Dog louse
The dog louse is a tiny, flat insect that lives its whole life in a dog's fur. It is less than 2 millimetres long and moves so slowly it can look like it is standing still. It holds on tight to the hairs with its special legs and jaws.
How big is it?
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How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother glues each egg to a single hair of the dog.
The eggs hatch after about five to eight days, and a baby louse grows up in three to five weeks.
It spends its whole life on the dog, from egg to grown-up.
In cold places like Scandinavia it is one of the most common dog pests, because ticks and fleas do not like the cold.
It likes to sit on the dog's back, neck and head best.
Most asked questions about Dog louse
?Can dog lice live on humans?
No. Dog lice stay on dogs and their wild cousins. They do not move to people or cats.
?How big is a dog louse?
Very small, less than 2 millimetres long, a little bigger than a grain of salt.
?How do dogs get lice?
From other dogs. Healthy, well cared for dogs rarely get them.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Trichodectes canis
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Trichodectidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Psocodea > Trichodectidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Canine chewing louse
Where the facts come from
- Trichodectes canis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Adam Cuerden. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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