Often when we talk about things that we read or hear in the media we say ‘they say’, I wonder many times who ‘they’ is. Well, here in Georgia our health departments have been placing mosquito traps in different parts of our wonderful state to monitor these insects and to get an accurate idea of how many of them are actually carrying the West Nile Virus. In one county, DeKalb County, 81 have tested positive for the West Nile Virus. That’s a lot. Juanette Willis, program director for DeKalb County Board of Health agrees with me. She says, “This is a lot more than the past few years.” When we hear that ‘they’ say that we need to take precautions when dealing with mosquitoes, and when ‘they’ say that there is an increase in the cases of mosquito borne illnesses in our state, we can know that ‘they’ are usually our health departments, doing what they do best, looking out for our health and well-being.

So, here in Macon we should be listening to what ‘they’ say. Mosquitoes should be a concern for everyone. We all need to understand them better and know their habits and weaknesses to aptly prepare ourselves for battle with them. Our yards, school playgrounds, hiking trails, ball fields and parks are just a few of the more common battlegrounds where we will encounter these disease-carrying insects. Here some key prevention tips to help you to arm yourself for battle:

• Try to avoid being outside during the most active time for mosquitoes; early morning and late afternoon to dusk.
• Wear light colored, loose fitting clothes that cover as much of your skin as possible. The less exposed skin equals less tempting places for mosquitoes to bite.
• Wear insect repellent that contains DEET.
• Consider the benefits of wearing insect repellent clothing and insect netting clothing made to wear over you clothes.
• Avoid high exposure areas like swamps, muddy ponds, woods, etc.

To keep these biters out of your home here are some easy to do fixes and places to check:

• Replace or repair all widow and doors screens.
• Repair or replace all door sweeps.
• Keep lights turned down at night so as not to draw them in.

To help deter mosquitoes from living and breeding on your property, here are a few things that you can do:

• Do not allow any standing water of any kind. Mosquitoes can lay eggs in a water filled cap of a 2 liter soda bottle, resulting in hundreds more of these biting insects, so just think how many are in that old tire or bucket.
• Keep grass trimmed short because mosquitoes use the cool grass as a hiding spot during the hottest times of the day.
• Keep trees and shrubs properly trimmed because mosquitoes use these cool and shadowy places for refuge from the hot temperatures of the day too.

While all of these prevention tips are great for yourself, your loved ones, your property and your home, the best and most comprehensive way to lessen the amount of mosquitoes that you have to deal with at your home or business is with the help of the professionals here at Active Pest Control. With a mosquito control program from us, you will be pleasantly surprised at the massively decreased amount of mosquitoes that you are dealing with. This treatment will also help to prevent ticks on your property too! It’s a win-win situation. Start to enjoy your outdoors again, contact us today because your greatest defense against mosquitoes is Active Pest Control.