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Comment by pavel_lishin | Hacker News Reader

One question - how does this prevent mosquitos from breeding in other bits of standing water that I can't locate?

I have no idea where ours are coming from; I suspect they hatch somewhere, and then migrate to the shaded areas of my yard, which is where I typically get bit.

Adding a bucket will prevent some mosquitoes from laying eggs elsewhere, but not all, right? Or is the bucket so attractive to mosquitoes that they ignore other water sources?

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Our pest control put in a bucket called In2Care that has a little net with some powder suspended above the water - mosquito lands on the net, gets the powder on 'em, carries it to the next site and that site gets neutralized. They're designed for commercial campuses but for ~$200/yr it's well worth it for residential also.

They do take a while to take effect, and they do take maintenance, but my experience so far is that they're super effective.

My intuition is that you are correct: the bucket doesn't eliminate all breeding grounds. It's a numbers game: you want to lower the population as much as possible. If you reduce the population enough, nature has the opportunity to handle the rest, since mosquito reproduction is also a numbers game: mates have to locate one another. This also frustratingly means it won't be an instant solution even if it eventually works. It takes a few generations to realize the benefits of the lowered population.

Keep in mind that many mosquito species don't fly far too far from where they are born (in particular the very annoying tiger mosquito does'nt fly more than 100m) so treating your own garden might somewhat be effective (depending of housing density where you live).

treating your own garden means not leaving stagnant waters (including in water pots etc). then you can consider trap. also try to convince your close neighbours to do the same.

After checking the obvious like old tires or stagnant ditches or tire tracks, the more hidden breeding sites include house gutters, French drains (under the gravel), buried yard drains, and garage floor drains.

The general rule is that mosquitos need a pool of water the size of a bottle cap, and it needs to be there for at least a week. Good luck, and good hunting.

I didn’t even think of my rain gutters. I haven’t cleaned them this year. Thanks

My neighbor's shed gutters are completely blocked. That definitely means that there's a limit on what I can do to help mitigate the issue.

you toss a dunk on their roof.

Or mosquito bits

Mosquito bits and dunks are the same thing ya? Just slightly different form factor?

Yes

Mosquito dunks are the "time release" version and last 3-4 weeks, mosquito bits need to be added every 3-4 days.

Or a small amount of diesel fuel (the dunks are safer). People sometimes do this with abandoned pools.

What does diesel do? Does the layer of oil prevent mosquitos from laying eggs?

Larvacidal oils block them from being able to breathe at the surface of the water.

beware the undulated lids of garbage bins standing outside your house ... or an uncapped recycling bin

Water suitable for mosquito breeding in nature is probably three million times more common than the man-made.

Keep in mind the range of a tiny flying insect. I just took a walk and found 6 places where I could see the wrigglers going. I put dunks in them all. Probably killed about a thousand. Hopefully getting one back for the team.

It's possible that your completely invented number is true if you average over the entire Earth, but I don't care about mosquitos in some deep mountainous Montana wilderness. I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house.

Just to be clear, my recommendation is to mitigate both man-made and natural breeding sites. Fortunately mosquito dunks don't harm other species.

> I care about the subset of mosquitos near my house.

So do I, but mosquitos are usually a problem for people who live close to nature. And then you'll have lakes, puddles, ditches, swamps, etc. But maybe I'm wrong and mosquitos don't fly that far, as another commenter here mentioned.

I will certainly try the mosquito dunks as you advise. Hope they can help.

"you'll have lakes, puddles, ditches, swamps, etc"

I do. That's where I put the dunks.

Lakes are usually okay as long as they have minnows or other mosquito-eating fish, but puddles and ditches are the places I focus on.

Fortunately I'm not near a real swamp, but I do have some swampy areas. I break each dunk into quarters and toss 1-3 per puddle, depending on size and funkiness. The package optimistically says four weeks, but I have my phone remind me every three. Good luck!

They don't. The basic idea is to put many of them up, so the chances of them using one instead of a puddle, etc are greater. I have about 20 smaller ovitraps up around my property.

You can also get traps that target the mature biting mosquitoes. Defense in depth!

Check out Biogents brand. They use attractants like urea and CO2 to draw the mosquitoes to the trap instead of your body. You'd put these closer to the areas you inhabit.

> One question - how does this prevent mosquitos from breeding in other bits of standing water that I can't locate?

It cannot and that is not its purpose. Practically you should be able to locate any other breeding grounds by mere observation and then you have to eliminate them one by one until the mosquitos are left with the ones you set up.

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