Where do mosquitoes live and breed? You need to know the answer to this question so you can prevent mosquitoes from living and breeding in your backyard!
Keep reading to learn more about mosquitoes and find out how to prevent your home from becoming a mosquito breeding ground.
Where Do Mosquitoes Live?
There are 59 species of mosquito that live in Ohio! Depending on the mosquito, the species might like living near people, forests, marshes, or tall grasses.
Below, we are highlighting the most worrisome mosquitoes in Ohio: the ones capable of spreading diseases like West Nile virus, Zika virus, St. Louis encephalitis, La Crosse virus, chikungunya, and dengue virus. These disease-carrying mosquitoes include the Asian tiger mosquito, eastern treehole mosquito, common malaria mosquito, woodland malaria mosquito, and northern house mosquito.
Here is where each typically likes to live:
- Asian tiger mosquito: Lives outdoors in vegetation
- Eastern treehole mosquito: Lives in wooded areas and parks
- Common malaria mosquito and woodland malaria mosquito: Lives near bodies of water with vegetation, such as ponds, marshes, and ditches
- Northern house mosquito: Lives in weeds, shrubs, and tall grass
Just about any homeowner with a yard is at risk of housing at least one of the mosquitoes above, along with other non-disease-carrying mosquitoes (less dangerous but no less annoying).
Where Do Mosquitoes Breed?
While mosquitoes differ slightly in what kind of outdoor environment they prefer, they do have one thing in common: they all love water—specifically standing water. (Standing water is water with little to no flow.)
Why? Mosquitoes lay their eggs in or near standing water. The eggs eventually hatch, growing into larvae, then pupae while in the water. When they reach the adult stage of the life cycle, they leave the water.
Depending on the mosquito, the species might tend to lay their eggs in one of two types of water. Some mosquitoes breed in permanent or semi-permanent bodies of water, like ponds, marshes, and containers that hold water. Other mosquitoes breed in floodwater habitats—areas of moist soil near the water line. The eggs dry out, then hatch when rainwater floods the area. Some mosquitoes prefer cleaner water, while others tend to lay eggs in water with more bacteria.
Here is where disease-carrying mosquitoes tend to breed:
- Asian tiger mosquito: Breeds in both natural and artificial containers, like treeholes, used tires, plastic containers, and clogged gutters
- Eastern treehole mosquito: Breeds in the treeholes of silver maple, oak, and beech trees as well as artificial containers in trash dumps or backyards
- Common malaria mosquito and woodland malaria mosquito: Breeds in permanent or semi-permanent water that has vegetation, like ponds, marshes, and ditches
- Northern house mosquito: Breeds in stagnant water in ditches, large puddles, catch basins, ponds, bird baths, and containers of water with organic matter or bacteria (like saucers of flowerpots and clogged gutters)
Your backyard could be a breeding ground for just about any species of mosquito. As we mentioned above, mosquitoes may lay eggs in bird baths, gutters, flowerpots, tires, and other containers. That means your home isn’t safe from mosquitoes, even if you don’t live near a pond or wooded area.
So what can you do to keep annoying and dangerous mosquitoes from living and breeding near your home?
How to Keep Mosquitoes Out of Your Yard
The best way to keep mosquitoes out of your yard is to make it as inhospitable an environment for them as possible.
Here are a few things we recommend:
- Get rid of standing water. This includes draining or filling in puddles, swampy areas, and hollow tree stumps. (Also check places like empty flower pots, old tires, trash cans, and buckets.) Change the water in birdbaths and plastic swimming pools at least every couple of days. Also clean your gutters regularly to prevent water from accumulating. Finally, make sure to repair leaks (like your A/C unit).
- Practice yard maintenance. This includes filling in dips in your yard to prevent water from pooling after heavy rains. Make sure to mow your yard regularly (since some mosquitoes like tall grass). Also cut back tree limbs and brush that provide shade to mosquitoes. (This also allows more sun to reach your yard, drying up wet spots.)
If your mosquito problem is out of hand, it’s a good idea to consider a professional. A qualified pest control expert can help you find the source of your mosquito problem and recommend avenues to fix it.
Visit our learning center to find out what else you need to know about pests.
Call Us for Mosquito Solutions
Contact Scherzinger Pest Control, a trusted pest control company in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky areas, including Dayton, OH, and now Columbus, OH. We’ve been pioneers, engineering new standards for ways of eliminating and controlling bugs and pests. Contact us by phone at 1-877-748-9888 or through our website, Facebook, or Twitter.
