This spring mosquitoes are worse than ever! Because the Watsonville sloughs dried in the winter, the fish that prey on the mosquito larva died also. Now the sloughs have water and mosquitoes are breeding. Also, miles of small streams throughout Santa Cruz County have slowed to a trickle, forming small pools where mosquitoes are also breeding.
With warming and lengthening days and the light spring rains, standing water has been left in gutters and low places. Stagnant rainwater left in buckets, birdbaths, and tires and warmed by the sun becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes. This time of year, mosquitoes breed in water held by tarps, boat bilges, clogged drains, gutters and unmaintained swimming pools, spas, fountains and fishponds.
Mosquitoes are a public health threat since the insects can carry West Nile virus picked up from biting infected birds. In 2013 California had 379 human cases and fifteen fatalities due to West Nile virus.
“We’re experiencing lots of mosquitoes breeding in the sloughs, streams, ponds and coastal marshes and we are controlling them in the larval stage. With the combination of the warm weather and all the water in yard containers, we really need for the public to do their part and empty any water that might be around their property,” says Paul Binding, manager of Santa Cruz County Mosquito & Vector Control.
“The mosquitoes that hatch now will be those that get a blood meal, lay eggs and keep the cycle going,” he commented. “The idea is to keep those numbers down now to reduce an even worse infestation later this summer. The district’s goal is to minimize the disease risk and nuisance to the public created by mosquitoes.”
A female mosquito lays between 50 to 200 eggs at a time, and a neglected swimming pool can produce hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes and infect an entire neighborhood. It takes seven to ten days for a mosquito egg to develop into a flying blood-sucking insect. As drought conditions increase this summer, birds can be more prone to be bitten by disease-transmitting mosquitoes.
The yellow fever mosquito has invaded California and we need to detect them if and when they arrive in the County. Please report any residential, day-biting mosquitoes!
To prevent mosquito bites use insect repellent and drain any standing water around your home. If you see standing water that you cannot empty or drain, or if you know of a neglected swimming pool, contact Mosquito and Vector Control at 454-2590 or http://www.agdept.com/mvc.html.
The district provides free mosquito-eating fish and is also asking people to report dead birds to the West Nile Virus Hotline at 1-877-WNV-Bird or http://www.westnile.ca.gov so that they may be tested for mosquito-borne viruses and be sure to vaccinate horses against West Nile virus.