With peak mosquito season around the corner, we would like to remind all residents to prepare their home for the upcoming hot and rainy months.
It's important to be proactive, preventive and always remember to
drain and cover.
- Follow the drain and cover motto. Make sure to check your properties and ensure there is no standing water where mosquitoes can breed.
- Remember, it only takes a cap full of water to allow a mosquito to breed. Drain water from garbage carts/cans, recycling containers, house gutters, pool covers, boat tarps, barbecue grills/covers, flower pots and any other containers which can hold water.
- Check your landscaping. Plants, such as bromeliads, are a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes (who need as little as a bottle cap full of water to reproduce). Flush the water out of your plants at least once a week to disrupt the mosquitoes' life cycle. Coating the water in your bromeliads with a small amount of food-grade oil is another easy and efficient way to keep mosquito larvae from thriving.
- Cover your doors and windows with screens to keep mosquitoes out of your home. Protect infants with mosquito netting.
- Cover yourself by wearing loose, light-colored clothing (preferably long pants and sleeves), shoes and socks.
- Apply EPA-approved insect repellent when you go outside and follow the directions on the label. The best repellents use DEET or picaridin as the active ingredient.
