Can Fleas Travel On Clothes? And 9 Questions On Fleas, Answered!

Fleas have their sneaky ways to get inside your home and bed. Pets and wildlife bringing in fleas is just the tip of the iceberg.

Human activity can also be responsible for fleas in your home.

How? This guide answers it.

This guide reveals the answers to questions about how human activity can be responsible for flea infestation in your home.

So, this post reveals answers to questions like, can fleas travel on clothes, in luggage, in your closet.

And to many more.

Keep reading.

Can Fleas Travel On Clothes?

In a word, yes. Fleas can travel on clothes. 

But wait, there’s more to it. 

First, let’s find out how fleas can be in your clothes and in what conditions.

Let’s focus on the outdoors. It’s because the source of fleas is outdoors. It’s from the outdoors that fleas infest your pets, and you’ll find out now, your clothes too.

Where do fleas live outdoors?

Outdoors, fleas live in tall grasses, dense bushes, and shrubs growing around the moist and damp areas.

Fleas and other blood-sucking and biting bugs like ticks live and breed in grasses and shrubs.

Pets get fleas when they play on or walk through these dense shrubs with fleas in them. Fleas will wait in these places for a host to latch onto. 

So, when you walk through the tall grasses or dense bushes, the fleas waiting in there will latch onto your clothing. 

Fleas will latch onto your trousers and shirt. The most common place will be the area below your waist.

Fleas find it easier to travel on clothes because fabrics provide them a good grip than human skin. So, a human can carry fleas on clothes.

When you come home and put your clothes in your bed or elsewhere in your home, you bring the fleas home. 

But fleas can’t bite through clothing. It sounds good, but that’s the worst part.

It’s because you can’t realize that there are fleas latched onto your clothing. Fleas need access to your skin to insert their mouthparts and feed on your blood.

And their mouthparts aren’t sturdy enough to do that through your clothes.

However, if fleas latch onto skintight fabrics like tight yoga pants, thin stockings, etc., then they can bite through it.

Later in the post, you’ll find out how to nullify the chances of fleas traveling on your clothes.

But for now, keep in mind that if you’ve been into places where there can be possible hidden fleas, they’ll latch onto your clothes. And you can bring fleas home.

However, fleas aren’t as efficient hitchhikers as bed bugs. 

It means that chances of bringing in fleas to your home if you visit someone’s home with a flea infestation are less. 

But if you sleep in their beds with fleas in them, then for sure you’re going to get flea bites.

How Long Can Fleas Live In Clothes?

If fleas don’t get access to your skin, then fleas in your clothes can live for 24-48 hours. 

Many a time you’ll find one flea latched on to your socks or trousers. It can mean that there are more fleas on your clothing.

If fleas get access to your skin, fleas will bite you. If fleas bite you, you’ll experience itching and red rashes on your skin.

Can Fleas Travel In Luggage?

Yes, they can. If you put your clothes with fleas latched onto them inside your luggage, then you can bring fleas home.

Fleas in bed can also jump into your luggage and hide. 

So, to eliminate the chances of fleas getting inside your luggage, use a flea spray on your clothes, suitcases, and bags before packing. 

Can Fleas Travel On Humans To Another House?

Yes, you can transport fleas to another house through your clothes. Fleas can latch onto the clothes and wait till they get access to your skin to bite.

If you visit someone’s home or apartment with fleas on your clothes and luggage, then you can transfer fleas to that home or apartment.

Can Fleas Live On Bedding?

Your bed is the best place for fleas to live, thrive, and breed. It’s because, in your bed, fleas can bite you in your sleep and have their blood meals. 

Without blood meals, fleas can’t breed. Nor can they mature into adults. 

There are signs of fleas in bed that you can’t ignore. The faster you act on noticing these signs, the quicker you’ll be to stop an infestation.

How Long Can Fleas Live Without Blood Meals?

As per Texas A&M University, adult fleas can live without blood meals or a host for two weeks, at max. Some may even die early.

Female fleas can’t reproduce or lay eggs if they don’t get blood meals. The female fleas lay eggs within 48 hours of the first blood meal.

And she continues to lay eggs for 9 consecutive days. In these 9 days, a female flea can lay 25-30 eggs. 

The female flea will bite her host and consume blood 15 times her body weight during this period.

So, does denying fleas the host or the opportunity to have blood meals can play a role in eliminating them? Yes.

In an empty home with no host around, fleas will die. But that’s not an effective way because fleas are tiny biting bugs that can be hard to spot.

Do Flea Larvae Bite?

No, flea larvae don’t bite humans or pets. Flea larvae are tiny off-whitish worms that grow only up to 1/4th of an inch.

Flea larvae eat the adult fleas’ feces until they get into the pupae life stage. 

The pupae life stage is when the flea larvae lock themselves into a cocoon. They emerge out of their cocoon as adult fleas.

The first thing they want to do after maturing into an adult has a blood meal. And after that, mate.

Flea larvae are present in pet bedding and on your bed as bed worms if there are adult fleas in both places.

Can Fleas Live In Your Closet?

If you keep clothes with fleas in the closet, fleas can live in your closet too. But not for long, without blood meals. They’ll die within two weeks.

How Long Can Fleas Live In Furniture?

Not more than two weeks. 

Fleas have a habit of hiding in unlikely places like the gaps and cracks on the furniture, hardwood floors, and even carpets.

But they can’t hide in these places for long without blood meals.

They patiently wait in these places till they find a host to latch onto. 

So, while getting rid of fleas in your home, you must treat your floors, furniture, couches, rugs, carpets, dresser drawers, and closets and wardrobes.

Fleas can hide in the couch, carpets and other soft furnishings. The fleas infest these soft furnishings when they fall off from the hosts’ bodies, which are your pets.

Getting rid of fleas in your home can be tricky because they’re tiny and hide in the thinnest of gaps and cracks in your home.

But there are home products that kill fleas. You can use them to control flea infestation in your home without relying on insecticide sprays.

But, do not use flea bombs to kill fleas in your home. They’re risky and ineffective.

If there were fleas in your clothes, and you’ve stored them without washing them in warm water, then fleas will also be present in places where you keep clothes.

How To Remove Fleas From Your Clothes?

If you’ve been outdoors or traveling, the first thing you should keep in mind is not to take clothes out of your luggage and put them in your closet.

Not only fleas but also bed bugs can be on your clothes, especially when you’ve been in a hotel with bed bugs in them.

Take all your clothes out from your luggage, and put them straight into the washing machine.

Wash the clothes with warm water. If there are sensitive and expensive clothes, it’ll be best to dry clean them.

Warm water kills fleas latched onto your clothing.