Mosquito Management

The City frequently gets calls from concerned citizens asking about their subdivision’s stormwater management ponds creating a mosquito breeding habitat. These areas are specifically designed either to retain water too deep, or not to hold water long enough to provide favorable breeding conditions. Streams and rivers often move too quickly to provide habitat as mosquitoes need stagnant water conditions to successfully reproduce. These areas are home to mosquito predators such as frogs, fish, and dragonflies which help to keep mosquito populations in check. In actuality, a residential yard often creates more favorable mosquito breeding conditions than streams, lakes, and stormwater management ponds. This is due to the multitude of preferable breeding sites in close proximity to a blood host, such as humans and/or pets. Children’s toys, playground equipment, gutters, flower pots, depressions near the house, ornamental ponds, or landscaping areas all have the potential to hold shallow, stagnant water and provide prime egg laying sites. Mosquitoes are attracted to human breath, specifically carbon dioxide, and have heat seeking receptors that enable them to find their next meal. As you can imagine, humans and pets are excellent candidates. Combine this with the attractive breeding sites around the home and you’ve got an excellent area for mosquitoes to hang out and reproduce. By making sure you keep your yard and associated features free from standing water you can help to reduce the number of mosquitoes you encounter.

Mosquito facts

• Only female mosquitoes bite as they need the protein in blood for egg development. Males feed on flower nectar
• A teaspoon of stagnant water can provide a host site
• Mosquitoes are most active in late evening and night. They find refuge in cool, damp, shaded areas during other times.
• Mosquito reproduction from egg development to adulthood takes anywhere from 5-14 days depending on site conditions

Breeding prevention

• Empty water out of yard equipment, gutters, toys, debris, bird baths, and any other areas that might provide a breeding site on a weekly basis
• Your local hardware or home improvement store will typically sell insecticides for use on your lawns that may be helpful in controlling mosquito populations
• Fill in low areas in or around your yard
• See common household sources for mosquitoes below!

Bite Prevention

Wear long sleeves during mosquito peak times and/or use an effective bite prevention spray

Check out CDC’s bite prevention recommendations and safe repellant fact sheet at:

https://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/pdfs/fs_mosquito_bite_prevention_us.pdf

Check out the CDC’s website for further mosquito info at:

https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-bites/prevent-mosquito-bites.html