What happens if Zika hits your area?

[Anonymous]

We will use DEET, spray the yard, and hope for the best. I have also considered mosquito netting the carport and the door that leads from the carport to the house, just so we have a bit of a containment area to hopefully avoid letting them in the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We will use DEET, spray the yard, and hope for the best. I have also considered mosquito netting the carport and the door that leads from the carport to the house, just so we have a bit of a containment area to hopefully avoid letting them in the house.

Wow - you normally get a lot in the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We actually just put up bat houses. Each bat can eat 10k mosquitoes a night. We didn't do this because of Zika though, more because this area (NOVA) has horrible mosquitoes.

I'm a mosquito magnet and I honestly won't go out at night if it gets bad here. I'm pregnant too.

Bathouses are an awesome idea. Please tell me if you did it yourself or had a company do it for you? Also, can you share the cost of this project?

Thanks.

We did it ourselves. You buy the bat house (looks like a bird house) and then nail it on a tree?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dlawngarden&field-keywords=bat+house

Did any bats take up residence yet? I've heard it hard to get them to come.

We just installed about 2 weeks ago. I haven't seen any yet, but you can't really see in that well. I heard it takes about 2-3 months to get bats, so I'm hoping we have lots when mosquito season starts. I back up to a wooded forest with a stream, so they should get some easy prey here. I'm rooting for them.

We can't spray here (and I don't like the environmental effects of spray) since mosquitoes come from the forest, not really our own property.

Are you on my neighborhood listserv? Some posted about this there a few weeks ago. The expert who weighed in on the listserv on bat boxes said that the percentage occupied by bats in NoVa is abysmally low and that they aren't effective for mosquito control.

I empty all standing water after any rain and use mosquito dunks/shakers on any water I can't pour out (rain barrel, puddles, etc in wooded areas). Dunks have a bacteria that's harmless to most animals except mosquitoes -- safe for birds, mammals, amphibians, etc but kills mosquitoes in their larval stage. Got them on Amazon.

[Anonymous]

We spray and will do the same this summer.

[Anonymous]

Bat house person- No I'm not on any listserves and I haven't told others about my new bat houses. We already have lots of bats in the woods behind our house. I'm hoping to draw them closer to my house. Even one bat can eat 1000 mosquitoes an hour at night. I can report back this summer to update on whether this has been effective.

I can't empty the standing water because I think the main culprit is the stream behind our house. It often runs dry in the summer and breeds mosquitoes. It also has little pockets of water that breed them too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will use DEET, spray the yard, and hope for the best. I have also considered mosquito netting the carport and the door that leads from the carport to the house, just so we have a bit of a containment area to hopefully avoid letting them in the house.

Wow - you normally get a lot in the house?

Not a lot, but 2 or 3 a day with the kids running in and out.

[Anonymous]

Our HOA is stocking the pond with fish that eat them in the larva stage.

[Anonymous]

We plan to get a bat box too, and try to do something about the impromptu stream / pond that goes thru our property. Lots of mosquitos at our house.

Last year we replaced the gutters (they can breed there) and plan to do more to kill larvae in the gutters. Also took our some trees so our very soggy dark yard can finally dry out.

I also plan to wear light long sleeves and pants most of the summer. I am a mosquito magnet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will use DEET, spray the yard, and hope for the best. I have also considered mosquito netting the carport and the door that leads from the carport to the house, just so we have a bit of a containment area to hopefully avoid letting them in the house.

Wow - you normally get a lot in the house?

It only takes one.

[Anonymous]

You don't get the virus from a bite. You get it through sex.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/health/cdc-investigating-more-cases-of-sexually-transmitted-zika/

If it was contracted through a bite, more people would have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We actually just put up bat houses. Each bat can eat 10k mosquitoes a night. We didn't do this because of Zika though, more because this area (NOVA) has horrible mosquitoes.

I'm a mosquito magnet and I honestly won't go out at night if it gets bad here. I'm pregnant too.

Watch out for rabid bats.

[Anonymous]

I will be wearing a spacesuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't get the virus from a bite. You get it through sex.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/health/cdc-investigating-more-cases-of-sexually-transmitted-zika/

If it was contracted through a bite, more people would have it.

You're kidding, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We actually just put up bat houses. Each bat can eat 10k mosquitoes a night. We didn't do this because of Zika though, more because this area (NOVA) has horrible mosquitoes.

I'm a mosquito magnet and I honestly won't go out at night if it gets bad here. I'm pregnant too.

that's awesome! Bats are our friends. I would LOVE a bat house but I don't live w/in 1/2 mile of water so I don't think they would nest at my house. We do have them flying over in the summer.

[Anonymous]

We already have bats flying around our yard at night so we are doing a bat house too. The kit cost about $90 and we will pay a handyman to put it on a pole. You can't really put it on a. Tree since he t he birds will eat the bats. It needs to go into a sunny spot as they like it warm.