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Warmer winter could mean more mosquitos
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BATON ROUGE - This year's warm winter has the phone ringing off the hook at the East Baton Rouge Mosquito Abatement office.
Hundreds of people have called in, asking for help doing away with the pesky bugs. On February 24th alone, 100 people called in.
Experts say mosquitos are cold-blooded and prefer temperatures above 80 degrees. The bugs typically hibernate for the winter when temperatures drop less than 50 degrees.
This winter (Dec. – Feb.) had a record 23 days over 80 degrees. In addition to that, freezing temperatures, which usually thin the mosquito population, were scarce this winter as well. There were only 6 freezes and with the last occurring on January 8—we have set the “earliest last freeze” of the winter season on record.
A female mosquito can lay up to 300 eggs at a time, usually deposited in standing water. An adult female mosquito can lay eggs up to three times before it dies.
Good news, you can handle most of this on your own. Clearing any standing water in your yard from bird baths and pots, which often serve as mosquito breeding grounds.
If that doesn't do the trick, you can call the Mosquito Abatement team to inspect your yard. Tax dollars cover the costs of services.
Mosquito spray trucks will start driving on Monday.
If you're interested in mosquito abatement inspecting your home in EBR, call 356-3297 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. M-F.
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