Protect Your Home

You, your neighbors, and the community can take steps to reduce mosquitoes in and around your home and in your neighborhood. Make where you live bite free both inside and outside.

Outside take these actions to keep mosquitoes from breeding:

• Remove standing water where mosquitoes could lay eggs.
• Once a week, empty and scrub, turn over, cover, or throw out any items that hold water. The list can include tires, buckets, planters, toys, pools, birdbaths, flower pot saucers, or trash containers. Mosquitoes lay eggs in and near water.
• Tightly cover water storage containers (buckets, cisterns, rain barrels) so that mosquitoes cannot get inside to lay eggs.
• For containers without lids, use wire mesh with holes smaller than an adult mosquito.
• Use larvicides to treat large containers of water that will not be used for drinking and cannot be covered or dumped out.
• If you have a septic tank, repair cracks or gaps. Cover open vent or plumbing pipes. Use wire mesh with holes smaller than an adult mosquito.
• Get rid of all standing water. Mosquitoes can lay eggs in as little as a teaspoon of water and can develop in any water that stands for more than 5 days.
• Use an outdoor insect spray made to kill mosquitoes in areas where they rest (dark, humid areas like under patio furniture, or under the carport or garage).
• When using insecticides, always follow label instructions.

Keep mosquitoes out of your home.

• Install or repair window and door screens.
• Use window and door screens; do not leave doors propped open.
• Use air conditioning when possible.
• Kill mosquitoes inside your home. Mosquitoes rest in dark, humid places like under the sink, in closets, under furniture, or in the laundry room.