Mosquito Control Products: Choose your weapon!

Mosquito control products come in a wide variety - from chemicals that prevent mosquito bites - to machines that just plain prevent mosquitoes. When it comes to mosquito prevention products, there are enough claims out here to make your head spin. In our collective desire to prevent being bitten by those nasty little insect vampires we humans have tried everything from garlic pills to DEET! They're not merely pests either; some species represent a public health hazard, since their bites are known to spread diseases like Malaria and West Nile Virus. Finding ways to control mosquitoes, or at least effective ways to prevent them from biting us, is a must.

Know your opponent!

In order to defeat the enemy, you must first understand what makes them tick - relatively speaking of course. Mosquitoes begin life as little wrigglers in pools of stagnant water. Later, the larvae pupate and, when they hatch, the females go off looking for a blood meal so they can lay their eggs and continue the breeding cycle all over again. They thrive in puddles, birdbaths, rain gutters, old tires and flower pots, anything that can hold water.

Fight back with prevention techniques!

Here is where your outdoor prevention strategies begin. It's in the best interest of your health to keep areas as free of standing water as possible. The following tips will help keep the numbers of your biting opponents to a minimum:

• Clean out your gutters and make sure they are not filled with debris so water can run out properly.
• Change your bird bath water regularly.
• Get rid of anything that can hold standing water and become a breeding ground (old tires, buckets, etc.)
• Fill uneven areas in your lawn with sand so that they do not retain puddles when it rains. The grass will fill in eventually and you won’t see the sand.
• Use mosquito donuts in ponds and water gardens that do not contain fish. Or better still, introduce fish into your water gardens – they love to feast on “skeeters”.
• Attract and welcome natural mosquito predators into your outdoor ecosystem such as frogs, toads, dragonflies, and even bats.

Win the war - not just the battle!

Mosquito prevention is big business, whether it's undertaken by the government for health reasons or by individuals who just don't like getting eaten alive when they go outdoors. Most mechanical control devices work very well enough, but be mindful they're up against massive numbers of insects so it's impossible for any brand to be 100% effective. Ultimately, when you use the magnets, traps and zappers along with reliable chemical repellents you can be doubly protected from these biting health hazards.