Conquer Your Backyard with DC Mosquito Squad

Mosquito season is around the corner. As we’re beginning to enjoy the warmer weather, planning our nightly dinners outside on our patios, we need to get a jumpstart on controlling those pesky mosquitoes!

Mosquitoes are more than an itchy nuisance, especially for our children. Though uncommon, serious diseases such as West Nile, Encephalitis and dengue fever can be spread by mosquito bites and even cause heartworms in pets. The itchy bites can be scratched open by children, leading to scabbing, scarring, and the skin infection impetigo. Prevention is the best strategy. And ticks are just as serious a threat as they easily travel across outdoor landscapes and latch onto pets that enter our homes and then land on a human host, spreading Lyme disease, Erlichiosis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and other tick-borne illnesses.

As a community, we can all attempt to keep our local mosquito population under control by making it more difficult for the insects to breed. Mosquito control expert Damien Sanchez of D.C. Mosquito Squad offers a variety of services to keep mosquitoes out of clients’ properties. He shares that those on a tight budget can take a number of inexpensive, preventative measures that can drastically reduce the mosquito population in their yards. It all begins with targeting the breeding areas, finding ways to be less attractive to mosquitoes, and using effective repellants.

• Empty any containers of standing water, including tires, empty flowerpots, or birdbaths.
• Avoid allowing gutters or drainage pipes to hold water. Mosquitoes are “home-bodies”—they don’t typically wander far from their place of birth. So reducing the mosquito population in your own yard can really help.
• Keep landscaping neat by limiting foliage, yard clippings, and leaf piles, where mosquitoes and other bugs like to harbor or feed. Keep landscaping trimmed and limit ivy and junipers to decrease places where the mosquitoes can seek shelter.
• Grow Mosquito-Repelling Plants. Mosquitoes are naturally repelled by a variety of plants. Fill your garden with plants such as marigolds, rosemary, catnip. citronella, peppermint, and garlic. If you don’t have the room for a garden in your yard, try some potted plants.
• Don’t Wear Perfume. Fragrances such as cologne and perfume can make you more appealing to mosquitoes. Avoid wearing scented fragrances when spending time outdoors for any lengthy amount of time.
• Choose an Effective Repellant According to the CDC, the most effective repellents on the market today contain DEET. If you’re shopping for a repellent, look at the label to see if DEET is an active ingredient. An alternative is Avon Skin So Soft with picaridin, a synthetic version of piperine, the active component of black pepper. (Unlike DEET, it won’t dissolve plastics.)

Mosquito Squad of Greater Washington D.C. will get rid of mosquitoes and ticks on residential and commercial properties. When applied on regular basis, mosquito spray will reduce and control the mosquito and tick populations. Regular treatment programs for mosquito abatement are available to suit most budgets. Mosquito Squad professionals can apply Barrier Sprays, Event Sprays and Tick Tube Treatments. Abandoned Pool Treatments are also a necessary “mosquito barrier” for many homeowners. Controlling mosquitoes and ticks helps protect you, your family, and your pets from the nuisances and illnesses carried by these pesky insects.

For more information on DC Mosquito Squad, visit www.dcmosquitosquad.com

{Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with DC Mosquito Squad. However, all opinions are my own.}