The Definitive Guide to Backyard Mosquito Control
Your backyard serves many a purpose, especially in the spring and summer. Maybe you host neighborhood barbeques. You could enjoy leisure time with the family. A game of catch or shooting some hoops is also common. And what else can be common? Pesky mosquitoes.
If you plan on spending time outdoors around the house, then backyard mosquito control may be an issue. You absolutely must pay attention to these insects if you’re going to fully enjoy your backyard.
But how do you get rid of these annoying creatures? How do you handle backyard mosquito control the right way? That’s where we come in.
Your Guide to Backyard Mosquito Control
See, we’re not some mosquito spray company that plans to tell you the only way to control these pesky bugs is through our services. That’s just not our style at Big Bat Box.
Sure, we sell bat houses, and bats can offer impressive mosquito-eating abilities, but that’s only in certain situations. We know that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to insect control.
So we wanted to talk about the many ways you can control the mosquitoes in your backyard. Here’s are three favorite ways to handle backyard mosquito control:
Yeah, we’re biased, but hear us out. Bat houses can be exceptionally effective in removing mosquitoes from a property. The theories behind bat houses works like this.
You properly install a bat house around your backyard. Bats are attracted to the house you installed and move in. Eventually, you have a full-grown bat colony living in your bat house for good.
Bats eat mosquitoes and other insects. Some have suggested that bats can eat over 1,000 insects in a single hour. One Big Bat Box can hold nearly 200 bats. A little mental math tells you that’s a lot of dead mosquitoes.
To be honest, bat houses can be exceptionally effective in riding a property and backyard of mosquitoes - if they’re set up properly.
How do you properly set up a bat house? Well, that can be complex, but we’ll cover the basics. The most important factor is water. If your bat house isn’t located within a half-mile or so of a natural body of water, bat mamas will not set up a colony in your bat house.
Without a colony, you’ll only have bachelor bats. While bachelor bats still eat mosquitoes, they also only form colonies of around 20 bachelors. Full-grown bat colonies can be over 200 bats large.
As such, being by a body of water is huge. Next, you’ll have to place the device around 15-20 feet in the air. It cannot be placed on or near a tree, either. The area you install the bat box should receive around 5-8 hours of sunshine every single day. Bats are quite particular about warmth, especially when nesting. Finally, the color of the bat house plays a role due to temperature.
If you can get all the variables in line, you have a great shot at getting a colony of bats to live in your bat house. When this happens, you’ll find mosquito problems tend to go by the wayside rather quickly.
While backyard mosquito control becomes easy with a bat house, many individuals simply cannot meet the conditions for a colony to form. As such, they need to look at other forms of killing mosquitoes.
At Big Bat Box, we get that. So let’s take a look at some other ways to get rid of these pesky bugs.
Standing water is the breeding ground for mosquitoes. The pests can almost always be found around standing water during the warmer months. If you rid your property of standing water, you may get rid of the mosquitoes.
The issue is this can be easier said than done. Every time it rains there’s the potential to attract more mosquitoes. Even if you eliminate all the standing water around your home, one rain can reverse all your hard work.
Still, you can take a few steps. First, try removing any man-made water hazards around your backyard. Birdbaths, water containers, and fountains can all be breeding grounds for these pests.
Anywhere there's water, there’s a chance a mosquito could breed. They only need a quarter inch of water to lag and hatch eggs.
Next, check out your soil. If you have a ditch or mini-pond area that fills up when it rains, there’s a good chance thousands of mosquitoes spawn in this area every single year. Try to improve the soil conditions in these areas by filling the ditches.
Admittedly, this isn’t our favorite way to handle backyard mosquito control at Big Bat Box. However, many who don’t live near water or have much standing water around their home will find this method somewhat effective.
The issue with using mosquito insecticide is two-fold. First, you have to continually do it. One round of insecticide isn’t going to completely eliminate mosquitoes. If it did, there’s probably some chemicals in the spray that aren’t too good for other forms of life, too.
You’ll have to spray your lawn and backyard at least 1-2 times per month in the warmer months, and there’s no guarantee it’s going to work.
And the unhealthy for other forms of life bit? That’s referring to humans. Many insecticides have been shown to be unhealthy for humans, too. All companies claim these sprays are safe when they release them. Then 30 years later a mirage of health issues can be linked back.
Sure, we may be fear mongering here. At Big Bat Box, we just prefer a more natural way to manage mosquitoes around your property.
Backyard Mosquito Control 101
So there you have it. The three best ways to clear those pesky mosquitoes from your backyard. If you’re interested in controlling mosquitoes with a bat house, click here. At Big Bat Box, we strive to create the ideal house where a bat colony will form. Just read what one of our customers recently said:
“The Big Bat Box is the best-constructed bat house I’ve ever seen, and I know a little about bat houses since we sold them for years at a retail store we used to have. I was also impressed with the map showing what exterior color one should request based on where one lives. As the new owner, I think you have a great company. We tried for years, beginning nearly 30 years ago, to get bats in various locations in Colorado. This is the first time we’ve ever had success. It may be the location, but I also think it’s the Big Bat Box!”
