Hillsborough County is celebrating Mosquito Control Awareness Week this week, and as part of its efforts, wants to educate residents on how to prevent mosquitoes from breeding around their homes and feeding on them. Here are the County’s top ten mosquito prevention tips from
the Mosquito and Aquatic Weed Control Unit:
1) Get rid of mosquito-breeding containers. Destroy or
dispose of tin cans, old tires, buckets, unused plastic swimming pools or other
containers that collect and hold water. Do not allow water to accumulate in the
saucers of flowerpots, cemetery urns, pet dishes, birdbaths, boats/canoes or
livestock troughs.
2) Prevent your swimming pool from becoming a breeding
ground. If you aren’t using your swimming pool, put a cover over it. Make sure
the cover doesn’t sag and hold pools of rainwater, which can also provide a
breeding ground. Another option is to stock the pool with fish, which will eat
the mosquito larvae and prevent them from hatching off. Gambusia, or mosquito
fish, are available to residents from Mosquito Control staff by calling
554-5029.
3) If you have bromeliad plants in your yard, regularly
rinse them out with a garden hose. Mosquito larvae need water to grow and
evolve, and bromeliads are an excellent host. The average bromeliad can be
expected to produce around a hundred mosquitoes per year. That may not seem like
much, but if you have ten or twenty plants in your yard, that’s several thousand
mosquitoes!
4) Protect your children from mosquitoes, especially at
night. Hot, sweaty children playing outdoors at night are like a glowing beacon
to mosquitoes. Protect your children from irritating bites and the possibility
of mosquito-borne illnesses by ensuring they cover exposed skin, and wear an
insect repellent containing DEET. Please read the label before using this
product and avoid direct application to the face.
5) Keep your rain gutters cleaned out. Rain gutters can
get clogged with leaves and debris, which impede the flow of water. Not only is
that bad for your roof, it creates an ideal habitat for mosquito larvae, which
need water to grow into adults.
6) Take special precautions at dusk. Dusk is a
mosquito’s favorite time to fly and bite. A good onshore breeze will keep the
mosquitoes at bay, but if you haven’t got one, a portable fan will do the trick.
Mosquitoes aren’t strong fliers, and air currents moving past you will keep the
mosquitoes moving too. Remember also to wear long sleeves and insect repellent
containing DEET. Please read the label before using the product and avoid direct
application to the face.
7) Take special precautions in high mosquito areas. Use
head nets, long sleeves and long pants if you venture into areas with high
mosquito populations, such as salt marshes. Also use insect repellent
containing DEET on any exposed skin. Please read the label before using the
product and avoid direct application to the face
8) Be extra careful when a warning is in effect. If
there is a mosquito-borne disease warning in effect, stay inside during dawn and
dusk when mosquitoes are more active.
9) Make sure window and door screens are “bug tight.”
Check your screens periodically to make sure there are no holes and replace
worn-out screens.
10) Watch out for puddles in your yard. Irrigate lawns
and gardens carefully to prevent water from standing for several days.
If you have tried these tips and are still having a
mosquito problem around your home, you can call the Public Works Customer
Service number at 635-5400 to speak to staff and request service. A mosquito
control inspector will come for an on-site inspections to give suggestions and
may schedule treatment if it is found to be necessary as a result of a
visit.
The Unit employs a modern approach to mosquito control,
which includes mosquito and bird surveillance, mosquito source reduction,
biological controls, mosquito larvicide control, barrier spraying, educational
outreach, and when necessary as a last resort, adult mosquito spraying. As part
of its surveillance program, the Unit operates 14 sentinel chicken sites and 77
mosquito surveillance traps placed around the County, and conducts more than
25,000 mosquito larvae inspections per year. In 2008, the Unit also responded
to more than 5,480 customer service requests, distributed larvicide over more
than 14,000 acres, adulticided more than 230,000 acres, and treated more than
550 acres of aquatic floating vegetation that harbored mosquito
larvae.
For more information on the Unit and their practices,
notices on where they will be spraying, and how to prevent mosquitoes, visit
their website at: www.hillsboroughcounty.org, click
on the A-Z Index link, and then select “Mosquito and Aquatic Weed
Control.”
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