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Here's why there are so many mosquitos in San Diego County

A bottle cap amount of water is all it takes for the mosquitoes to breed. The recent heat wave and rain could prolong an already pesky mosquito season.

SAN DIEGO — People across San Diego are noticing a lot more mosquitoes outside lately. Right now, we are in peak mosquito season.

Heatwaves

There are several reasons this year's mosquito season has been even worse. One reason: the recent heat waves.

"They’ve been in my house a lot more than usual lately," said Erick Sliter, resident.

The aedes aegypti mosquito, commonly known as the yellow fever mosquito, is not native to California. The pesky species arrived in the region about six to seven years ago.

'Ankle biters'

Chris Conlan, ecologist with San Diego County’s Vector Control Program, said these mosquitoes are exceptionally good at breeding.

"It mainly breeds in small sources of water like any containers that get left out, even some types of plants that hold water in the base," said Conlan.

Only a bottle cap amount of water is all it takes for the mosquitoes to breed. The new invasive blood suckers don’t fly far. They tend to hover near the ground, and even follow you inside your home.

When they bite, they mainly go for the lower part of the body, which is why they’re often times called "ankle biters."

"The skeeters just go towards my legs and if I’m out at night in the swamp area, they just get torn up," Brad Parsons.

"This is like the first year where I’ve actually seen a considerable amount of mosquito bites like not in the summer, I wake up with bites all over my shoulders and my legs. it’s ridiculous. we’ve been trying to make like a lot of fly traps at my house, apple cider vinegar, and it’s not even working," added Sliter.

It's about to get worse

If the problem wasn’t bad already, it’s about to get worse, according to Conlan.

"The other issue too that’s probably going to make this an issue for a while, is the rain we got from the tropical storm about ten days ago or so, because the mosquitoes that might be produced by the water that was left behind by that storm are probably becoming adults right about now. So it wouldn’t surprise me to see a small bump in complaints," added Conlan.

Eliminating any source of water around your house is the most effective way to deal with the mosquitoes, including closing all windows and doors, or using window screens.

The county recently finished applying mosquito larvicide to waterways known to breed mosquitoes throughout San Diego, in an effort to keep the numbers under control.

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