Category: Guides

How To Keep Mosquitoes Out Of Your Home

Posted on by k2Dev

Surprisingly, blood is not the primary food for mosquitoes. Sipping on nectar and plant juices are how they get the energy they need to fly around. In fact, the male mosquito never even has a drink of blood it its whole life. It is the female mosquito that needs the protein from blood to be able to produce eggs.

However, these bothersome insects can cause a lot itching, and some people have allergic reactions that can cause a lot of soreness and inflammation. It is not something you want to put up with in your home, and considering that they can carry dangerous diseases, it is best to take steps to keep them out.

So just how do you keep mosquitoes out of your home?

Eliminate Mosquito Friendly Areas

To control mosquitoes inside your home, it’s best to start with a few important steps to protect the outside of your home. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water, so periodically check to make sure there are no such places in the immediate vicinity of your home.

These could be:

• Piles of wet leaves

• Tree holes

• Bird baths

• Flower pots

• Old tires

• Toys and kiddy pools

• Drainage pipes

• Gutters

• Sagging tarps and other protective covers

Especially after it rains, it is important to take a look around your yard and empty anything that has filled with water. Also, make sure the ground is draining well and no puddles are remaining.

For stagnant water to be safe, it helps to have a healthy fish population. Fish will eat the larvae of mosquitoes and prevent the population form increasing.

Seal and Screen Your Home

1. If you want to be able to leave windows and doors open for fresh air, make sure they are all properly screened. Although a mosquito will not push itself through a tight hole, an opening about the size of a penny is enough to welcome it. Ensure that your screens and window shutters fit snugly and that they are not torn.

2. Check to make certain there are no other openings such as ventilators that will allow them to come through. Where plumbing and electrical wires enter your home is another place to check for any unwanted gaps. All of these holes can be sealed off permanently as you will not need to open them on a regular basis.

3. Don’t forget to check your attic and basement for any openings. They will not live in those places, but they will come through them and find you.

4. The worst time for mosquitoes is an hour before sunset and again in the early morning. If you are extra careful during these times, and try to not open doors too frequently, it will immensely reduce the chances of them getting in to your home.

Benefits of Fans and Yellow Lighting

1. If you have fans, use them. Mosquitoes are not strong flyers, and a gust of wind will blow them away and stop them from approaching you. Setting up an oscillating fan is another way to enjoy a patio or porch, or even help you avoid bites if mosquitoes do manage to get inside your home.

A mosquito is attracted to you because of the heat you produce and the carbon dioxide you exhale. A fan will keep you cool, prevent you from sweating, and it will blow away the carbon dioxide you exhale. This makes you very unappetizing.

2. Mosquitoes come out when it is dark and they are attracted to light, mostly white light. Changing the white light in your home to a yellow, warm glow is another simple way to make your home uninviting to a mosquito. Turn lights off when they are not needed, and as much as possible, keep outside lights off, especially, in the evening and early morning.

In order to prevent mosquitoes from entering your home, remember to start outside first. Depending on where you live, this may not always be possible. However, working with your neighbors and your local government to reduce their breeding grounds, will not only reduce the number of mosquitoes that can enter your home, but it will also make it possible for you to enjoy your back yard.

 

How to Prevent Mosquito Bites

Posted on by k2Dev

This may come as a surprise, but you have more reason to be afraid of a mosquito than a shark or any other animal. Mosquitoes can carry more diseases and can kill more people than any other species on earth. Understanding what mosquitoes need to survive and some of their techniques for finding blood will enable you to better protect yourself from the itchy – and potentially dangerous – mosquito bites.

There are 3,500 known species of mosquitoes. Roughly 200 species bite humans. They can be found on every continent and can survive in almost any habitat. They are pests to mammals all over the world, and there are some species that only bite birds. Even reptiles and amphibians do not escape the bite of a mosquito. However, humans are not the main source of food for a mosquito.

A surprising fact about how mosquitoes feed is that their feeding habits are almost identical to butterflies. You may wonder how that can be true. It may seem like mosquitoes feed primarily on you, but they actually get their energy from nectar and fruit juices. They sip the nectar from flowers and fruits through a proboscis – just like the butterfly.

