Did you know that Mosquitoes, like all insects, are cold-blooded creatures? Because of this, mosquitoes are incapable of regulating their body heat and their temperature is essentially the same as their surroundings. Mosquitoes will function best at 80 degrees F, then becoming lethargic at 60 degrees F. Mosquitoes cannot function below 50 degrees F. In most tropical areas, mosquitoes are active year-round. In temperate climates, adult mosquitoes of some species become inactive with the onset of cool weather and enter hibernation to live through the winter.
Some kinds of mosquitoes have winter hardy eggs and hibernate as embryos in eggs laid by the last generation of females in late summer. The eggs are usually submerged under ice and hatch in spring when water temperatures rise. Other kinds of mosquitoes overwinter as adult females that mate in the fall, enter hibernation in animal burrows, hollow logs or basements and pass the winter in a state of torpor (these are the mosquitoes one might see on a warm January or February day).
In spring, the females emerge from hibernation, search for food (blood from you) and lay the eggs that produce the next generation of adults (could be within 7 days). A limited number of mosquitoes overwinter in the larval stage, often buried in the mud of freshwater swamps. When temperatures rise in spring, these mosquitoes begin feeding, complete their immature growth and eventually emerge as adults.
Mosquito control is critical in disease prevention. Mosquitoes transfer diseases such as Yellow Fever, Malaria, Dengue, plus the West Nile virus. We need to protect ourselves from these viruses by protecting our yards. Without proper mosquito control, yards can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
How can mosquitoes transfer disease? You are the meal for the female bloodsucking mosquito, who, in turn is feeding the eggs. When the female needs to find food it goes for you, the blood meal. Male mosquitoes only suck on nectar and hang out in shady areas of you yard, waiting to reproduce. As a mosquito flies closer to its target, it looks for the movement of dark objects. Once it finds you, it lands, inserts its proboscis and probes for blood vessels beneath the skin. When it finds one, it injects saliva into the wound. The saliva contains an anticoagulant that ensures a steady, smooth flow of blood. Unfortunately, the mosquito’s saliva also may contain pathogens such as malaria parasites or encephalitis virus. This is how mosquitoes transmit disease.
What other reasons why it is important for mosquito control? It hits you psychologically, you are constantly looking over your shoulder wondering when the next mosquito is flying for their next meal of the day. To be perfectly honest, mosquitoes are annoying and can ruin your time outside which is why you won’t
Research shows that mosquitoes began to emerge in New Jersey in April. Prior to April there are few things that as a homeowner you can do yourself to control mosquitoes.venture out during those dusk hours.
Empty all buckets of standing water.
Clean your gutters (or call a gutter guy to clean them for you). Leaves clog the gutters and downspouts, leading to an area where the female can lay her eggs.
Check areas around your home where water pools, fill these areas with topsoil and some grass seed. Keep the water pooling to a minimum. A mosquito only needs a capful of water to lay her eggs.
Remember any water outside at your property can lead to a mosquito breeding ground.
While the above is important, once mosquitoes become adults, they are on the underside of bushes hiding and waiting for you to come outside. This is where you need a professional company to control the mosquitoes.
Mosquito companies will spray the underside of the bushes, trees, under decks and around the foundation of your dwelling to manage the mosquitoes in your yard.
For more information please contact Curren Environmental. It’s time to learn more about mosquitoes and controlling these annoying pests in your yard – take back you yard this spring.
Mosquitoes are more than just a nuisance, they can carry & spread diseases to pets and humans. Some mosquitoes can fly up to a mile or two or some fly only 100- 200 yards (Asian tiger mosquito). You should be aware of your surroundings and what water is on your property, especially after the heavy rain storms this past week.
The good news is that as a homeowner you can help reduce the mosquito infestation in your own backyard. Curren Environmental’s Mosquito Control & Remediation recommends that you follow the steps below so that you, your friends and family may enjoy your backyard.
Corrugated drainpipes off downspouts. Each trough is a potential breeding ground. If you have many feet of drainpipe, consider replacing it with smooth PVC piping. If you can’t do that, just replace them.
Children’s toys, especially plastic toys that have small areas where water can pool. Keep in mind that the toy itself may be very big, like a bike or a playhouse, but if it has handles or any indentation where water can pool in small amounts, it’s a breeding ground.
