The most effective means of reducing mosquitoes around the home is to eliminate their breeding habitats. Nine out of ten citizen inquiries received by Mosquito Control are made by citizens who are unknowingly raising their own mosquitoes! You, too, may be raising your own!
What you can do: CHECK YOUR YARD!
- empty, remove or cover any receptacle that would hold water - particularly old bottles, tin cans, junk and tires
- repair leaky pipes and outside faucets
- screen rain barrels and openings to water tanks and limit the amount of collected rain water to water plants
- cover or turn small boats upside down and keep all water pumped from the bilge
- change water in wading pools, bird baths, pet dishes and vases holding flowers or cuttings twice a week
- clean clogged roof gutters of all debris and drain flat roofs & all tarps
- fill holes in trees with sand or mortar, or drain or spray them as needed
- fix or replace screen on doors and windows
- stock ornamental ponds with mosquito larvae eating fish (call Mosquito Control to make fish delivery arrangements)
Mosquito Control recommends...
- yellow bug light
- Bti and Bs (bacillus) products
- repellents that include DEET (click here for more information)
- certain barrier type adult sprays
- mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)
- handheld or backpack portable foggers
Mosquito Control does not recommend...
- bug zappers (click here for information)
- ultrasonic (acoustic) repellent devices (click here for information)
- electronic repellent devices
- citrosa plants
- pic coils
- citronella candles or torches
- "miracle" powders, liquids, sprays or other fly-by-night products
Spraying - a last resort...
Mosquito Control determines where and when to adulticide (spray) based on the following guidelines:
- Light traps must contain 25 or more adult mosquitoes.
- Citizen complaints must be received.
- Landing rate counts must exceed 3 mosquitoes landing per minute.
These guidelines are set forth by the Florida Legislature in Florida Statute Chapter 388 (click here for information) and the Florida Administrative Code 5E-13 (click here for information). A light trap is a device that uses dry ice and a light source to attract adult mosquitoes. A fan draws the mosquitoes down into a collection bag. The collection bags are collected every day and the mosquitoes are counted and identified. A landing rate is the number of mosquitoes that land on an individual within a set amount of time (usually one minute).
The Gainesville city limits are divided into 16 light trap/adulticiding zones. Each zone has one permanent and one floating light trap. Light traps and landing rate counts are monitored Monday through Thursday. Zones with light trap counts of 25 or more mosquitoes and landing rate counts of 3 per minute or citizen complaints are scheduled to be adulticided.
A computerized ULV (Ultra-Low-Volume) sprayer is used to disperse a chemical that affects only adult mosquitoes. The computer measures the chemical and will shut off automatically if the truck is traveling too fast or too slowly or dispersing too much or too little chemical. Spraying is the least effective and most expensive method of mosquito control.
Mosquito Control uses several products with which to adulticide, but Aqua-Reslin and Duet are used for the majority of our routine adulticiding work. For more information on Aqua-Reslin (including a label and MSDS) click here and for more information on Duet (including a label and MSDS) click here.
Spraying hours are usually between 4 - 7 AM and 7 PM - 1 AM. You may call Mosquito Control at (352) 393-8100 for recorded spraying schedule message. The message states in which zone(s) Mosquito Control will be spraying over the next few days. Call (352) 393-8287 for more information.
Spray Zones ( map and schedule)
Due to dry season - no updates until further notice
Click the "On/Off" button to toggle between the standard City map and the highlighted zone map. The newly annexed SW 20th Avenue area is part of Zone 14. Using your right mouse button, you may zoom in and out on the map for more or less detail. Requires Macromedia Flash Player 5.
ADULTICIDING SCHEDULE (7:00 PM - 12:00 AM):
Currently - Mosquito Control is not adulticiding
Frequently Asked Questions...
Q: How do I recognize a mosquito and make sure that's what biting me?
A: Mosquitoes are insects with long, slender bodies, narrow wings with a fringe of scales on the bottom, and long, very thin legs. The long, protruding mouthpart is a proboscis which can be as long as the antenna. Sand flies, stable or dog flies, midges, gnats and no-see-ums are all very different in appearance (shape and size) from a mosquito. Click here to see an adult mosquito Click here to see a mosquito's proboscis.
Q: How many kinds of mosquitoes are there?
A: There are over 3,000 different species of mosquitoes throughout the world. There are approximately 150 species in North America and Florida has 78 mosquito species - 30 of which occur throughout the entire state. Gainesville is home to 42 different species of mosquitoes. Each type of mosquito has a common name and a scientific name which includes a genus and a species name. The Asian tiger mosquito or container mosquito is the common name for Aedes albopictus. Aedes is the genus and albopictus is the species.
Q: Why do mosquitoes bite?
A: Mosquitoes belong to a group of insects that requires blood to develop fertile eggs. Males do not lay eggs, thus, male mosquitoes do not bite. The females are the egg producers and they lay multiple batches of eggs. They require a blood meal for every batch they lay. Mosquitoes, both male and female, rely on sugar as their main source of energy. Mosquitoes feed on plant nectar, fruit juices, and plant liquids. The sugar is burned as fuel for flight and is replenished on a dailly basis.
Q: Why do mosquitoes leave welts when they bite?
A: When a female mosquito pierces the skin with her mouthparts, she injects a small amount of saliva into the wound. The saliva makes penetration easier and prevents the blood from clotting. The welt that appears is not a reaction to the wound, but an allergic reaction to the saliva injected to prevent clotting. Scratching the bites can result in infection.
Helpful links:
For mosquito information:
Alachua County Public Works - www.alachuacounty.us/government/depts/pw
Alachua County Health Department - www.doh.state.fl.us/chdalachua.aspx
American Mosquito Control Association - www.mosquito.org
EPA information - http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/health/mosquitoes/mosquito.htm
FAMU's PHEREC Lab - www.pherec.org
Florida Mosquito Control Association - www.floridamosquito.org
Florida Mosquito Control White Paper - http://mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/Mosquito_Control_White_Paper.htm
UF's Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory - http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu
USDA's CMAVE in Gainesville - www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=66-15-00-00
Wikipedia information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_control
For butterfly information:
Butterfly World - http://www.butterflyworld.com/start.html
Florida Museum of Natural History - www.flmnh.ufl.edu
Gainesville's butterfly exhibit - www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity - www.flmnh.ufl.edu/mcguire
Monarch Watch - http://monarchwatch.org
North American Butterfly Association - http://www.naba.org/
Southern Lepidopterists Society - www.southernlepsoc.org
The Butterfly Conservation Initiative - http://www.butterflyrecovery.org
The Butterfly Estates - http://thebutterflyestates.com/public/welcome.asp
The Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network - http://www.flbutterflies.net
The Lepidopterists' Society - http://www.lepsoc.org
University of Florida Extension Office - http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_Butterflies
Xerces Society - http://www.xerces.org
Your Florida Backyard - http://www.nsis.org/
Last updated September 1, 2011