Ada County Weed Pest and Mosquito Abatement Are You Breeding Mosquitoes At Home?

 

• Stock your ornamental pond with mosquitofish, koi and/or goldfish; a pond with healthy, hungry fish will eat most mosquito eggs, larvae and pupae.
• Avoid spraying your pond with garden insect sprays since these can be toxic to fish.
• Thin out pond lillies or other pond vegetation. Plants near the water surface can provide shelter for mosquito larvae.
• Make sure any potted plants in the pool are free from standing water. These areas can become prime breeding locations.
• Fully drain your pond for cleaning.
• Use mosquito "dunks" - small, inexpensive biological mosquito control devices that can be placed in ponds or animal water troughs that are not able to be drained or cleaned frequently. You can find these dunks at most larger home and garden centers.
• Mosquito dunks are not harmful to animals, so you can put them in livestock water troughs.
• Make sure that all abandoned swimming pools or spas are completely drained of water. Even the cover protecting the pool/spa can collect water and become a mosquito breeding site. 
• If you know of any abandoned pools or spas in your neighborhood, contact Ada County Mosquito Abatement at the phone number below.
• Drain your bird bath every three days to make sure mosquitoes don't breed in the standing water.
• Repair or replace broken screens and screen doors. Mosquitoes known to carry the West Nile virus (the Culex species) like to get into houses.

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