Bzzzzzzt! With rain, pests are hatching

Mosquitoes, fleas, yellow jackets and even scorpions are starting to multiply now that the rainy season has set in.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 16, 2000

Ditches, retention ponds and low-lying areas left bone dry by months of drought now brim ith the water of summer rains.

The rains have done little to replenish the area's usable water supply. Left stagnant and pooled, however, the rainfall has given new life to millions of pesky critters.

Hernando County residents who spend their evening hours outdoors have the itchy red splotches on their skin as proof that mosquito season has arrived.

Floodwater species, particularly the half-inch-long psorophora varieties, are among the most prevalent these days, said Guangye Hu, the county mosquito control manager.

Those types can mature in three to five days and fly as far as 8 miles. The females are known as furious biters.

"It's worse than last year at the same time," Hu said.

Crews have begun treating standing water by day to kill the bugs before they hatch. That program, which relies on a mix of mosquito-eating fish, chemicals and microbes, gets rid of about 95 percent of the pests, said Dan Looper, a technician with the program.

But the 5 percent that survive still amount to a huge number of mosquitoes.

To combat the adult mosquitoes that take to the air, the county sprays neighborhoods with malathion nightly. The adults are most active just as the sun goes down and in the hours just before the sun rises.

Calls to the county seeking such relief jumped from one a day to about 15 in the first weeks of July. On Thursday, for instance, trucks went to Brooksville, Masaryktown and Hernando Beach. The county tries to spray neighborhoods upon request or as its technicians determine problems exist, Hu explained.

It also honors "no spray" requests.

The "adulticide" program has a problem, though. One of the county's five spraying units broke down last week, and, because it was close to 30 years old, no parts exist to fix it. Without a replacement, Hu said, the county might find itself disadvantaged in its attempts to control the mosquitoes, especially since at least one other unit is just as old.

Hu has asked the County Commission to spend $7,400 for a new sprayer. The issue will come up Tuesday. "We have to deal with the needs of mosquito control and also the county's budget," Hu said. "The money comes from the residents."

Residents can do their part to reduce mosquito breeding places, Looper said. Most effective, he said, is to empty and keep clean any containers that might hold water. That includes buckets, watering troughs, plant holders and bird baths.

Old tires provide a perfect environment for the mosquitoes, and the county offers free tire removal. Last year it took about 50 tons of tires to the landfill, Looper said.

Mosquito Control also has embarked upon a long-range project to remove from the area water lettuce and cattails, in which mosquitoes can live until they are ready to fly. Eliminating mosquitoes is impossible, Hu said, but limiting the places where they can grow will help.

Water does not bring out mosquitoes alone. Scorpions, yellow jackets and fleas also thrive on wet conditions, and they multiply with the rains, said Mollie Spencer, a technician with Hernando Pest Control, a private business.

Spencer reported receiving calls about scorpions seeking water sources by entering homes during the dry season. Fleas can lie dormant for a year or more, she said, while waiting for the temperature, humidity and water supply to be just right.

"It's just natural this time of year," she said.

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