To get the best idea what fleas look like, please reference our flea image gallery in the sidebar of this webpage. Just click the image in order to open up a full-size viewer containing photos and illustrations of fleas in all stages of their life cycle.
Adult fleas are very tiny and can barely be seen by the naked eye. They are black, brown, and sometimes reddish colored. They have very long mouth appendages that have been adapted by evolution to successfully feed on their specific host animal.
Adult fleas have very long hind legs in proportion to their body, which give them their tremendous leaping ability. They can spring themselves up to 12 inches horizontally and 6 inches vertically in one jump, giving them the second greatest leaping ability in the animal kingdom when measured against body size.
Flea eggs are white and spherical, and are difficult to see without the use of a magnifying lens. Flea larva are grayish colored and blind, so they must feed on whatever organic material they can find nearby, usually adult flea feces or dried blood.
The flea pupa are encased in silken cocoons that they weave and are off-white colored. They can lay dormant for months or even years without feeding while they wait for a suitable host animal to present itself, at which time they will emerge from dormancy to feed.
It is difficult to describe in words exactly what fleas look like, so again, please view the fleas image gallery to get a better picture.
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