What You Should Know If Bitten By A Mosquito In Virginia

If you spend any time outdoors, you know mosquitoes can significantly reduce your enjoyment of your surroundings. Mosquitoes are more than a nuisance, though. They can be deadly.

Description Of A Mosquito

Mosquitoes are in the fly family. They have a pair of wings, a long body, and six long legs. They also have an elongated proboscis. Mosquitoes are usually dark brown or black and may have white or tan stripes or markings on them. Virginia mosquitoes are ¼ to ½ inches long.

Lifecycle Of A Mosquito

Only female mosquitoes bite. Males eat nectar and pollen. The reason the female mosquitoes bite is because they need a blood meal to form their eggs. There are two kinds of mosquitoes.  Most mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water. Some mosquitoes lay their eggs in places filled with water when it rains, such as tree cavities. Those eggs can wait up to two years for water to hatch in. Once the eggs are hatched, they form larvae called wigglers. Wigglers eat algae and other microorganisms. They breathe by a snorkel. The wigglers then pupate and become known as tumblers. This is because they tumble when the water is disturbed. Finally, the adult mosquito exits the pupae from the back and flies away.

Anatomy Of A Mosquito Bite

Mosquitoes generally find humans by the carbon dioxide we breathe out, the smell of our sweat, and our overall scent. If the female is looking for a blood meal, she will be attracted to you. She lands on your arm and starts drilling through your skin to a capillary. The mosquito saliva contains a substance that makes it easier for the proboscis to pierce a capillary. The saliva also contains an anticoagulant to keep your blood from clotting before she is through. If the mosquito is carrying diseases or parasites, those go into the capillaries, too.

Diseases Mosquitoes Spread

In the short term, the mosquito saliva triggers an immune response and causes welts and itching. In the long term, any diseases or parasites in the saliva are now swimming in your bloodstream and will make you sick.

Mosquitoes spread the Zika virus, malaria, West Nile virus, dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, encephalitis, tularemia, and canine heartworm. Not every mosquito carries every disease. However, because of the diseases they carry and the misery they spread, mosquitoes are widely considered the most dangerous animal on earth.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Mosquito Prevention

There are some things you can do to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your Virginia yard. Here are some tips:

• Empty any container that holds water outside, tires, buckets, flower pots, etc. 

• Empty troughs, birdbaths, and pet watering bowls at least twice a week and clean them out before refilling them. 

• Trim shrubs away from the house, so there is no cool, dark area for adult mosquitoes to hang out in. 

• Cover your rain barrels with a fine screen to keep the mosquitoes out. 

• Keep roof gutters clean, so water does not pool. 

• Drain or cover unused pools. 

• Fill the holes in trees with expanding foam (not cement). 

• Keep grass mowed and flower beds free of weeds. 

Get Experienced Help

Some mosquitoes fly into your yard from up to three miles away. Even if you do everything right, you will still have mosquitoes in your yard. That is where All Pest Control & Solutions comes in. We can treat your yard for mosquitoes and point out things you can do to make them unwelcome.

Our initial mosquito inspection will pinpoint problem areas and suggest things you can do, such as empty stagnant water. We treat your yard for mosquitoes by treating the areas adult mosquitoes rest in during the day. We also treat any areas of standing water where mosquitoes can lay their eggs. We will return every 45 days from May to October. We will also do one-time treatments if you hold an outdoor event and want it free of mosquitoes. Call All Pest Control & Solutions today and get your mosquitoes under control.