You have a mosquito control service for your yard and enjoy your time outdoors with your family. You have worked diligently to help reduce mosquito-breeding sites all around your property, but you still have to swat the occasional biter when trying to enjoy your yard. While you have done everything suggested to reduce mosquitoes, you notice your neighbor has not been as proactive. Perhaps they have an unused pool or hot tub, some old tires behind the shed, stacks of flowerpots, or an unused boat that stays uncovered. Perhaps they have lots of thick vegetation and an unkempt yard and you recognize all of these as potential mosquito breeding sites. Terminix Mosquito Management program works great, but you can still have some issues if there is a constant influx of mosquitoes from neighboring areas. So what can you do to help reduce the amount of mosquitoes coming from the neighbors?
Taking matters into your own hands is not advisable. You don’t want to get in trouble for trespassing onto the neighbor’s property to dump out containers of water or to spray pesticides, and you certainly don’t want to create or escalate bad tensions between you and your neighbor. The best thing you can do in these situations is to let someone know there is an issue.
If you have a good relationship with the neighbor, you can try to educate them in a non-confrontational way on how they may be creating a mosquito issue by having these potential breeding sites. You can also explain to them that you have a mosquito service that works well, but would be even better if neighboring properties do the same. Encourage them to call Terminix for a free consultation. Alternatively, let Terminix do the talking for you. Let us know about the situation and we can attempt to contact the neighbor to provide a free inspection and treatment estimate.
If this doesn’t work, or if the property next door seems abandoned, you may want to contact your neighborhood Home Owner’s Association to make them aware of the issue. Sometimes the HOA can instruct the homeowner to correct certain conditions and hopefully in a way that will not implicate you. If you don’t have an HOA that can address the situation, you can contact your local government. In some cases, the homeowner can be threatened with citations or fines from the HOA or local government to help prompt them to correct the situation.
Perhaps your neighbor is elderly or physically incapable of correcting the situation. Volunteer to help them out or contact a local charity that may be willing to organize a cleanup event. Let Terminix know as well, we may be able to lend a helping hand.
If the neighbor wants to know what can be done to reduce mosquito populations, or if you are helping them out, you can:
- Eliminate clutter and remove garbage, refuse (like old tires), and piles of leaves or other debris.
- Cover and possibly treat unused, pools, hot tubs, or ornamental fishponds with an insect growth regulator (mosquito dunks).
- Empty small containers holding water and turn them upside-down if possible to prevent them filling back up.
- Remove or trim excessive vegetation.
- Stock large pools of standing water with mosquito-eating fish. Established ponds, lakes, rivers and streams are usually not big mosquito breeding sites.