A Guide To Mosquito Control For Western Massachusetts Homeowners

Mosquitoes are annoying. They also cause itchy bites. Is there any way to protect yourself? Sometimes, it can feel like mosquito control is an unattainable dream. But it actually isn't. You just need to know what works to keep mosquitoes away. Join us today as we look at how mosquitoes encroach upon your Western Massachusetts property, what they do in your yard, and what can break the cycle of an infestation. We'll share our best DIY, eco-friendly mosquito prevention tips and tell you how your American Pest Solutions team deals with these pesky insects. If you need immediate assistance, get stress-free answers to your questions by using the form on our contact page. Our website is an easy way to get pricing for a mosquito treatment or answers to specific questions about how our pest control services in Western Massachusetts work. With that said, let's take a closer look at how mosquitoes end up driving you crazy in your yard.

Understanding The Mosquito Life Cycle: A Key To Effective Control

If you are currently using repellents to keep mosquitoes away, it is likely that you know just how poorly they work. It doesn't matter if you use mosquito-repellent plants, essential oils, smoke from a fire, candles, coils, or torches; they all fall short. You can even put insect repellent on every time you go out into your yard and still get bitten. So, rather than looking for the best plants to get rid of mosquitoes near your home, scouring the web for reviews on mosquito repellent products, or putting stinky bug spray on yourself, we recommend targeting the source of your problem.

Here's how mosquitoes end up near your home and biting you.

1. A few mosquitoes wander onto your property, attracted by weeds and vegetation as mosquitoes feed on nectar and plant sap. Yes. You read that correctly. Blood is not the primary sustenance for mosquitoes.
2. When a few mosquitoes enter your yard, they'll do what they do in any yard. They'll look for places to rest. Mosquitoes don't spend a lot of time flying. They quickly look for humid and shaded hiding places so that they don't dehydrate.
3. Once mosquitoes establish themselves in hiding places near your home, they'll do something else they do in any yard; they'll start to mate with each other.
4. Once the female mosquitoes have mated, they watch for an opportunity to get a blood meal. They need this essential meal in order to make viable eggs. So, they come out of hiding when you come out into your yard. Since the blood meal is critical for reproduction, female mosquitoes are highly motivated. That's why it is so hard to deter them with repellents.
5. After drawing a blood meal, the female will look for a breeding site. All she needs is one inch of stagnant water. When she finds a suitable location, she'll lay up to a hundred eggs.
6. The eggs hatch in the stagnant water, and larvae emerge. These larvae look like tiny wriggling worms. It takes a little over one week and a half for these worms to grow up and become flying insects, under favorable conditions.
7. After the larvae and pupae stage, adult mosquitoes take to the air by the hundreds, and you have a full-blown mosquito infestation.
8. The male mosquitoes will live for a couple of weeks. The female mosquitoes will live for a couple of months. If you can remove potential breeding sites, you can significantly reduce the number of mosquitoes in your yard in about two months.

Attempting to prevent hundreds of mosquitoes from biting you in your yard is a losing battle. But removing breeding sites is a battle you can win. Before we give you some tips to help you address the mosquitoes in your yard, let's quickly look at why you should.

Mosquito Dangers: Itchy Bites, Allergic Reactions, And Diseases

It can seem like there is conflicting information about the dangers of mosquitoes. It is likely that there are many diseases carried by mosquitoes. You've heard of malaria. You've heard of Zika virus. But, if you get mosquito bites all the time, you may think that they're not nearly as harmful as you've been told.

Here are a few quick facts you should know.

• There are some mosquito species that don't transmit disease, so you can get lots of bites from these and not become ill.
• The species that spread viruses are limited in what they can spread. Some diseases, like malaria and Zika virus, are not generally found locally in the United States. They only spread during outbreaks.
• The mosquito-borne diseases in the United States tend to cause symptoms that resemble the flu. You may get a fever, body aches, headache, and upset stomach and not realize it is due to a mosquito bite.
• What most people notice are the itchy bites. That is an allergic reaction to mosquito saliva. If you notice itchy bites and have flu-like symptoms, watch your symptoms closely and seek medical attention if they worsen.
• The majority of mosquito-borne diseases in the United States cause encephalitis, which is a swelling of the brain. Therefore, take note when you have flu-like symptoms and a headache, even if you don't have itchy wounds.   

Mosquitoes are usually irritating pests and nothing more. But there is the potential for harm. That is why we recommend taking steps to reduce mosquitoes in your yard, even if you don't get professional service. Let's take a look at a few specific prevention tips.

Mosquito Prevention: Eco-Friendly And Effective Tips

There are two ways mosquitoes will breed in your yard. They will either find stagnant water or a damp organic material, such as soaked leaves. The worst mosquitoes are the species that use stagnant water, as they have more offspring and are more likely to transmit diseases. Use these tips to stop both.

• Remove objects that act as water containers during rainstorms. If an object can hold an inch of water, store it inside or remove it from your property.
• Check objects in your yard. If you see lots of wriggly worms in a pool of water, dump the water out and let the mosquito larvae dry up in the sun.
• Clean out your gutters or hire a contractor to do this. Clogged gutters can cause puddles near your home.
• Trim vegetation in your landscaping to prevent your plants from trapping moisture.
• Blow the leaves out of your landscaping and remove them from your yard.

These simple steps can make it much harder for female mosquitoes to find places in your yard to lay eggs by the hundreds. When you combine mosquito management tips like this with personal mosquito bite prevention, you'll have more success preventing bites than you do with repellents alone.

It takes effort to track down breeding sites and stay on top of keeping mosquitoes from breeding in your yard. Plus, controlling breeding sites will only address one aspect of your problem. You'll reduce the hundreds of mosquitoes hatching from eggs in your yard, but you'll still have mosquitoes come in and rest in your vegetation and other key locations. Let's look at how your American Pest Solutions team offers the best way to get rid of mosquitoes.

Total Mosquito Control: How Professionals Ensure Long-Lasting Results

When you contact American Pest Solutions for mosquito control service in Western Massachusetts, there are a few ways we can help. Your technician will inspect your yard and look for breeding sites and conducive conditions. If treatable breeding sites are found, we apply larvicide to prevent mosquitoes from developing into flying adults. Once this is done, we treat your property to eliminate adult mosquitoes. By eliminating mosquitoes in your yard, we break the cycle of infestation. It will take at least two weeks for mosquitoes to hatch on your property, and that is under the most favorable conditions.

There are two ways mosquito control can work for you. If you have an outdoor event planned, we can treat your property in advance of the event and remove the mosquitoes. If you want to take back control of your yard from those biting pests, we can protect your yard all year long with our Mosquito Guard program, which is an ongoing treatment plan. Our specialists visit your property every three to four weeks from April to October and reset the mosquito populations in your yard.

Mosquito control provides you with protection from vector-borne disease transmission by 92%. You'll guard your family from general illness that resembles the flu, as you also guard against dangerous outbreaks. You'll also have protection from tick-borne diseases as mosquito control works to reduce tick populations on your property. It is a win-win!

Are you in Western Massachusetts? Contact American Pest Solutions for professional mosquito control near you. Mosquito Guard is a simple and effective way to keep mosquitoes away all year long. While this is a stand-alone program, you may add it to your Pest Guard home pest control service plan for complete protection against all pests that pester you. Give us a call or drop us a line on our contact page to learn more about our residential and commercial pest control services in Western Massachusetts today.