Mosquitoes annoy us and they carry a lot of scary diseases, but how much do we really know about mosquitoes in house?

The first thing that you should know is that mosquitoes are not all the same. Since mosquitoes have been around for nearly 100 million years, they have had plenty of time to create nearly 3,000 different species.

Mosquitoes have been able to adapt to various climates, and they can now live through all kinds of conditions. If the history of mosquitoes has taught us anything, it is that these little annoyances can easily change from one year to the next.

Additionally, mosquitoes are notorious for carrying many different types of diseases. Within the United States, mosquitoes tend to only carry encephalitis, but they also infect household pets with heartworms, so keep your pets away from any outside area where mosquitoes are abundant.

You may also be interested to know that mosquitoes like to eat all kinds of different foods, juices, garbage, still waters, and even inside of trees.

Therefore, beware of any mosquitoes that may be attracted to pails of water, picnics, or overflowing garbage heaps.

The one advantage that we may have over the ever-irritating mosquito is that these little creatures cannot see very well. In fact, mosquitoes find their prey using a sort of heat sensor, and eyesight has nothing to do with any target.

Once a mosquito is approximately thirty feet away from you, you will suddenly come into sight, but not before that moment.

You can think of the mosquitoes as a sort of airborne bloodhound, and they will find you simply by sensing that you have exhaled.

When you exhale, you release c02 into the atmosphere, which means that mosquitoes will automatically be able to smell you. But don’t make the mistake of assuming that you will knock a mosquito off course with a bug zapper.

Interestingly, bug zappers do little, if nothing, to help a person ward off mosquitoes. In fact, bug zappers only kill the kinds of insects that eat mosquitoes, and these loud machines only provide heat and still water – in short, bug zappers create a sort of feeding ground for mosquitoes.

So, avoid using a bug zapper at all costs, and invest in a decent mosquito repellent instead.

Now that you know a bit more about mosquitoes, you are probably less likely to hang around fruit, garbage, or still water areas during the summertime.

However, it is important that you wear some sort of mosquito product as well. Mosquitoes are more than a nuisance, they are a threat to every human on the face of the earth, but at least you will be able to fight back with the knowledge that you have gained from reading this article.

Having a pest control company that you can rely on is something that’s important and as such, requires you to be well-informed. That said, only these professionals can help you eradicate mosquitoes.

While you probably know that mosquito bits are painful and itchy, and can potentially carry diseases, most people assume that such a small creature could never really harm anyone.

However, mosquitoes can be defined scientifically as “disease-carrying (and causing) creatures” that are extremely harmful to humans.

Mosquitoes rip and suck the blood of their human victims, but this is far from the scary part.

They carry various viruses and parasites that are passed on from person to person as mosquito attacks numerous people.

This means that if a mosquito has bitten someone with a virus or serious blood disease, the mosquito could leave traces of this infection upon another person’s skin. Of course, the real fear is that mosquitoes also have the ability to transmit a disease from one person directly into another person’s blood.

Usually, when the disease enters a person’s blood, this transference is fatal.

In addition to carrying human diseases from one person to another, mosquitoes also carry their own diseases. When a mosquito bites, it is literally injecting saliva and anti-coagulants into your blood.

A mosquitoes saliva usually contains some sort of parasite, which means that you are liable to catch rare diseases through a mosquito infection.

The only sure fire way to keep mosquitoes from an entire population is through treating an entire affected area.

Unfortunately, capturing and eliminating all mosquitoes within a certain area is relatively impossible, so it is best to protect yourself anyway that you can.

Throughout Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico, and various parts of Asia, mosquitoes have been responsible for nearly 70 million deaths – all of these deaths were caused through the transference of one diseased person to another through a mosquito bite.

If you think that mosquitoes will never affect North America, think again.

Although massive mosquito deaths usually occur in third world countries, Europe, the United States, and Japan have all met with large amounts of mosquito scares in the past.

Perhaps the most frightening thought of all is the fact that there are some diseases not yet discovered, which means that mosquitoes could, potentially, spread disease on a much large scale than has even been seen before.

What You Can Do To Prevent Mosquitoes

• Do you have a pond or other body of water that may be attracting mosquitoes? It may be worth your while to introduce fish, such as bass, bluegill, catfish, goldfish, guppies, and killifish, which are known to consume mosquito larvae.
• You can also add fish to rain barrels. Pay attention to your drainage systems. Are they working properly, or are they creating puddles of water that sit for days at a time?
• Adjust the system so that there is less standing water for mosquitoes to lay their eggs in, and keep your eaves troughs, and gutters clean.
• If you are going to be outside during the hot summer months when mosquitoes are most prevalent, you can control the population that becomes attracted to you, your family, and your friends by making sure you are using bug sprays or repellant lotions.
• You can also use candles or other methods that protect a small area.

