Adult flea emerges from cocoon full-sized and ready to go.
The newly emerged flea will leap at any likely source of warmth and vibration. Although fleas greatly prefer the flavor of dogs and cats, they will settle for your ankle. Once on the host, the female flea takes two or three blood meals a day and soon begins laying eggs . . . Seen with the naked eye, flea eggs look like grains of salt. When ready to hatch, baby fleas use their tiny egg tooth to cut their way out of the eggshell.