Mosquito Awareness Week is midway through
Despite a lack of rainfall – or, more appropriately, because of it – the Lee County Mosquito Control District and Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control have been busy the last several weeks. This week -June 26 to July 2- is Mosquito Awareness Week.
“Because we’re having a drought everywhere in the south, the coastal areas are experiencing higher than normal numbers of mosquitoes, at least for the past few years,” Shelly Redovan, district’s deputy director of LCMCD, said Friday.
May through October is considered the “heart” of mosquito season.
Redovan explained that there are two types of mosquitoes that the district deals with. Freshwater mosquitoes require standing water to lay their eggs. If the amount of rainfall does not allow for water to stand for several days, the population is essentially kept in check.
The salt marsh mosquito, however, deposits its eggs in the ground, and as the tide comes in, the eggs hatch. Redovan said the drought is providing the salt marsh mosquitoes with more ground cover than normal to lay their eggs, thus creating more area for the district to cover in fighting them.
“So it gives us a little more of a battle,” she said, adding that the county is “having a large hatch-off right now from the high tide” last week.
The coastal areas experience the worst of the salt marsh mosquito. In Lee County, some regions currently under attack are Pine Island, the south and southwest sections of Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, the Iona area and Sanibel.
On Estero Island, FMBMC Director Sharon Watson wants Beach residents to remember the five D’s of prevention.
n Dusk and Dawn: Don’t go outdoors at those times because mosquitoes are most active.
n Dress: To protect against bites, dress so your skin is covered with clothing.
n Drain: Empty containers and drain stagnant water.
n DEET: Protect bare skin and clothing with DEET mosquito repellent.
“The ’empty containers and drain stagnant water’ prevention is the biggest one,” said Watson. “You don’t want them growing around your own home. Mosquitoes do blow in from the Back Bay at times, but the biggest problem is people are growing their own. If your have outdoor containers, you need to empty them and keep them cleaned out.”
Redovan agrees that there are measures that can taken for freshwater mosquitoes, even though there is little people can do to curb the reproduction of salt water mosquitoes.
“Make sure your gutters are clean,” Redovan said.
The water in birdbaths or anything that holds water should be flushed out every three days or so. Plants that collect water, like bromelids, should also be cleared out every few days. Products are available for these plant types.
“Mainly anything that can hold water,” Redovan said.
For those who use a rain barrel to collect rain for watering gardens and such, cover the barrel with a solid cover or simply cover the barrel with a screen.
“That will help prevent them from raising their own mosquitoes,” she said.
FMB Mosquito Control is celebrating its 62nd year in the service. It is seven to eight years older than Lee County Mosquito Control, which is regarded as the No. 1 facility in the world.
The history of FMB Mosquito Control began on May 27, 1949, when a petition was signed and approved on showing a desire to establish a mosquito control district to cover Estero Island and San Carlos Island.
Beach Mosquito Control has a three-person control unit to aid in keeping the count down. There are four stages of a mosquito’s life cycle: egg; larva; pupa; and adult, but only the female bites because she needs a blood meal to fertilize the egg.
Mosquitoes can lay dormant for up to seven years. The female can lay their eggs upon layers and layers and layers. Mosquito eggs that are laid in standing water can hatch in just a day or two. Some can lay un-hatched for weeks or even months until they are covered with water.