It is no fun getting bitten by mosquitoes. Bites from mosquitoes turn into puffy, itchy bumps that can drive you crazy. But a bite from a mosquito can be more than just an irritation. Mosquitoes are vectors for many human pathogens. All it takes is one bite from one infected mosquito and you could contract West Nile virus, Zika virus, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), yellow fever, dengue fever, and more. That is why it is important to guard against mosquito bites all year long.
How Do You Get Rid of Mosquitoes?
It can seem like an impossible task to get rid of mosquitoes. There are billions of them in Florida. And some days it can feel like all of them are in YOUR yard. Even if you could get rid of all the mosquitoes in your yard, won't more just come in from your neighbors' yards? Well, not necessarily. There is a secret that mosquitoes don't want you to know. You can actually do something to make it harder for them to live in your yard. To demonstrate how this works, let's look at the life of one mosquito.
When a mosquito hatches from its eggs, it finds itself in a pool of stagnant water (depending on the species). It starts life as a worm-like larvae called a wiggler, and feeds on algae, plankton, fungi, and other microorganisms. After molting several times, it becomes a pupa, also called a tumbler. In this stage, the mosquito no longer feeds. From pupa, it develops into an adult and takes to the air.
We'll assume that our little mosquito is a female. Male mosquitoes don't feed on blood, lay eggs, or live very long. A male mosquito will die off in about a week and is only significant in its role in fertilizing female mosquitoes.
Our female mosquito takes off from a puddle in your neighbor's yard, and she has one thing on her mind; she needs to mate. She enters into a group of male mosquitoes and copulates. Next, she must find a blood meal in order to make her eggs. She can get this meal from many types of mammals, not just humans. But she isn't going to fly very far to get it. Mosquitoes do not typically travel more than a few hundred yards in their lifetime, and for a female, that lifetime is only about two months.
As she buzzes around in your neighbor's yard, she detects movement in your yard. It appears as a dark silhouette against the bright background of the early morning sky. As she approaches, the silhouette disappears from her view. The sun rises higher in the sky as she continues to buzz around in search of a blood meal. Eventually, it is too hot for her and she must seek a place to hide. Vegetation in a shaded spot nearby gives her the perfect location. It is here, and in other locations like this, that she will wait, every day, until she finds a blood meal, preferring to travel a little as possible. If she comes in contact with a control agent in a resting place before she finds a blood meal, she dies, and her eggs die with her.
What can we learn from this? Mosquitoes don't travel far and they MUST rest. When they do, you can stop them from breeding in your yard and from going back into your neighbor's yard to breed. This is why mosquito control is so powerful. It takes time for new mosquitoes to replace the mosquitoes that are eliminated by control products because mosquitoes aren't great at flying. If you want to stop female mosquitoes before they find a blood meal and lay eggs in your yard or in your neighborhood, consider investing in a mosquito control service and take a bite out of mosquito populations before those mosquitoes take a bite out of you.
If you live in Bradenton or the surrounding area, let Keller's Pest Control protect your property. We offer seasonal service and one-time service to reduce mosquitoes before an important outdoor event such as a wedding reception, graduation, family reunion, sports party, and more.
Don't take a chance with mosquitoes. You can stop those mosquitoes and make your yard a no fly zone. See how much of an impact mosquito control service can really make.