It is the female mosquito that requires blood, but only for reproduction. Male mosquitoes do not require blood. The female’s eggs need protein and iron to develop, which is why she has such an innate ability to detect the carbon dioxide that humans exhale. In fact, she can detect carbon dioxide from about 75 feet away and will fly through it to land on her target.

But to fully complete their life cycle, mosquitoes need stagnant water to lay eggs and develop into mature mosquitoes. This is a crucial point. It is a significant characteristic of mosquitoes that humans can take advantage of to greatly reduce mosquito populations around their homes and neighborhoods.

So naturally, the first step in protecting yourself from mosquito bites is to remove sources of standing water from your yard.

  1. Start after a rainstorm. You’ll  need to ensure there are no toys, tires, gutters, tree holes, or anything else,full of water sitting around. If you leave these items unemptied, it won’t be long before they’re full of mosquito larvae. Encourage neighbors to do the same.
  2. When needed, work with local governments to clean up public areas. Besides large areas of stagnant water that may need to be drained, trash and leaves piled up will hold pockets of water just the right size for a mosquito to lay eggs.
  3. Dawn and dusk are when mosquitoes are the most abundant. During this time, avoid leaving doors and windows open, and as much as possible, stay inside.
  4. When you spend time outdoors, at any time of the day, try to avoid dark shady spots. Mosquitoes prefer dark moist areas. You are less likely to be bitten in brighter sunny areas.
  5. Wear long sleeve tops and loose pants, and make sure your feet are covered. Wearing light colored clothing will make you less attractive as well.
  6. Spray the screens on your doors and windows with a repellent. This will help to kill them off before they enter your home.
  7. There are various kinds of outdoor candles that give off smoke with a scent. These can be helpful even if you do not plan on spending time outdoors. The smoke and smell will deter them from coming in to your yard.
  8. Keeping a couple of oscillating fans in your back yard or deck is helpful. It keeps the carbon dioxide you exhale moving and prevents it from guiding the mosquito to you. Additionally, mosquitoes are not strong flyers, and they will not be able fly around in the force of the wind.
  9. Limit use of perfumes and scents that attract mosquitoes, such as floral and fruity fragrances.
  10. A warm, sweaty, panting person in an area where there is not much air flow is an ideal target for a mosquito. If you have just finished a workout, then move out to an open breezy place to cool down.
  11. Always plan in advance. Close windows and doors well before dusk, especially in the bedroom. Apply mosquito repellent well before mosquito time. Sometimes it is good to use more than one kind of repellent. This will help cover multiple types of mosquitoes.

 

Q&A: How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes

Posted on by k2Dev

Mosquitoes are a pain throughout the year but are found aplenty during the summer. They’re bothersome and dangerous, spreading diseases like malaria, West Nile Virus and Yellow Fever, which can be life threatening to humans and livestock. So it goes without saying that getting rid of mosquitoes is a top priority for home and business owners.

We sat down with Mike the Mosquito Man, MosquitoControl.net’s mosquito guru, to ask him the best ways to get rid of mosquitoes this season. Here are his thoughts on the best mosquito killers around:

MC.net: Hi Mike. Good to see you again.

Mike: Good to see you, too.

MC.net: So what’s new on the mosquito front these days?

Mike: Glad you asked. A lot. Did you hear the monster mosquitoes have returned to Florida?

MC.net: Sure did. Sounds crazy!

Mike: It really is. But there are ways to get rid of mosquitoes – even these.

MC.net: Great. That’s exactly what we want to talk about today. What is the best way to get rid of mosquitoes?

Mike: Well, there are a number of ways. Which ones you choose depend on the severity of the mosquito problem and your preference for treating it. Let’s start with the one we know best: mosquito repellents. These are the sprays you buy at the drug store and coat yourself with from head to toe every time you step outside. Right?

MC.net: (laughing) Right.

