Infestation of the Vermin

Fleas are really amazing creatures, designed to survive. Naturally grown defense mechanisms, built to survive extermination. A female flea lays twenty to thirty eggs a day; eggs take one to ten days to hatch, whereupon they lay in little flea cocoons, laying in wait for the vibrations of an animal to walk past. When this happens, the flea hatches from the cocoon and flies (they're amazing jumpers) to the newly acclaimed host animal. An adult flea can live anywhere from two months to one year without nourishment; this means that even if they don't have a host animal to suck the blood out of, they can still survive for up to a year. The eggs are laid in the fur coat of the host animal, and are designed to fall off the coat: they then hatch in two days to two weeks, and lay in wait in their little larvae cocoons.

I am disgusted by their ingenious survival tactics. Imagine my dismay: even if you eliminate all but one live adult female flea, one egg, or one little larvae, the entire population can flare up again. Two weeks of eggs and larvae lay in wait, multiplying all the while.... a portrait too drastic and impossible to imagine. This cat sleeps in the deep dark corners of the house; after he's been de-infested and let loose again, he'll return to his little hidey- holes. One little flea that we missed, and the entire cycle begins again.

Broken appliances do not help the situation in the least.... a washing machine is vital to the extermination of this disgustingly well designed little flea.