All containers, such as buckets, pails, water bottles, trash cans (including lids), storage totes, recycling containers, etc. Even if these items are kept upside down, water can often pool in the handles or lips of the container.
Tarps that hold water, even just a little, flip and empty them. Dry the tarps before replacing.
Plastic chairs, tables and all outside furniture, especially if it is upside down
Flowerpots, especially those with a saucer underneath it to catch water.
Wheel barrels stored improperly.
Anything that can hold small amounts of water. Even large things that hold water, like bird baths, usually have calm areas around the edges where mosquitoes can breed.
If you follow the steps above and remove the breeding grounds to best of your ability you may be able to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your yard.
For more information on Curren Environmental’s Mosquito Control & Remediation please call 856-858-9509 or email at tiffany@currenenvironmental.com.
Curren Environmental spent several years cracking the code on mosquito control. We figured out a formula that would keep the mosquitoes away and be safe for our clients. Curren keeps mosquitoes from hatching and knocks down mosquitoes that already have hatched on contact.
1. Be able to do yard work and not get attacked by annoying, biting mosquitoes.
When working in the yard - who wants to be bit up by mosquitoes? Spraying the underside of the bushes, which is what Curren's technicians are trained to do, immediately knocks down the adult mosquito. Curren applies the quick drying barrier spray to foliage, shrubs, under decks, below and around sheds and other cool, moist - shady areas.
2. Let the kids play outside while the weather is still nice.
Today, all kids want to play inside on their electronics. It's easy to say "Mom, I'll just get bit by mosquitoes if I go outside". The barrier spray is sprayed in and around shady areas, those areas include under the trampoline and other shaded areas where the kids can enjoy their time outside. They won't get bit, they can't use mosquitoes as an excuse to stay "inside" anymore.
3. Stop applying chemicals to you and your kids, no more purchasing mosquito spray and No More DEET.
Mosquitoes are attracted to scents, and each person - young or old have a certain scent. To spray a chemical on yourself and/or your child is masking that scent. Once that "Mosquito Repellent" wears off, you will attract biting, pesky mosquitoes.
4. Mosquitoes spread disease; we all need to avoid that.
Only the female mosquito bites and she bites to feed off your blood. You may not have been the first meal, meaning that she may have had a meal on a bird or reptile or an amphibian. When the female mosquito bites, she inserts her proboscis (feeding tube) into the skin to penetrate and receive the blood. To prevent the blood from clotting in the blocking the tube, the female releases a small about of saliva. While that bite may take merely a second, that is how diseases are transmitted. Learn more at the CDC.
{Technician applying the barrier spray}
5. BBQ without being the mosquitoes’ dinner!
It's time to grill and your outside, you keep getting attacked by mosquitoes. Enjoy the time outside while you make dinner for your friends and/or family without swatting the mosquitoes away.
6. We live in New Jersey we should be able to enjoy the outdoors and not get driven inside by biting mosquitoes.
Even though this is the State of New Jersey and not some tropical area in the Amazon rain forest, we are still laden with mosquitoes. New Jersey is the most densely populated state, making the chances for the mosquito easier to bite you, they don't have to fly as far to find a meal.
7. No franchise fees and no add-on pricing our service include ticks. Our service is priced for every budget.
Curren Environmental is not a franchise. We have been in business for over 20 years as an Environmental company serving thousands of customers throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. When you call our office, you get a live person, not an answering service.
8. Safe for children, dogs – adults too!
Curren Environmental's formula is safe for everyone. Mosquito Remediation is targeted at the mosquito which is typically 3 mm to 6 mm and weighs about 5 mg. The barrier spray is applied to the perimeter of your property and dries within 30 minutes. Fast enough for quick bite to eat and back outside!
9. Sit on your porch, patio or deck without the nuisance of mosquitoes. Enjoy that cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine at night…outside.
By using the Mosquito Remediation, mosquitoes are controlled. The barrier spray is applied to locations, such as beneath and around your porch, patio and deck, areas in which you typically want to be, and areas where mosquitoes are hiding waiting to attack you. Thus, the smell of the coffee or the scent of your wine won't attract mosquitoes as you sit outside and either enjoy the sunrise or the sunset.
