Our mosquito control program works to protect you and your family from dangerous and annoying mosquito bites. We schedule our treatments every 30 days beginning in May and going through September. By utilizing an ultra-low volume backpack mister, we are able to create a barrier around areas you spend your time outdoors. We are also able to treat landscape water features with insect growth inhibitors that will prevent larvae from undergoing metamorphosis to grown adult mosquitos.

West Nile Virus

Mosquitoes breed in standing water. Even a small bucket that has stagnant water in it for seven days can become home to up to 1,000 mosquitoes.

West Nile virus is transmitted to a human by a mosquito that has first bitten an infected bird. A person who is bitten by an infected mosquito may show symptoms from 3 to 15 days after the bite.

Culex mosquitoes, which can carry the West Nile virus, breed in places like ditches, open septic systems, discarded tires, unused wading pools, and other assorted containers, particularly if they are in the shade. In urban areas, many sewer catch basins can be found holding not only water but also thousands of Culex larvae and pupae.

Additional Tips To Protect Your Home

While the treatments are very effective, there are some guidelines that we ask all customers to follow for the best results.

• Keep all landscaping well maintained and trimmed to a reasonable height. Overgrown bushes or debris around your home create a great breeding ground and harborage for mosquitos.
• Properly dispose of old tires or plastic bottles. Debris and trash can keep water even in the middle of a hot summer. These become dangerous breeding grounds for mosquitos.
• Mow your lawn or property on a regular schedule.
• Use an insect repellant containing DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide).
• Wear shoes, socks, long pants, and a long-sleeved shirt when outdoors for long periods of time, or from dusk to dawn, when mosquitoes are most active. Clothing should be light colored and made of tightly woven materials to keep mosquitoes away from the skin.
• Make sure all windows and doors have screens, and that all screens are in good repair.
• Cleaning clogged roof gutters, particularly if leaves tend to plug up the drains. Roof gutters are easily overlooked but can produce millions of mosquitoes each season.
• Aerating ornamental pools, or stocking them with predatory fish. Water gardens are fashionable but become major mosquito producers if they are allowed to stagnate.
• Turning over plastic wading pools when not in use. A wading pool becomes a mosquito producer if it is not used on a regular basis.
• Turning over wheelbarrows and not allowing water to stagnate in birdbaths. Both provide breeding habitat for domestic mosquitoes.
• Cleaning and chlorinating swimming pools that are not being used. A swimming pool that is left untended by a family that goes on vacation for a month can produce enough mosquitoes to result in neighborhood-wide complaints. Be aware that mosquitoes may even breed in the water that collects on swimming pool covers.
• Using landscaping to eliminate standing water that collects on your property. Mosquitoes will develop in any puddle that lasts for more than four days.

For more information about mosquito safety and mosquito-borne diseases, visit https://www.in.gov/isdh/23592.htm.

Our mosquito control program is a great start to protecting your property from mosquito and mosquito-borne diseases. While we can guarantee our program works, we need to be very clear that west nile virus can still be contracted from other properties.