Temperatures are heating up again after the recent rain. That means mosquitoes are OUT. Here are ways you can keep these insects at bay, so you can get back to enjoying the outdoors:
- TAKE PERSONAL PRECAUTIONS
- Use a good personal protection lotion, stick, or spray for yourself and family. Wear long sleeves and avoid dawn/dusk outside trips if possible. Yard and community spraying cannot protect you and often provides a false sense of security.
- REDUCE STANDING WATER
- Mosquitoes need fresh water to reproduce. Getting rid of standing water to eliminate mosquito threats, including those in children’s sandboxes, wagons, and toy trucks; underneath and around downspouts, in plant saucers, dog bowls, and tires. Other hot spots include tarps, gutters, and flat roofs.
- TOSS
- Toss excess grass clippings, leaves, firewood and other yard debris from your yard & garden.
- TURN OVER
- Turn over larger items that could hold water like children’s swimming pools or sand buckets. If it is a bird bath that is meant to have water, dump and clean it out every 3-4 days to avoid mosquito breeding.
- REMOVE TARPS
- If tarps stretched over firewood piles, boats or sports equipment aren’t taut, they’re holding water. Remove or tighten tarps.
- TAKE CARE
- Take care of home maintenance needs that can contribute to standing water. Assess areas where pool of water may form such as faucets, drains, uneven sod and hoses. Cut high grass where they hide in wait.
- TEAM UP
- Despite taking all precautions in your own home, talking with neighbors is a key component to mosquito control. Townhomes and homes with little space between lots mean that mosquitoes can breed at a neighbor’s home and affect your property.
- TREAT YOUR YARD AND HOME
- Utilize a mosquito elimination barrier treatment around the home and yard.
**For more resources, here's mosquito information from the Texas Department of State Health Services, and the CDC.
(Image courtesy: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
IF YOU SEE STANDING WATER IN STREETS OR IN DITCHES, PLEASE CALL CITY OF LOCKHART PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AT (512) 398-6452. AREAS WILL BE TREATED TO KILL MOSQUITO LARVAE.