10. At your home you are breeding mosquitoes and don’t even know it. At your first spray, Curren will provide you an on-side evaluation on your yard.
At your first spray, Curren will provide you an on-site evaluation. We will let you know if there are any areas where mosquitoes can find breeding grounds, such as gutters (downspouts), birdbaths, recycling bins, etc.
Our customers like our service so much that they refer their friends and families. One of our clients said that they sat in a neighbor’s yard and did not get bitten by mosquitoes after a dinner BBQ and she asked what the secret was to mosquito control. Once she learned what the “secret” was, she became a Curren customer soon thereafter and has referred many others.
Curren’s Mosquito Remediation controls the mosquito population in your yard so you can enjoy time alone, or with friends and family. Call today at
False, only the female mosquito bites and some females do not bite at all. The females that do bite need the protein in blood so she can lay eggs. Rest assured if you get bit by a mosquito it was a female.
Myth 2: Mosquitoes are small so a fan will keep them away.
This is true and false. Mosquitoes are small, yes but a fan doesn't keep them away by blowing them away. Fans dilute our carbon dioxide, heat and individual smell - all of which a mosquito uses to find us.
Myth 3: Mosquitoes do not like the smell of citronella and DEET.
Yes and no, both citronella and DEET interfere with the mosquitoes receptors which are used to find blood meal. In essence, these compounds are meant to hide you from mosquito. What about garlic? Like citronella, garlic is meant to mask your scent to confuse the mosquito’s receptors. There is no real evidence that mosquitoes are repelled by garlic.
Myth 4: Fake news says that diseases are on the rise from mosquitoes.
Myth 5: My blood type is irresistible to mosquitoes.
Studies have pointed to type O blood being more appetizing to mosquitoes. If that is true, the research is not clear as to why. What is known is that some people are simply more attractive to mosquitoes than others and this is believed to be from the carbon dioxide production of the individual as well as their scent.
Myth 6: Bug zappers kill mosquitoes.
Studies of the dead insects in bug zappers found that the percentage of mosquitoes is relatively small. This could be influenced by the fact that other insects are in greater numbers in a yard where a zapper is utilized.
Myth 7: Mosquitoes only bite at night.
Sadly mosquitoes can and do bite in the heat of the day. The Asian tiger mosquito is known to bite during the day.
Myth 8: After a mosquito bites me, it will die.
If a bee stings you it will die. Mosquitoes can bite many people to get the blood needed to lay eggs, after the
eggs are laid it will go bite someone else, so the circle of life can continue.
Myth 9: My yard doesn't have any standing water so mosquitoes don't breed in my yard
Fact, if you are getting bitten by mosquitoes, you have a mosquito breeding ground on or immediately adjacent to your property. Mosquitoes can lay eggs in a cap of water.
We treat thousands of properties a year for mosquito control and 90% have water that can and do breed mosquitoes. Most people simple are not diligent enough to dump water from containers. The following photos are from properties that we treat and that we inform owners of their water problems and they still don't get rid of all potential breeding areas
Myth 10: The coloring of clothing can attract mosquitoes.
There is evidence that says if you have darker colors you are more likely be bit than if wearing a lighter color. Darker clothing maybe thicker and allows your body to retain heat, which is one of the factors a mosquito looks for when searching for a blood meal.
More Information on Mosquito Control can be found at the following links.
If you enjoy being bitten by mosquitoes, never go outside and/or do not care about the vector of disease that a mosquito bite represents (remember mosquitoes can extract blood from different hosts which spreads the risk of disease to each person bitten), then the answer would be no. If you do not like being bitten by mosquitoes then yes mosquito remediation is probable something you should consider.
Mosquito control or the more technical name mosquito remediation has become popular that it is as common as the general landscaping properties owners have performed. Studies show that enjoying the outdoors has a positive improvement on a person’s mental and physical health. The least expensive and easiest outdoor activity is being outside your home be it in your yard, porch or patio. Mosquitoes can deprive people of their outdoor enjoyment, many people state that they would spend more time outside if it were not for the mosquitoes.