For people who have the privilege (for most) or curse (for some) of having a significantly large yard space, preventing lawn infestation from mosquitoes and other pests is very important and should be put as one of the regular requirements along household chores.

Generally, regular lawn management is categorized into the following tasks:

1. Cutting

Cutting requires pruning and trimming plants to their desired height. This applies to flowers, ornamental bushes and trees that line the yard.

Cutting not only maintains visual uniformity but it also allows new buds to grow keeping the growth cycle of the plants going under control. Cutting also includes mowing the grass that covers most of the lawn.

This keeps the grass under controlled height and constant mowing encourages the grass to grow sideways covering more area of the yard. Edging the grass and other hedge plants are also part of this task.

2. Cleaning

This task immediately follows after cutting. Fallen cut-offs and dead leaves from trees that litter the lawn since the last clean up should be swept and put in proper organic waste disposal bins always.

In some countries in Southeast Asia, people burn dead grasses and leaves in the afternoon as a form of organic waste disposal.

This practice is also used to drive away mosquitoes and other plant pests and parasites because of the smoke.

This task although a part of general lawn care varies from country to country depending upon culture and government established waste disposal systems.

3. Watering

Plants newly cut, trimmed or pruned suffer plant stress. Watering reduces such stress and of course could supply any plant with proper nutrients and minerals straight from moist soil.

Watering should be done through a sprayer or a hose with an adjustable head. The flow of water should be at the mist setting with the sprayer directed to the roots.

Too much volume of water could displace topsoil covering the base of the plant. Leaves and flowers should also be lightly sprayed to wash off accumulated dust and other dirt.

It is best to do watering between 5 am-8 am or 5 pm onward when the sun is not at its hottest. This way water retention especially in the root area is at its longest.

In addition, lawn care is always a responsibility of every homeowner not only to himself but also to the community and it should be complied with regularly.

There is no excuse for an unattended, garbage littered, clutters and overgrown plants all over any lawn. As the saying goes, “take a rake or take a hike.”

Mosquitoes thrive on anything that may harbor water. Experts suggest a thorough cleaning of areas where mosquitoes may lay their eggs and proliferate.

Also, the application of mosquito repellent to one’s skin is advised when going outdoors.

However, there are still times when mosquitoes would just suddenly show up when you are outdoors.

To maximize your family’s safety from mosquito-borne diseases, you might consider hiring a pest control company to take care of these things safely and effectively.

We endure them every year. When the weather warms and outside activities get underway, we sometimes find them descending upon us like a plague. We’re talking about mosquitoes, of course, and the reasons why mosquitoes bite.

The nasty little bloodsuckers that, at times, can absolutely make life miserable. The perpetually pesky critters that can run roughshod over outdoor activities.

The tiny tyrants that can drive us from our own backyards as effectively as a pack of hounds treeing a raccoon.

But have you wondered why those needle-nosed tormentors just have to have your blood? For the mosquito’s offspring, that is.

You see, every mosquito that bites you is a mother-to-be. In fact, you’ve never been bitten by a male mosquito. Male mosquitoes are strictly vegetarian; they aren’t interested in your blood.

But all of the millions of female mosquitoes that have bitten you in your lifetime have needed your blood for a very good cause. From their perspective, anyway. Without blood, they cannot develop the eggs that will launch the next generation of mosquitoes.

Specifically, they need an amino acid (protein) that is present in the blood.

During her lifetime, each female mosquito will lay several batches of eggs. And for each new batch of eggs, the mosquito needs one good fill-up of blood.

But, for her own nutritional needs, she eats the same nectar and plant juices that the male mosquito eats. The female mosquito uses your blood only to nourish her eggs.

Why The Itch?

The female mosquito needs your blood to be able to give birth to her offspring.

But why does it have to itch? Why does the mosquito have to leave a welt that drives you nuts with the constant, incessant itching?

It’s simply a matter of pure practicality: when the female mosquito bites you, she’s not really biting. It’s more like sticking you with a hypodermic needle. And, when the mosquito sticks you, she’s taking a considerable risk.

That is because your most likely reaction when you feel the unauthorized injection is to slap and squash the mosquito flat.

But nature has endowed the mosquito with saliva that has a bit of an anesthetic effect. As the mosquito sticks you with her proboscis, she also pumps in some saliva, which helps – at least a little – to reduce the likelihood that you’ll feel what’s happening.

And it’s the reaction of your body to the mosquito’s saliva that causes the itching and the welt.

So now you know the truth about why mosquitoes are always making unauthorized withdrawals against your blood bank.

But knowing why they want your blood – knowing that it’s just a mother trying to provide for her young; knowing that it’s one of nature’s creatures simply trying to perpetuate the species; knowing that they aren’t mini-Draculas bent on evil – are you going to be a bit more understanding next time a mosquito alights upon your skin?

Remember, some mosquitoes are disease-carrying vectors, and it is never wise to have them around, especially with children.