The city is anticipating to see a rise in the number of mosquitoes in Regina, despite below-average counts as of this past Friday.
“They were four mosquitoes per trap compared to our historical average of 14 mosquitoes per trap,” said Russell Eirich, the city’s manager of forestry, pest control and horticulture.
The reason for the low number, he believes, is due to last week’s rain and wind which Eirich said “depressed those numbers artificially.”
“I think there’s actually a lot more mosquitoes out there and people are probably correct in what they’re seeing for that,” Eirich said.
“We’ve had a lot of rain. We’re anticipating that mosquito numbers are going to go up and we have our crews out there working on it right now.”
The city has a pest control team of 26 people and that about 23 of those members are working on mosquitoes. Eirich said a cup full of water can produce up to 1,000 mosquitoes.
He said May and June are the busiest months of the year in terms of the number of mosquitoes.
“We use a biological larvicide that goes after mosquito larvae as they’re developing in the water bodies,” Eirich said. “We do not do an adulticide program, but it is focused on those water bodies to try to get them before they come out as adults.”
Besides the obvious nuisance of a mosquito bite, Eirich said they can carry diseases that can be quite harmful such as the West Nile virus.
“There are roughly 21 different kinds of mosquitoes in Regina that are different species and as the season progresses, you see different species come at different times of the year,” Eirich said.
Eirich reminds people to wear loose and long fitted, light coloured clothing to avoid from getting bit.
He also said you can help escape mosquito bites by avoiding their peak hours, which is a half-hour before sunrise and a half-hour after sunrise.
Comments