Mosquito remediation services are a natural extension of the maintenance of your yard, not dissimilar to weed control, lawn cutting or landscaping. Mosquito remediation involves applying an EPA registered insecticide in a micro droplet form to foliage, vegetation and cool dark places where mosquitoes frequent. The spray is designed to take down mosquitoes that come in contact with the spray (adult mosquitoes), include a residual presence in a micro encapsulated form to address mosquitoes not present during the application and lastly to neutralize the eggs or larvae of mosquitoes that represent soon to be born mosquitoes. Doses can be measured as low as an 1/8th of a teaspoon as the target (mosquitoes) are small and do not need large doses to be affected.
The application is very targeted to mosquito habitats such as under a deck or shed where both male and female mosquitoes hide during the heat of the day. Fences, foundations and other horizontal surfaces can also be treated, as they are Landing Zones for mosquitoes, in short a rest stop for mosquitoes in flight to a destination. Foliage is treated as both male and female mosquitoes consume the plant nectar for food.
Grass is typically never treated as it not a cool enough habitat for mosquito to live. Remember mosquitoes are small and light, the heat of the day can dehydrate a mosquito hence why they need to stay cool. The exception is the Asian tiger mosquito, which can withstand the heat of the day and is a mean mosquito and will bite you all day long. This is unique, as you probable already know that your chances of being bitten are early in the morning or the late afternoon evening when it is cooler outside.
Clearly, you would prefer to treat a yard rather than spray chemicals on your person. If you read the fine print of personal mosquito repellents, you will see that they are to be washed off once you go inside.
Mosquito control and mosquito remediation differ from what most people have tried in the past as it is designed to remove the mosquito, hence the word remediation. Remediation meaning the correction of something bad or the removal of something unwanted like mosquitoes or mold. Traditional DIY mosquito control such as citronella oil, peppermint oil, garlic and plants, are meant to ward off mosquitoes. The idea is the aromas of these compounds are meant to disguise you from mosquitoes. How mosquitoes find us is not 100% certain but the best understanding is they search for the carbon dioxide (CO2) that humans and animals exhale. Other scents that we emit are also believed to attract mosquitoes. It is also believed that visually mosquitoes can detect or thermal signature. There is also a school of thought that mosquito a combination of all senses to locate a blood meal. Bottom line a female mosquito bite to consume blood needed to lay eggs, so these attempts at stopping a pregnant mosquito have largely been met with dissatisfaction. Hence the popularity of mosquito remediation.
The systematic use of mosquito remediation each season has a long term lasting mosquito control benefit. The reasons are as follows:
Your first season of mosquito remediation, drops the overall population of mosquitoes in your yard. If you do find a mosquito, it probable flew over from a neighbor’s yard. So year one lowers the overall mosquito population, which limits future populations of mosquitoes as you are breaking the reproductive cycle of mosquitoes. Meaning if you do not have mosquitoes, they cannot reproduce.
Year 2, is a lesser fight than year one as you have a smaller population in theory to control, but you most likely have a population of mosquitoes due to the natural life cycle of a mosquito. Mother Nature has bestowed mosquitoes the ability to continue their life cycle even in colder climates such as the Northeastern United States. Mosquitoes do hibernate, as they are cold-blooded. Some females find holes or where they stay all winter. Other female mosquitoes lay their eggs in freezing water and the eggs wait until spring to hatch as their eggs (larvae) can winter over meaning be dormant all winter and come out on the first patch of warm weather. This stage is called diapause, which suspends any further development of the mosquito eggs. These winter mosquitoes are remnants from last season and are eager to continue the mosquito life cycle.
You are probable breeding mosquitoes without knowing it. 80% of homes and businesses we treat have freestanding water where mosquitoes can lay eggs.
The photo below is a prime example. You see the water drain holes are not encountering the water being captured. This recycling can was designed to not retain water, but the owner by placing the can upside down defeats the engineering and creates a water pocket for mosquitoes to grow. It is items like this that we see time and again on properties, even when the owner is notified of the issues we find it is not corrected 40% of the time.
Lastly, mosquito control should be viewed in the same lane as lawn care. Manicured lawns are fertilized, weed controlled and cut on a regular basis. When you stop cutting your lawn things can get out of control quickly. Mosquito management is constant.
For tips you can try and not utilize a service, follow the link below. IPM (Integrated Pest Management) takes a multi prong approach which can include out mosquito control tips as well as utilization of a mosquito remediation service.
