Mosquitoes out in big numbers in Santa Cruz County

The rainy season has made this time of year busy for Mosquito and Vector Control in Santa Cruz County.

They were called out to, what used to be, Valley Garden Golf Course in Scotts Valley. Neighbors there have complained about the blood suckers.

Ponds can be prime breeding ground for mosquitos.

“We’re concerned about summer mosquitos which contracts West Nile Virus. which is actually a bird dieseases and mosquitoes bite these infected birds and then they bite other animals and people,” Paul Binding, Manager of Santa Cruz County Mosquito and Vector Control said.

Right now Vector Control is extremely active because standing water is left over from the winter and spring rain – conditions that make for a perfect mosquito breeding ground.

“Backyard swimming pools that are unmaintained this time of year, people are just getting around to getting the skimmers and pumps working, so we suspect those spas that may not be maintained and tarps and tires and fountains that people have in their yard,” Binding said.

Today Binding found his way out to a pond after getting alerted from neighbors who say they’ve been getting tons of mosquito bites, he thought the area could be the culprit.

Binding believes mosquito fish are why this pond was free of the blood eaters.

Vector Contral uses minows, and dumps them in water. The fish will then eat up all the larva, eliminating the mosquitos.

There are some other ways to get rid of those pesty blood suckers in your yard too.

“You can control it by getting this bacterial agent called Mosquito Dunks or
Mosquito Bits or you can give us a call and we’ll come out and treat it for
you,” Binding said.

This time of year, Vector Control says we see mostly flood water mosquitos, the good news is although there’s a lot of them, those particular blood suckers aren’t know to carry any disease.