First blood meal of Ctenocephalides canis (Siphanaptera : Pulicidae) on dogs: Time to initiation of feeding and duration

Two experiments were conducted on dogs to evaluate interval to initiation a nd duration of the first blood meal of Ctenocephalides canis (Curtis). Perc entage of fed male and female fleas was calculated for fleas held on dogs f or 5, 15, 30, 60 min, 6, and 24 hr. Duration of first blood meal was also m easured for individual fleas confined on dogs. When fleas were free in the hair coat, 21.2% had begun blood feeding within 5 min. After 1 hr 72.5% of fleas had fed. After 6 hr, 95.2% of males and 100% of females had taken a b lood meal, and 24 hr after deposition all fleas had fed. There was no signi ficant difference between the 2 sexes. The mean delay between deposition an d biting for fleas that began feeding within 15 min was 2 min 52 sec +/- 3 min 2 sec for female fleas and 3 min 8 sec +/- 2 min 45 sec for males. The mean duration of female and male meals was 5 min 3 sec +/- 3 min 41 sec and 6 min 9 sec +/- 6 min 8 sec, respectively. There was no significant differ ence between the 2 sexes. The dog flea Look its blood meal on dogs more slo wly than the cat flea did on cats; this meal was significantly longer for C tenocephalides felis felis (Bouche) than for C. canis.