Control Home Mosquitoes | Mosquito Products

Here are some tips for controlling mosquito breeding areas around your home or business: • Empty water from old tires, tin cans, buckets, drums, bottles or other places mosquitoes could breed. • Clean rain gutters and downspouts. • Empty plastic wading pools at least once per week and store inside when not in use. • Change the water in bird baths and plant pots or drip trays at least once per week. • Store boats covered or upside down or remove accumulated rain water every week. • Empty pets' water bowls daily. • Level the ground around your home so water won't collect in low spots. • Fill in holes or depressions in the ground around your home if they collect water. • Cut weeds and grass where adult mosquitoes seek refuge from the heat during the day. To protect yourself: • Stay indoors during the peak biting periods of dawn and dusk. • Make sure door and window screens fit tight and are in good condition. • Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants of tightly woven fabric. • Use...

By Brennan Purtzer With record rainfall flooding Kaunakaka'i and other areas of the island, much of the wet stuff ended up in ponds, swamps and bogs across Moloka'i. hile frogs are enjoying the ponds, you may have noticed they have also become hatcheries to thousands, if not millions of mosquitoes. As mad as we get at the whalers who brought them here, the fact remains they are here to stay, and we've got to learn to live with the bloodsuckers. Here are some tips to dealing with these parasitic pests. * Avoid swampy areas if you can. * If you're in a swampy area, try to avoid being there at dawn or dusk. * Wear long, heavy pants and shirts. * Tuck your pants into your boots. * Wear light colored clothing so ticks and bugs show up easily. * Spray pesticides on your clothing (NOT on your skin). Even more effective - don't be a mosquito breeding ground. Try to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the first place. Replacing your outdoor lights with yellow lights and usin...

by Bill Hanckel Slapping yourself silly trying to keep mosquitoes from biting you? Besides causing irritating itching bites, mosquitoes can also carry and transmit several diseases including the West Nile Virus. Although you cannot get rid of every mosquito, there are many ways to protect yourself and those around you. The most important way to help fight mosquitoes is by breaking their breeding cycle. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water and those eggs hatch within 48 hours. Once hatched, the larvae feed on debris in the stagnant water until they move into the resting stage. In this stage, the larvae become pupae. The mosquito begins to develop and finally emerges as an adult mosquito. All this can happen in less than 5 days! Be pro-active and check the area around your home for places where standing water may accumulate such as birdbaths, clogged gutters, buckets, kiddie pools, toys, even bottle caps – mosquitoes can breed in just a thimble full of water. Change water often in...

By Mark Jansen Mosquitoes can carry diseases like malaria, yellow fever, many types of encephalitis and dengue. Almost 600 million people die each year with mosquito-born diseases. What can you do to prevent getting bitten? Mosquito netting is important because it prevents an insect bite that carries infectious diseases. It comes in a variety of shapes, color and purposes. Here are some guidelines for you to choose the perfect mosquito netting. 1) Size and shape: The size of the net should be spacious. It should have enough space to cover your whole body while sleeping. The mosquito netting should provide you with your needed air circulation. A mosquito net with holes of 1.2mm x 1.2mm is the most used and the most recommended. Rectangular mosquito nettings are more advisable to use because it provides much needed space for you and your friends. Pyramid shaped mosquito nets could be used for individual purposes. 2) Material: There are two most common material used in mosquito netting – ...

by Stefanie Olsen American Biophysics, a small private company based in North Kingstown, R.I., runs a healthy business selling the "Mosquito Magnet," a system to rid American backyards of biting insects, according to its new CEO Devin Hosea. Simply described, the magnet emits a humanlike scent that includes carbon dioxide and moisture to attract bloodsucking insects. When the bugs flutter past, they're sucked into and suffocated by a vacuumlike device. Now AmBio, as the company is commonly called, is upping the ante with a "smart" mosquito net, or computerized defense system, to serve the corporate and public health sectors. By the first quarter of 2006, AmBio executives hope to have finalized sophisticated software to control a network of magnets--forming a kind of wide-scale fence--which will be able to communicate with a central network through wireless 802.11b technology.It's unbelievable the lengths people will go to, to get rid of mosquitoes. --Devin H...

Mosquito spraying is one of the most commonly used methods to stop the breeding of these nasty insects. Due to the fact that there are chemicals that are spread over areas where people live, mosquito spraying raises a lot of question like : are those pesticides safe for my health? Does it affects my pets ? What about the objects left outside are they affected by mosquito spraying? And so on. In this article we will try to answer to some of these questions. Mosquito spraying is done using mounted fogging units to apply insecticides as an ultra-low-volume (ULV) spray. These units spray units dispense very fine aerosol droplets (fog) that stay aloft and kill mosquitoes on contact. The amount of insecticide used in mosquito spraying is small compared to the area treated, usually about 3 to 5 ounces per acre, which minimizes exposure and risks to people and the environment. Mosquito spraying is also done by thermal foggers that use an oil carrier that is heated to disperse the pesticide in...

