How You Can Help Reduce Mosquito Populations As Summer Continues

DOWNTOWN ZANESVILLE, Ohio- We are almost out of the heat of the summer, but the mosquito population won’t be naturally put in check until the cold winter months. Until then, the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department is asking the public to be diligent about helping inhibit the mosquitos’ numbers.

For instance, one bird bath can lay host to 5,000 new mosquitos in one summer. This is because mosquitos need standing water to breed. So limiting the amount of standing water on your property will ensure, no mosquitos will call your yard their birthplace again.

“The majority of our complaints are from breeding grounds. What a mosquito likes is water. (edit)So if it’s like a bird bath or a dish that you can dump the water out of, please do that. That will really mitigate your problem,” Logan Byran, mosquito spraying technician for the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department stated.

To create a holistic approach to mosquito population control, not only limiting their breeding grounds but also where they lay refuge once their adults is important.

“Another thing that they like is tall grass, the adult mosquitos like tall grass. They are actually a pollinator. So they hide in the tall grass and when a human walks by, they put off a CO2 scent and that attracts them to it. So if you have grass taller than 7 inches make sure you cut it,” Byran said.

If you would like your yard or neighborhood treated with a chemical only toxic to mosquitos or to report a breeding ground you can call their number or go to the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department website under the tab Environmental and then Animals and Insects.