{"id":4035,"date":"2013-01-29T15:27:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T20:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/?page_id=4035"},"modified":"2020-04-13T21:46:31","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:46:31","slug":"head-lice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/fact-sheets\/common-name-listing\/head-lice\/","title":{"rendered":"Head Lice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Closeup<\/a>The Head Louse<\/strong> (Pediculus humanus capitis<\/em>) is an insect pest which is an obligate parasite of humans, which means it is a type of parasite that cannot complete its life cycle without exploiting a suitable host.\u00a0 It is gray in color but tends to take on the hair color of the host.\u00a0 They are usually found on the lower back of the head and behind the ears.\u00a0 The female is about 1\/16\u2033 to 1\/8\u2033 long and flattened in shape; the male is a bit smaller.\u00a0 Head lice do not jump or fly.<\/p>\n

A female head louse will live about 30 days on a host.\u00a0 During this period, she will deposit about 90 eggs at a rate of three a day.\u00a0 The eggs are called \u201cnits\u201d and hatch in about one week.\u00a0 The life cycle is completed in about 15 days.\u00a0 During this time, the nymphs, as well as the adults, feed with piercing and sucking mouthparts, injecting saliva to keep blood from clotting.\u00a0 If the lice are not disturbed, feeding may continue for extended periods, and the insects may excrete dark red feces onto the scalp.<\/p>\n

\n

Additional Information: Head Lice<\/b><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Head Louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) is an insect pest which is an obligate parasite of humans, which means it is a type of parasite that cannot complete its life cycle without exploiting a suitable host.\u00a0 It is gray in color but tends to take on the hair color of the host.\u00a0 They are usually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"parent":1561,"menu_order":44,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4035","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHead Lice - Home and Garden IPM from Cooperative Extension - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/fact-sheets\/common-name-listing\/head-lice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Head Lice - 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