Pest Management Professional, May 2017

Lets discuss the sisterhood of the not so traveling mosquito BY Diane SofraneC Managing Editor Culex pipiens mosquito CPM Yelling Why cant you help out every once in a while I just gave birth to 300 babies and all you want to do is fly around all night Pest Management Professional PMP Carefully approaches a mud puddle in a dark alley after sunset Um excuse me I have an appointment to interview you but if nows a bad time CPM Emerges from the puddle on the pavement Oh yes Sorry Men Cant live with em good thing you get to live without em Am I right ladies A chorus of Umm hmms and You better believe its emerges from the darkness PMP Uh thats not how the saying goes CPM It is if youre a female mosquito I live a nice long life a few weeks to several months if Im lucky But my male partners well theyve only got a week And thank goodness because Im telling you sometimes they really get on my nerves Chorus of female mosquitoes Chorus Amen sister PMP Oh why is that CPM Well they dont do anything All they want is sweets nectar from flowers or other sugary liquids Im the one who has to venture out and bite birds or people Im risking my life out there not them PMP Do you mind if we move to where its not so wet CPM Oh no I love the water Its where I was born and its where I raise my hundreds of offspring PMP Did you say hundreds How many do you have CPM Well every three days I lay about 100 to 300 eggs Its a lot PMP Eyes widen Where do you keep them all CPM In the water of course When I lay my eggs at night I stick them all together Some say they look like a raft floating on the surface of the water I love all my offspring equally Theyre so good to me never traveling very far from where they hatched My little wigglers or larvae live in the water from four to 14 days and my tumblers or pupae live in the water from one to four days depending on how warm or cold the water is It only takes about three days for the pupae to become adults They grow up so fast dont they PMP They probably want to get the heck out of here This isnt exactly a nice area CPM Oh I dont care as long as theres water We make ourselves at home in ponds ditches birdbaths tree holes ditches buckets storm drains kiddie pools flower pots clogged gutters junk laying around the yard You know we can make it work wherever water collects and yummy algae grows Right ladies Chorus Uh huh You bet PMP Why not fly on over to the beautiful fountain in the center of town It seems much nicer over there CPM Are you crazy Mosquitoes cant survive where water is running In fact we wont last long where water is changed in less than a week Thats why you can find us in puddles and discarded junk like tires PMP Oh so if I just cleaned up around the yard and regularly changed the water in the birdbath you would have no place to live CPM Chorus GASP PMP I mean I hate to break it to you but youre not very popular You spread heartworm in dogs malaria in birds and West Nile virus in people CPM Oh I know Even though I prefer birds to humans sometimes you look so tasty But at least I dont transmit the Zika virus Blame my cousins Aedes aegypti and A albopictus not me PMP Is that why you attack us CPM A gal needs to eat I dont usually come out until dusk or after it gets dark But Im not shy I just might follow you indoors Sometimes Ill even hang out in your garage basement or crawlspace all winter But I wont travel far from my home PMP I suppose thats why youre known as the house mosquito Chorus Thats right You got it CPM smiles You can reach Sofranec at dsofranec@ northcoastmedia net or 216 706 3793 Culex pipiens mosquitoes 80 May 2017 Pest Management Professional mypmp net Photo Ary FArAjollAhi Bugwood org conVerSaTIon PIece