Males Approaching Females

Males display the first mating behavior. With erect antennae, a male will move towards a female until their heads contact each other. Then, from behind, with his head lowered, he’ll push the female’s abdomen up until he’s underneath her. His posterior will raise. During this, the female continues feeding. If she’s receptive, she’ll accept subsequent male courtship. If she’s unreceptive, she’ll either walk away or raise her hind end

With rhythmic contraction and relaxation, the male performs regular strokes of his posterior abdomen (terminalia) against the female. The female continues to feed and excrete feces while mating.

Rival males frequently disturb mating pairs. The rival uses his head to push the copulating male’s head from the side. A strong male may successfully displace the mating male, then having a chance to mate with the female. Once interrupted, the female may re-mate with the same male, or she may choose a different mate.

The female sometimes ends copulation by moving away and escaping the male’s grasp. This usually occurs when she’s disturbed by external stimuli, such as other fleas or a sudden increase in light intensity. The abandoned male will try to resume mating, or will go find a different female.

A male will display characteristic post-mating behavior. First, he’ll bend his abdomen to the side to clean his terminalia with his hind legs’ spines. Then he’ll replicate the action on the other side. Afterwards, he’ll rub his two hind legs together under his abdomen. This process is repeated several times.

Cat flea matings can be lengthy, ranging from 2 to 157 minutes. The average is 60 minutes for the first mating, and 40 minutes for the second.

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