Mike: (laughing) When you remember to use it. So these sprays are pretty effective. But there’s a growing concern about their safety. DEET is the biggie. It’s a really great repellent, but some studies on these products point to the possibility of adverse health effects if used in large doses. In fact, manufacturers of DEET-containing products advise consumers to wash it off immediately after coming inside and to use a smaller concentration on children under 13, and not at all on infants under 6 months.

MC.net: Hmm, sounds like mosquito sprays aren’t the best solution then.

Mike: Maybe not. But there are newer sprays and lotions on the market with much safer ingredients. Those with Picaridin, oil of lemon and eucalyptus are safe for daily use. They may not be as strong as DEET-based repellents, so you’d need to reapply more often.

MC.net: What about people who don’t want to apply mosquito repellents to their skin. What should they use?

Mike: They have lots of options. The first method they may want to consider is using natural ingredients to make an herbal repellent or mist. I mentioned lemon, but cinnamon, cedarwood, garlic, thyme, peppermint, basil – all of these have properties that act as mosquito repellents. And there’s always the ‘ol citronella candle. Keep one on your back patio or deck for evening cookouts. These are a good start, although they may not provide the most consistent protection.

MC.net: I see. So what if we want natural and consistent?

Mike: Some companies now sell mosquito misting systems and diffusers that use these ingredients. The ALLCLEAR line is one example. And there are others. The mixture includes things you’d find in your kitchen, but the distribution technology is more advanced. They can keep mosquitoes away from a designated area for a set amount of time.

MC.net: OK, so what about the standard fare of mosquito control systems?

Mike: You mean like traps and foggers … stuff like that?

MC.net: Or fly paper.

Mike: (laughs) Don’t knock the fly paper. It works! Well, CO2 traps have been around since the mid ’90s. Foggers a bit longer. These products have been used for some time. But to understand the challenges of these systems you have to understand how they work. The traps emit a CO2 solution, similar to the gas we humans exhale, which is what attracts mosquitoes to us. When the mosquitoes get close, a vacuum system sucks them into the trap and holds them there until they die. It can take weeks or months to kill off a local mosquito population.

The problem with traps is that not all mosquitoes are attracted to the same chemicals. And in the case of the Asian Tiger Mosquito, which is more active during the day, they may be more attracted to visual stimuli than to scents anyway. So you don’t get total control. You’d have to really know which mosquito species you’re dealing with.

Foggers do a pretty good job knocking down the adult mosquito population, but you don’t control breeding as well. You’re also talking about spraying a large amount of insecticide across your property with little to no targeting. So if you want to get rid of mosquitoes completely, you’d need to use the fogger along with a larvicide in breeding areas.

The real problem with traps and foggers is that they’re so darn expensive. The technology is really evolving, though, so I expect there will be something on the horizon soon.

MC.net: You mentioned larvicide? What is that?

Mike: Larvicide is an insecticide that specifically attacks larval-stage mosquitoes. Bt and Bti are most commonly used in mosquito control. They come in pellet form and are added to stagnant water – ponds, fountains, bird baths, things like that. When the mosquito larvae ingest the pellets, it destroys their digestive tracts, which kills them. This method is completely safe for people, animals and pets. Mosquito dunks are the same thing, just in larger quantities.

MC.net: Wow. We’ve really come a long way in mosquito control, haven’t we?

Mike: We sure have. But new technology isn’t the only way to get rid of mosquitoes. Don’t forget about good old fashioned mosquito predators. Nighthawks, purple martins, frogs, toads, spiders, lizards, some types of fish and bats all feed on mosquitoes. Make your yard friendly to these creatures, and they’ll help you get rid of mosquitoes.

MC.net: This is a lot of great information, Mike. But if you had to pick one sure-fire way to get rid of mosquitoes, what would it be?

Mike: I’d have to say professional mosquito control service. The things I mentioned earlier will definitely help, but a professional service can determine the type of mosquito you have and will know how to treat it. And their methods are safer than ever. Talk to your neighbors and friends to see which services they’ve used, then call around for options and pricing.

MC.net: Great. Anything else?

Mike: Yeah, don’t forget to empty your dog’s water bowl (laughs).

MC.net: That’s an easy one! Well, Mike, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for spending time with us today.

Mike: You bet!