After bites: when to see a doctor
healthdirect says to see a doctor urgently, or go to an emergency department, if a rash, fever or chills, headache, joint or muscle pain, or tiredness follows mosquito bites. Some people react strongly to bites, with large swelling, blisters or fever. If someone needs urgent help, call 000.
Find the water first
NSW Health lists the usual backyard breeding spots: buckets, tyres, toys, bird baths, pet bowls, pot plant bases, blocked gutters and rainwater tanks without screens. Brisbane City Council adds that its backyard container mosquito lays eggs in very small amounts of stagnant water, so a saucer is plenty.
Mosquito eggs need standing water for about a week to develop, which is why NSW Health says to clear water holders at least weekly. A quick walk around the yard every weekend does more than anything sprayed, and check the screens on any rainwater tank while you're there.
What a pest business can do
A technician starts by walking the yard for breeding water you've missed (a sagging gutter, a drain, a tarp holding rain) and for the dense, shady plants, fences and eaves where adult mosquitoes rest during the day. The treatment usually goes onto those resting spots and is often sold as a barrier spray.
It wears off, so ask how long they expect it to help and whether repeat visits are part of the plan. It also can't do much about mosquitoes flying in from a wetland or saltmarsh down the road: NT Health says salt marsh mosquitoes can fly up to 50 km, though most stay within 5 km of where they breed.
Your council's part, and yours
Many councils run mosquito programs on public land, wetlands and drains; Brisbane City Council runs its program all year. The yard is generally yours, though. Sunshine Coast Council says it doesn't spray adult mosquitoes around homes and that breeding on residential land is the landholder's responsibility, and East Gippsland Shire Council says it won't spray private homes for mosquitoes.
If you find breeding on council land, such as a blocked drain or a pond in a park, tell the council; the City of Greater Bendigo, for one, asks residents to give the exact address.
Disease from mosquitoes is a health department matter
healthdirect lists Ross River virus, Barmah Forest virus, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, Murray Valley encephalitis and West Nile or Kunjin virus among the diseases mosquitoes carry in Australia. NSW Health and Victoria's Department of Health each keep a list of council areas at high risk of Japanese encephalitis, and Better Health Channel lists parts of Melbourne and Geelong where Buruli ulcer is being identified.
A yard treatment isn't protection from any of these. Follow your state health department's advice on avoiding bites: loose, light coloured long sleeves and pants, a repellent containing DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus, and insect screens or a net where you sleep.
What makes a mosquito job bigger
A big block with thick planting, a pool, a pond or a tank, a creek or wetland nearby, and treating through the whole warm season rather than before one event all add to the job. A small courtyard with no standing water rarely needs one at all.
Your weekly part
You can
- Tip out buckets, toys, bird baths, pet bowls and pot plant saucers every week.
- Clear the gutters, and keep screens on rainwater tanks in good repair.
- Fit fly screens to windows, doors, vents and chimneys.
- Cover up and use repellent at the times mosquitoes are biting.
Leave to a pest business
- A treatment of the plants and surfaces where adult mosquitoes rest.
- Finding breeding spots you can't see, such as drains and sagging gutters.
- Advice on water you can't empty, like ponds and drains.
Before the yard is sprayed
- Where will the product go, and what's its full name?
- How will you keep it off flowering plants, the fish pond and the veggie patch?
- How long should children and pets stay off the treated areas?
- How long do you expect it to help, and what would a repeat visit involve?
Where we'd start with mosquito control
We'd do the weekly water walk for a fortnight before paying anyone. If the mosquitoes are still bad with nothing left to tip out, a treatment of the resting spots is worth asking about, especially before the warm months. Tap Not sure what it is and write mosquitoes in the note.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
