Mosquito Information

General Information to Help You Enjoy the Outdoors.

The Town contracts with the County to spray the entire Town.

This is a bi-weekly spraying which is done when the temperature is below 85 degrees and when the wind does not exceed 10 mph. Spraying usually takes place in the evening to minimize exposure to the public. Adverse weather conditions may sometimes cause a backlog in the County’s spraying program. The County also may place out pellet cakes in areas where there is standing water to eliminate eggs. In talking with County personnel, mosquito eggs can lay dormant for up to five years before they hatch. A wet period increases the adult mosquito population.

Information obtained from the internet site at the rci.rutgers.edu/~insects by Donald Sutherland, Research Professor in Entomology and Wayne J. Crans, Associate Research Professor in Entomology provides additional information on the biology of the mosquito.

Their article included the following information:

Mosquitoes Need Water

All mosquitoes have one common requirement – they need stagnant/standing water to complete their life cycle. There are four stages to the life cycle of a mosquito: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Mosquitoes spend their larval and pupal stages in water. The females of some mosquito species deposit eggs on moist surfaces, such as mud or fallen leaves that may be near water but dry. Later rain or high tides reflood these surfaces and stimulate the eggs to hatch into larvae. The females of other species deposit their eggs directly on the surface of still water in such places as ditches, street catch basins, tire tracks, streams that are drying up, and fields or excavations that hold water for some time. This water is often stagnant and close to the home in discarded tires, ornamental pools, unused wading and swimming pools, tin cans, bird baths, plant saucers, and even gutters and flat roofs. The eggs deposited on such waters soon hatch into larvae. In the hot summer months, larvae grow rapidly, becoming pupae, and emerge one week later as flying adult mosquitoes. A few important spring species have only one generation per year. However, most species have many generations per year, and their rapid increase in numbers becomes a problem.

Only the Female Can Bite

When Adult mosquitoes emerge from the aquatic stages they mate, and the female seeks a blood meal to obtain the protein necessary for the development of her eggs. The females of a few species may produce a first batch of eggs without this first blood meal. After a blood meal is digested and the eggs are laid, the female mosquito again seeks a blood meal to produce a second batch of eggs. Depending on her stamina and the weather, she may repeat this process many times without mating again. The male mosquito does not take a blood meal, but feeds on plant nectar. He lives for only a short time after mating.

Winter Survival Is Important

Most mosquito species survive the winter, or over winter, in the egg stage, awaiting the spring thaw, when waters warm and the eggs hatch. A few important species spend the winter as adult, mated females, resting in protected, cool locations, such as cellars, sewers, crawl spaces, and well pits. With warm spring days, these females seek a blood meal and begin the cycle again. Only a few species can over winter as larvae.

Mosquitoes Can Transmit Disease

Mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever, have plagued civilization for thousands of years. Organized mosquito control in the United States has greatly reduced the incidence of these diseases. However, there are still a few diseases that mosquitoes can transmit, including Eastern Equine Encephalitis and St. Louis encephalitis. The frequency and extent of these diseases depend on a complex series of factors.

Mosquito control agencies and health departments cooperate in being aware of these factors and reducing the chance of disease. It is important to recognize that young adult female mosquitoes taking their first blood meal do not transmit diseases. It is instead the older female, who, if she has picked up a diseases organism in her first blood meal, can then transmit the disease during the second blood meal. This is also true for the mosquito transmitted heartworm disease in dogs.

You Can Reduce Mosquito Annoyance

When mosquitoes are numerous and interfere with living, recreation, and work, you can use the various measures described in the following paragraphs to reduce their annoyance, depending on location and conditions.

Reduce the Amount of Standing Water

The most efficient method of controlling mosquitoes is by reducing the availability of standing water suitable for larval and pupal growth. Large lakes, ponds, and streams that have waves, contain mosquito-eating fish, and lack aquatic vegetation around the edges do not contain mosquitoes. The newly emerging mosquito has to stand on still water for a few minutes to dry its wings before it can fly away. That is one reason why mosquitoes do not bred in rapidly moving water such as running brooks and streams or even a pond that has a fountain.

If mosquito breeding is extensive in such areas as woodland pools or roadside ditches, the problem may be too great for individual residents. In such case, call the organized mosquito control agency in your area. These agencies have highly trained personnel who can deal with the problem effectively.

Use Insecticides Safely

Several commercially available insecticides can be effective in controlling larval and adult mosquitoes. These chemicals are considered sufficiently safe for use by the public. Select a product whose label states that the material is effective against mosquito larvae or adults. For safe and effective use, follow the instructions for applying the material. The label lists those insects that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agrees are effectively controlled by this product. Read the label.

For use against adult mosquitoes, some liquid insecticides can be mixed according to direction and sprayed lightly on building foundations, hedges, low shrubbery, ground covers, and grasses. Do not over apply liquid insecticides—excess spray drips from the sprayed surfaces to the ground where it is ineffective. The purpose of such sprays is to leave a fine deposit of insecticide on surfaces where mosquitoes rest. Such sprays are not effective for more than one or two days.

Some insecticides are available as premixed products or aerosol cans. These devices spray the insecticide as very small droplets that remain floating in the air and hit the flying mosquitoes. Apply the sprays upwind, so the droplets drift through the area where mosquito control is desired. Rather than applying too much of these aerosols initially, it is more practical to apply them briefly but periodically thereby eliminating those mosquitoes that recently flew into the area.

Repellents Can Offer Relief

Various commercially available repellents can be purchased as creams, lotions, or in pressurized cans and applied to the skin and clothing. Some manufacturers also offer clothing impregnated with repellents; coarse, repellent-bearing particles to be scattered on the ground; and candles whose wicks can be lit to release a repellent chemical. The effectiveness of all repellents varies from location to location, from person to person, and from mosquito to mosquito. Repellents can be especially effective in recreation areas, where mosquito control may not be conducted. All repellents should be used according to instruction.

What Attracts Mosquitoes?

Mosquitoes are attracted by perspiration, warmth, body odor, carbon dioxide, and light. Mosquito control agencies use some of these attractants to help determine the relative number of adult mosquitoes in an area. Several devices are sold that are supposed to attract, trap, and destroy mosquitoes and other flying insects. However, if these devices are attractive to mosquitoes, they probably attract more mosquitoes into the area and may therefore, increase rather than decrease mosquito annoyance.