“Go around your yard, anything that’s got water in it tip it over and make sure that it’s not going to catch water later,” manager and biologist Jim Lunders says.
Lunders says even something as small as a 5 gallon bucket can breed up to 300 mosquitos a day.
“We got 20 inches of rain this winter and anything that holds water is full of water and most of those things will raise mosquitoes,” Lunders adds.
According to Lunders certain species are already laying eggs, but the agency won’t start control measures until later this month.
“They grow really slow this time of year,” Lunders says, “so that same species that in the summer might take 7 days to go from egg to adult, right now might take as long as a month or 6 weeks.”
This year, Vector Control will be setting out a few new traps to search for invasive species of mosquito, or the species that transmit things like Zika.
Due to a limited budget the bulk of the control program won’t start until May, allowing for resources later in the summer to focus on disease-carrying species rather than the early risers.
“Mosquitoes people see now -although they are annoying- are more just an annoyance and not as big an impact disease wise,” Lunders says.
Starting next month mosquito fish will be available for pickup for use in troughs or oriental ponds. If you’re interested in applying for the seasonal positions, click HERE for more information.
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