Although rodents and fleas are small creatures compared to humans, they can significantly impact people’s health and home cleanliness.
Today, our integrative pest management specialists are here to talk about rodent fleas—the fleas that feed on rats, mice, prairie dogs, squirrels, and other rodents—in order to shed factual light on the realities of rodent fleas’ modern impact on human homes and provide practical home pest control advice. Keep reading to learn more!
What are Rodent Fleas?
As mentioned in the introduction, rodent fleas are wingless insects that jump high enough to seem like they fly (but they don’t fly). Rodent fleas get their primary source of food by climbing onto rodents, biting them, and sucking out their blood.
Many types of fleas choose rodents as their hosts, but the most significant species known for feeding on rats is Xenopsylla cheopis, the “Oriental Rat Flea.” They live in the nests of all types of rats (mainly the species Rattus rattus, known as “roof rats”) throughout their lives, only climbing onto rats to get their blood meals, and then they climb right back off to mate and lay eggs.
The Rodent Flea’s Claim to Fame
Although these rodent fleas prefer to bite rats, they occasionally bite other warm-bodied hosts, including people and pets such as cats and dogs.
Oriental Rat Fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) and roof rats (Rattus rattus) are notorious for their shared responsibility in spreading the bubonic plague, one of the two diseases that caused the Black Death pandemic, which wiped out millions of human lives in Europe in the 14th century.
Here’s how they transmit the bubonic plague to humans (beware, it’s kinda gross):
- During the 14th century, many roof rats carried a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which many historians regard as the primary cause of the bubonic plague. In other words, many rats that lived in domestic areas near people had the bubonic plague. Many assume rats pass the plague to people by biting them; this is entirely false.
- Like many fleas and other pests in the insect family, Oriental Rat Fleas are frequent carriers of disease and transmit it from one bitten host to another. They begin the cycle of transmitting the plague by biting plague-infected rats.
- The plague-causing Yersinia pestis from the infected rats multiplies in the fleas’ bodies and blocks their gut; so when they try to feed again, they can’t digest it and must regurgitate the blood and bacteria back into the bite wound.
- Starved and on the hunt for blood they can digest, these rodent fleas move to a new host. The rats they were living on during the Black Death lived on the roofs and other places in and around human homes. The fleas often left their rat hosts and jumped to people’s pets, where they eventually moved to people, or straight onto people.
- The Oriental Rat Fleas then bit their new human hosts. But because the bacterium in their still bodies blocked their guts, they regurgitated the infected blood back into the bites on their human hosts’ skin.
- With Yersinia pestis-contaminated blood-vomit in their flea bite wounds, the bacterium spread through the humans’ bloodstreams, transmitting the plague to them.
Don’t let this scare you, though.
Even if you’ve got a rat or a flea infestation in your home, don’t let our explanation strike unbridled fear in you. Pest control and medicine are much more advanced in our developed global communities today than in the 14th century.
It’s crucial never to let fear and hysteria win when you have a pest problem. You must tackle the situation logically and promptly, and there’s no better way to handle it and guarantee peace of mind than to call a professional pest control specialist.
Preventing Rodent Fleas
Preventing rodents and rodent fleas from entering your home is essential to avoiding infestations and staying safe from the diseases they can carry. However, remember that your risk of getting the bubonic plague is extremely low, and it is highly treatable with modern medicine.
Check out these free, practical resources from our experts’ pest blog to learn more about how to prevent (or clean up after) infestations of rodents and fleas (and therein, rodent fleas, too):
Flea Control Resources
Rodent Control Resources
Effective Rodent and Flea Removal
Once rodents, fleas, or both cause an infestation in your home, getting rid of them by yourself can be a nightmare that never seems to end. If you have an infestation of either (or both) of these pests in your home, you need to contact a reputable pest control professional immediately for your health and safety.
For 40+ years, Vulcan Termite & Pest Control, Inc. has been the trusted go-to pest control source for families throughout the Birmingham metro area. We offer highly effective solutions for small rodent control, household insect control, yard pest control, and other services at affordable rates. We integrate traditional and natural approaches and prioritize your entire family’s safety and well-being.
Call us today at 205-663-4200 or complete the “Send Us a Message” form on our contact page to ask questions or hire us for all your pest control needs, whether it’s exterminating an active infestation or implementing effective preventative maintenance.
