Mosquito Control

Mosquitoes (scientific name: Culicidae), are a huge problem for us. Mosquito bites itch like crazy, leave large red bumps, and can potentially transmit harmful diseases like West Nile Virus, Encephalitis, malaria, yellow fever, and brain inflammation.

They also breed very quickly, especially after the rainy season. In Philadelphia, We start to get mosquitoes in early March all the way through the end of summer. They reproduce quickly, breed in massive numbers, and swarm your lawn in no time.

This becomes a serious inconvenience because, during these months, many of us want to be outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. But that's hard to do when you're being eaten by mosquitoes. It's also hard to have family members and friends over for a backyard grill when you're dealing with this issue. Fortunately, it's not overly difficult to treat a mosquito infestation which we will talk about later.

Mosquito life stages and life cycle

The mosquito has three distinct life-stages. They start as an egg, then move to juveniles, and finally mature mosquitoes.

Egg stage: The female mosquito can lay hundreds of eggs at a time and do this up to three times during the course of her life. Mosquito eggs are white when they are laid and mature to black in color. The eggs are always laid in stagnant water so it's important to treat any standing water around your home.

Juvenile stage: Juvenile mosquitoes (wigglers) are the next life cycle once the eggs hatch. They will mature to become flying mosquitoes fully within the water. They resemble tiny little worms which float to the surface to breathe oxygen and then retreat back under the water. They feed on bacteria within the water and if the water dries up, they cannot become adult mosquitoes. As the water temperature warms up, mosquito juveniles also tend to mature faster. The general time for this stage is about 10 days before they leave the water as mature mosquitoes.

Mature mosquitoes: This is the final life cycle stage of the mosquito and the one we are all very familiar with. These are the mosquitoes that fly around and bite us. You may not know that it’s only the females that actually bite people and pets though. Male mosquitoes actually feed on plant juices.

Mosquitoes need a warm humid environment with standing water to lay their eggs and breed. This is one of the reasons you find mosquitoes in high numbers following a rainstorm. If there is any stagnant water around your home, you’ll need to put extra measures in place to ensure the mosquito problem is handled. This may include treating the puddles and other areas where rainwater collects.

If the source of the mosquitoes is a larger body of water that can't be dried up or filled in, you’ll need to put measures in place to keep them away from your immediate backyard and home. Fortunately, that's what we do and we can handle that for you.

Another fact that many people don't know is that mosquito eggs can remain dormant for up to five years until the environmental conditions are suitable for the eggs to hatch.

Additional places that mosquitoes will lay eggs include:

• Holes in trees
• Old tires
• Buckets
• Toys in the yard
• Plant Pots
• Tarps

Preventing mosquitoes comes down to a few basic things:

1. Ensure there’s no standing water on or near your property. 
2. Try sprinkling coffee grounds in the standing water if you can’t get rid of the water. Coffee grounds have been shown to prevent the mosquitoes from reaching maturity.
3. Hire a professional to inspect for hidden places where mosquitoes could be breeding.
4. Use natural repellent plants like citronella in your landscaping.
5. Clean up yard waste.
6. Hire a professional.

If you have a recurring mosquito problem that isn't going away, it's clearly time to bring in the big guns. As a professional pest control company, we have high-quality pest control solutions, training, and access to a variety of tools that the average person does not.

If you have tried everything and it's not working, or you just don't want to mess with trying to exterminate the mosquitoes yourself, just give us a call and we can handle the problem for you. We offer affordable mosquito extermination and serve all of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas of the Greater Delaware Valley.

You can call us to get a free quote over the phone right now or fill out the form on this page and have one of our pest control technicians contact you.

1. Mosquitoes smell our breath: When we exhale, we release carbon dioxide into the air which mosquitoes can detect. They then follow our carbon dioxide like a little path to their food source.
2. Your sweat may be attracting mosquitoes:  When we sweat, we release hundreds of pheromones which mosquitoes can smell.  the pheromones that we release help the mosquitoes choose their next meal.
3. Body heat attracts mosquitoes:  mosquitoes can detect the warmth of our bodies and the blood inside of them.
4. Mosquitoes can feed during the day or night
5. Mosquitoes have been around since the dinosaurs: Mosquitoes have been around for over 200 million years and have been mentioned in the work of Aristotle and Sidonius Apollinaris.
6. Mosquitoes don’t transmit HIV: The HIV virus is actually broken down in their stomach so it can’t be passed to another person.
7. Mosquitoes can drink up to 3x their body weight in blood.

Call Now For a Free Estimate: (215) 781-3115