You yard might be infested with mosquito eggs right now, and you’d have no idea. Your neighbor’s yard, or your neighborhood green belt might be infested with mosquito eggs right now, all waiting to hatch and invade your property.
Mosquitoes are resilient creatures, having been around since before the dawn of man (remember the movie Jurassic Park). They are not only resilient, the amazing monsoon season we’ve seen here in Arizona these past two months has made conditions ripe for a mosquito invasion.
With hot and humid temperatures, combined with an enormous amount of rain and soil that seems to remain damp for days on end, mosquitoes are breeding like there’s no tomorrow.
Mosquitoes need water to breed. They need standing water, or in some cases moist soil, to lay their eggs. Mosquitoes need humid environments to keep those eggs healthy. A mosquito life cycle has four stages, all of which depend on water and food.
If you have any standing water around your home, you can apply larvicide and treat the area, although it’s best to call in a pest control expert to do it for you.
Mosquitoes can live up to 8 months, as long as they survive hungry birds and swatting hands. During that time they’ll continue to breed and lay eggs if the environment is right…like right now.
Here are some ways to control mosquitoes around your home:
- Dispose of tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots or similar water-holding containers that have accumulated on your property.
- Empty standing water from used or discarded tires (pdf) that may have accumulated on your property (e.g. tire swings).
- Drill holes in the bottom of recycling containers that are left out of doors.
- Clean clogged roof gutters on an annual basis, particularly if the leaves from surrounding trees have a tendency to plug up the drains.
- Turn over plastic wading pools when not in use.
- Turn over wheelbarrows and do not allow water to stagnate in birdbaths.
- Change water in birdbaths and wading pools on a weekly basis.
- Aerate ornamental pools or stock them with fish.
- Clean and chlorinate swimming pools that are not being used. Be aware that mosquitoes may even breed in the water that collects on swimming pool covers.
If your mosquito problem is beyond control, call in the Magic Pest Control experts. We now fog for mosquitoes!
