The Mosquito Minute: Blog Post 9
Hey all and welcome back to the Mosquito Minute!
We are pleased to announce that there are no new cases of West Nile in Harrison County! We still strongly encourage everyone to continue to protect themselves. Always remember; drain stagnant water near your home, wear protective clothing, and limit outside activity at dawn and dusk.
With that being said, we are entering our last few weeks of trapping. With the weather continuously fluctuating between hot and cold and the lows at night getting into the 40’s, it is difficult to trap enough mosquitoes to be pooled. On the bright side, that does mean that with the first frost vastly approaching, the mosquitoes are soon to be dying off. Whether you enjoy the hot sun or the cold snow, we’re sure everyone will be happy when the mosquitoes are gone for the year.
Survey Time!
Continuing with our survey review, we will be covering question 4 and question 11 on this week’s blog! If you have been keeping up with our Facebook posts the answers to question 4 are: Wear long sleeves and pants, Wear insect repellent, set traps, and stay indoors. All the above would have been the correct answer had “Swat the mosquitoes away” not been an option. While swatting may cause them to steer clear of you, some may still be willing to risk their life to have a taste of your blood! A better option to replace swatting at the mosquitoes would be to drain stagnant water near your home. Doing this can reduce the number of mosquitoes near you and eliminate your need to sweat.
On to question 11! The answers to this question are Ponds, Stillwater, Irrigated Fields, Containers, Tree Holes, and Flowers and eaves. Different species of mosquitoes lay eggs in different areas. Most look for bodies of water to lay in, especially stagnant water. This is why we stress the importance of draining water that could be used as a mosquito habitat. Some containers to look out for are buckets and old tires. These could easily be turned into a mosquito home. As far as flowerbeds and leaves go, some mosquitoes enjoy laying eggs on them. As you can see, many of these places can be found almost anywhere, so be sure to take the proper precautions when you’re outside!
Make sure to stop back next week for the final survey review!
Mosquito Testing!
You might remember from a previous blog that we had a mosquito set aside for Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). As of 8/21/23 the EPA lab did open for testing of EEE. It usually takes about 2 weeks to get results back from the EPA so we should be seeing news hopefully this Friday. If not this week, then we believe next week for sure. We hope to be delivering good news to everyone when the results are in.
Thank you all for reading this week’s Mosquito Minute, make sure to stop by next week!
-Hayden & Carys