Everyone knows that mosquitoes breed and thrive most in areas with standing stagnant water. In an effort to prevent mosquitoes from crashing their summer barbecues, many homeowner will go to great strides to remove any stagnant water, moist areas, or even spots of particularly long grass that all are attractive to Florida mosquito populations. Yet, even despite their best efforts, those blood-sucking pests still find your way to your yard and ruin your day.
While it is true that mosquitoes can travel, even coming from neighboring yards with less diligent mosquito prevention, they usually don’t travel far. This means there is the possibility they are still somewhere in your yard. There is one spot in your yard that might be a mosquito breeding ground that you didn’t expect – the gutters.
How Gutters Become a Mosquito Haven
No one really enjoys getting up on a ladder in the late fall or spring to clear out any of the fallen leaves, branches, or any other junk that ends up in the gutter out. In fact, sometimes we downright forget to do it. However, if you leave gutters alone, you are asking for not only potentially house-damaging drainage issues, but for standing water that is like a luxury home for mosquitoes.
Not only does the moist amalgamation of leaves and debris in your gutter appeal to mosquito sensibilities, but it becomes even more attractive when the sun warms up that moist area naturally. So long as the standing water remains and the area is warm, it is the perfect place for mosquitoes to breed and grow. Furthermore, the rotting leaves and debris in your gutter is also providing nutrients to not just mosquitoes, but a number of pests as well including cockroaches, gnats, ants, flies, and spiders.
The true unfortunate reality is that mosquitoes typically don’t travel more than 200 feet from where they were hatched. This means if they hatched in the standing water in your gutters, your patio is their playground.
Removing Mosquitoes From the Gutter
The obvious answer to removing mosquitoes from your gutters is to give those gutters a solid cleaning. While this won’t get rid of the mosquitoes that have grown to adulthood, it will prevent another generation from growing up there. However, if the gutters were indeed the source of your mosquito problem, after cleaning you will want to do two things.
- Check Drainage – After a few seasons of leaves and build up, cleaning the gutters themselves may not be enough to prevent a pest playground. You will also want to check drain spouts and the drainage of the whole system. Essentially you want to make sure that if it rains, that water isn’t going to get clogged up at some point and continue the mosquito issue.
- Call Pest Control – Many people don’t know the true problem with a mosquito breeding ground. Many times when the water dries up, the mosquito eggs go into a suspended growth stage where they wait for it to become moist again. This can easily be something that happens in your gutters. If you discover a mosquito problem, it is best to call us to treat the area so that those eggs don’t remain waiting around in your gutters for the next deluge.
Need Help?
Have you discovered mosquitoes congregating in your gutters or anywhere else around your yard? Contact us today and let us come solve the problem. We are no stranger to the large mosquito population in the summer months. We know how to treat them so you don’t have any blood-sucking guests at your next summer get-together, at least not ones you didn’t invite.
