Mosquito Invasion

Mosquito invasion
By Sy Maher

Bee Knowledgeable

They’re here. Those nasty little fast breeding, blood sucking, monsters that ruin our summer. They leave marks ranging from tiny itchy welt to a severe allergic reaction. Female mosquitos need blood to lay their eggs, and we are the slow moving bags of plasma that emit carbon dioxide. That make us easy targets.
West Nile Virus. In 2016, Maricopa County had 62 West Nile cases including two deaths. May 2017 Maricopa County Environmental Services captured the first West Nile virus-positive mosquito.

Zika virus. The Aedes species mosquito that carries Zika virus bites both day and night. Anyone can get Zika and exhibit symptoms such as fever, rash, headache, Joint pain, conjunctivitis (red eyes), and muscle pain. The infected mosquito bite is extremely dangerous to a mother and her developing fetus. Learn more from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now a global situation cases are springing up in the Unites States, and the need to fight this menace is crucial.

Poison is killing our Bees. Pesticides even at very low levels can weaken bees defense systems, allowing parasites or viruses to kill the colony. The same method utilized for detecting pesticides in food is now used to link those same chemicals to honeybee deaths. Thanks to a special nontoxic formula made from garlic, we can control the mosquito population without harming bees. There is a worldwide need to keep our pollinators safe.

Mosquitos need water and can breed anywhere there is moisture; even on moist soil. They can reproduce in anything from a large stagnate pool, or even under a tiny bottle cap. Mosquitos can lay their eggs in a little indentation of a recently soaked tree or the crack of a block wall where sprinklers have sprayed water. Female mosquitoes can lay up to 300 eggs at a time.