Does Your Dallas Yard Have The Best Mosquito Protection?

If you have mosquito torches set up in your backyard, or you're counting on coils, lanterns, candles, traps, bug zappers, or some other product to protect you from mosquitoes, your answer to this question should be no. Unfortunately, many people think these are all they have to protect themselves, without resorting to installing screens around exterior recreation areas. But this is not the case. Here's what you should know about mosquitoes in Dallas.

What Doesn't Work

First, it is important to understand why the above-mentioned mosquito control methods don't actually offer any kind of control for mosquitoes in your yard.

Repellents. Anything that promises to keep mosquitoes away will not keep "all" mosquitoes away, and they will be especially poor at keeping female mosquitoes away. Those are the mosquitoes that bite you. Female mosquitoes aren't easily deterred by any repellent. The females need blood to reproduce and ensure the continuance of their species. It's a matter of life and death.

Zappers. There is something satisfying about hearing bugs come in contact with the element on your bug zapper. And that sound might make you think that you're winning the war on mosquitoes. You may even find some mosquitoes in your zapper. But a recent study showed conclusively that zappers are only efficient at killing one sex of mosquito. Can you guess which one? Hint: It isn't the females.

Traps. There are many traps that can catch mosquitoes. They use attractants such as carbon dioxide to lure mosquitoes in. These can work to eliminate mosquitoes, but often they fail to eliminate female mosquitoes because they don't provide what female mosquitoes are looking for: A breeding site. What ends up happening is these traps work as an attractant without providing female mosquito control.

What Works

At this point, you might be thinking that mosquitoes are inevitable and that there is nothing you can do to control them. But there is hope! Experts have developed methods and products that use the natural behavior of female mosquitoes against them. Here's how they work.

Female Mosquitoes Need To Breed

The reason female mosquitoes are so difficult to repel and control is because they are so focused on breeding. But that can be used against them. At All-Safe Pest & Termite, we install In2Care mosquito traps to eliminate female mosquitoes. These aren't like traps that attract mosquitoes. The In2Care mosquito trap system provides a preferred breeding site for female mosquitoes and lets the mosquitoes do what they naturally do. When a female mosquito enters one of these devices to lay her eggs in the stagnant water, she is drawn to land on the gauze partition above the water. This is an ideal location to lay her eggs in the stagnant water below. This brings her in contact with control agents that work to eliminate her eggs as she lays them, and ultimately eliminates her. It all happens naturally, without alerting the female mosquito.

Other Behaviors Of Female Mosquitoes

• Female mosquitoes have to eat, they don't live on blood. They eat nectar and plant sap, just like the male mosquitoes do. This will cause them to get into landscape vegetation.
• Female mosquitoes are weak fliers. They have to rest a lot. When they rest, they choose landscape vegetation because it is often moist.
• Female mosquitoes dry out easily. When the sun is high in the sky, you can bet female mosquitoes are hiding. Their favorite place to hide is in shady locations that are high in humidity, such as vegetation in landscaping.

Did you notice a common thread? That's right! Mosquitoes hide in landscape vegetation. Understanding this helps pest control professionals, like the team at All-Safe Pest & Termite, eliminate those female mosquitoes before they can reproduce in your yard. We do this by applying a mist to landscape vegetation and other key locations around your home. When female mosquitoes rest, they die. And, when female mosquitoes are eliminated, the hundreds of eggs they would have laid in your yard are eliminated with them.

Do You Have Questions?

If you'd like to get control of mosquitoes in your yard, but still have questions, we'd be happy to answer them. Reach out to us anytime. If you're ready to schedule mosquito service for your yard, we can help you with that too.