If you have pets, it is likely that you have had to deal with a flea infestation before. Fleas might be bothersome for pets and their owners, but there are more to these fascinating creatures than meets the eye.
We came across these interesting fun facts about fleas that might not make you like them more, but will surely make you look at them in a new light!
Fun Flea Facts
- Fleas can push / pull objects 160,000 their own weight. This is the equivalent to a human pulling 2,679 double-decker busses.
- Fleas gives a new meaning to the term jump for joy. They can jump up to 30,000 times without stopping!
- Not only do they have the ability to jump high, 150 times their length, but they do so at 50 times the acceleration speed of a space shuttle.
- At the start of the 1920’s there was a craft that started in Mexico of dressing up fleas. Dressed fleas were still being created well into the 1930s, the most popular forms being bride and groom or farmer and wife sets. Some were as elaborate as an entire mariachi band, complete with instruments.
- Tiddlywinks, an old popular game in Europe, is played by trying to flick disks into a small container. The word “tiddlywinks” translates as “the game of the flea.” We think that the popular game coinage, working on the same principle, might very well have been inspired by this game.
- You might think the worst thing about a flea is it’s bite, but fleas have been known to transmit deadly diseases. It is believed that fleas were the cause of the spread of the Black Plague that caused the death of 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa during the mid-1300s.
- Flea circuses gained the height of their popularity during the early 1900s. Today there is only one genuine flea circus that still performs at the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, but most of them now are a sideline of magicians and clowns using electrical or mechanical effects instead of real hoppers.
We hope you found these fun facts about fleas interesting. At the end of the day they are still a pest. Treating just your pet for fleas isn’t enough to get rid of the problem, for the eggs can lay dormant for weeks and hatch after you thought you had your pet’s flea problem under control. If your home is infested by fleas, the best way to get rid of them is by getting professional pest control services. Contact us today to book your flea treatment service today to rid your home of these pesky critters!