There are plenty of mosquito products we can use to get rid of these nasty insects. Some of them are effective some are not. I guess we all one of these mosquito products at home, but have you ever wondered how they work or are they hazardous for you health? So lets see what kind of mosquito products are out there and how safe they are. Mosquito products could be classified in two categories based on their purpose. So there are in the first category are the mosquito products that kill the insects and in the second one we've got the products that repels mosquitoes. The products grouped in these two categories there are indoor and outdoor mosquito products. To understand how these mosquito products work we must understand what attracts mosquitoes. So when humans and animals exhale, they give off CO2 (carbon dioxide) and other scents. Mosquitoes have sensors that can detect the presence of these chemicals at a distance of over 100 feet. Once the mosquito picks up th...

West Nile virus is an emerging infectious disease that made its first appearance in the United States in 1999. The microbe that causes the infection belongs to a group of disease-causing viruses known as flaviviruses, which are usually spread by ticks or mosquitoes. People who contract West Nile virus usually experience only mild symptoms-fever, headache, body aches, skin rash, and swollen lymph glands. If West Nile virus enters the brain, however, it can cause life-threatening encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord). Most cases of disease occur in elderly people and those with impaired immune systems. The first step in the transmission cycle of West Nile virus occurs when a mosquito bites an infected bird or other infected animal. Although the virus primarily cycles between mosquitoes and birds, infected female mosquitoes also can transmit West Nile virus through their bites to humans and other "incidental h...

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r050718.htm Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with Fort Dodge Animal Health, an animal biologics and pharmaceutical company, have developed the world’s first licensed DNA vaccine. The vaccine, which protects horses from West Nile virus, was licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week. The technology could serve as a basis for future development of human vaccines.

Insect electrocutors (bug zappers) and mosquito trapping devices are 20 th century control measures. Manufacturers modernized 19 th century mosquito trapping devices such as the New Jersey light trap with more "bells and whistles" to improve their appeal to the public. Insect electrocuter light traps have been extensively marketed for the past several years claiming they can provide relief from the biting mosquitoes and other pests in your back yard. Numerous devices are available for purchase that claim to attract, repel or kill outdoor infestations of mosquitoes. They should be thoroughly researched before being purchased. Other mosquito traps are designed to mimic a mammal (horse, cattle, man and domestic pets) by emitting a plume of carbon dioxide, heat and moisture, which is often combined with an additional attractant, i.e., octenol, to create an attractant to mosquitoes, no-see-ums, biting midges and black flies. After drawing the insects to the trap, a vacuum device s...

Repellents. Repellents are substances that make a mosquito avoid biting people. Persons working or playing in mosquito-infested areas will find repellents very helpful in preventing mosquito bites. Repellents are formulated and sold as aerosols, creams, solids (sticks) and liquids. Use repellents containing ingredients such as diethyl phthalate, diethyl carbate, N, N-Diethyl-3-Methylbenzamide (DEET), and ethyl hexanediol. For more than 40 years, DEET has been the standard in mosquito repellents. Check the label for these active ingredients. Permethrin-containing repellents (Permanone) are recommended for use on clothing, shoes, bednets and camping gear. Permethrin is highly effective as an insecticide/acaricide and as a repellent. Permethrin-treated clothing repels and kills ticks, mosquitoes and other arthropods and retains this effect even after repeated laundering. Permethrin-treated clothing should be safe when label directions are followed. Permethrin repellents do not offer any p...

Mosquito life cycle showing the egg, larva, pupa and adult stages. The type of standing water in which the mosquito chooses to lay her eggs depends upon the species. The presence of beneficial predators such as fish and dragonfly nymphs in permanent ponds, lakes and streams usually keep these bodies of water relatively free of mosquito larvae. However, portions of marshes, swamps, clogged ditches and temporary pools and puddles are all prolific mosquito breeding sites. Other sites in which some species lay their eggs include tree holes and containers such as old tires, buckets, toys, potted plant trays and saucers and plastic covers or tarpaulins. Some of the most annoying and potentially dangerous mosquito species, such as the Asian tiger mosquito, come from these

Almost everyone has had the unpleasant experience of being bitten by a mosquito. Mosquito bites can cause severe skin irritation through an allergic reaction to the mosquito's saliva - this is what causes the red bump and itching. But a more serious consequence of some mosquito bites may be transmission of certain serious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and several forms of encephalitis. Not only can mosquitoes carry diseases which afflict humans, but they also can transmit several diseases and parasites that dogs and horses are very susceptible to. These include dog heart worms and eastern equine encephalitis. There are about 200 different species of mosquitoes in the United States, all of which live in specific habitats, exhibit unique behaviors and bite different types of animals. Despite these differences, all mosquitoes share some common traits, such as a four-stage life cycle. After the female mosquito obtains a blood meal (male mosquitoes do not bite), she l...