet wherever cat walks, settles etc. Kills fleas, eggs hatch and it kills the fleas. Keep cat protected with monthly dose like Advantix or other monthly dose on back of head.
of a flea?
"They help dead things rot and enrich the soil. Flea larvae emerge from the eggs to feed on any available organic material such as dead insects, feces, and vegetable matter." Adult fleas also spread parasites which is important in regulating the breeding frequency of some mammals.
you do go on don't you ! Are you Lord of the Fleas ?
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
