The Sunshine State is a hell of a place to live. Sandy beaches, beautiful wilderness. It some ways it really does feel like a personal paradise. But all it takes is the onset of spring or fall to see why it can be more like hell than heaven. And when the weather gets milder down in the swamp, that’s when the bugs start to come out. That’s why today we’ll be discussing a few of the common Florida parasites, and what to do in case of an infestation in your home.
Common Florida Parasites: Mosquitoes.
The tropics aren’t just a paradise for people. It’s also a dream home for many pests. Mosquitoes are among the smallest and most annoying you’ll run across. They’re often quite dangerous, too. A few of Florida’s species are particularly dangerous. To start with, the black salt marsh mosquitoes, A.K.A. Aedes taeniorhynchus, are small but move in huge swarms. They’re tenacious biters and often leave their victims with many bites and sores.
Then there’s the classic Aedes family, the vector for the every popular zika virus. Standing water lets this population of invasive pests absolutely boom.
The Asian tiger mosquito, or Aedes albopictus, transmits the virus that causes dengue fever. A close relation, the Aedes aegypti, is the primary vector for dengue and yellow fever viruses in urban areas. While the Asian tiger mosquito prefers vegetation and mainly lays eggs outdoors, the yellow fever mosquito can lay eggs indoors with a special preference for man-made containers.
The mosquito species known as Psorophora ciliata are most closely associated with floodwater mosquitoes because the eggs are deposited in dry areas and larvae await the onset of floodwaters to hatch in droves. These aggressive biters have been found to carry the equine encephalitis virus.
The genus referred to as Culex includes the common house mosquito. It is a weak flier, but it is an aggressive biter. The Culex quinquefasciatus species is a carrier of the human encephalitis virus. Some species of the genus Anopheles can transmit malaria when they feed on an infected person’s blood then subsequently bite a healthy person. The females are the disease vectors, but they are also aggressive biters as they require a blood meal for reproduction. Overall, mosquitoes are probably the single most common Florida parasites.
Mosquito Smack!
Due to the unique challenges you face in combatting flying common Florida parasites, we offer a service to help with these small biters. It’s called our Mosquito Smack service. We’ll send our trained technicians to you, and they’ll evaluate your property to detail potential mosquito nesting sites on your property. Once complete, our employees will treat the nesting areas with a natural solution that will kill the mosquitoes and help you avoid all of these bloodborne diseases and parasitic inflictions.
Florida Biting Flies
There are many species of flies in the Sunshine State, both filth breeders, and biters. Today we’ll talk about the biters. These pests all feed on blood, and their bites result in painful and itchy red patches. They can be vectors of disease to both humans and livestock.
Many of the flies in Florida cause huge problems in their environment since they breed and develop in woody, swampy, and coastal areas. These obviously make up a large part of Florida’s ecosystems. Therefore, controlling these is a very large task.
To start with you have sandflies. These biting midges’ primary habitat is coastal areas and salt marshes. They’re most active in early morning and evening, especially on cloudy, windless days. One of the best ways to avoid these pests inside is to use window and door screens that are at least sixteen mesh or smaller. Another effective way to reduce their populations is by using fans since they’re not strong fliers.
Then you have the deer flies. They thrive in damp areas in the woods, and their populations peak in June and July. Females consume blood from animals and humans, which makes them great at transmitting diseases.
Yellow Biting Flies
Okay, I know I didn’t give the other flies or even mosquitoes their own headline, but these things are the personal bane of my existence. I have a garage that I lift weights in during most of the year, but the spring is made into my own personal hell thanks to this pest. They’re aggressive and will travel shockingly long distances to a blood meal. They prefer to develop in underwater root masses of trees and other woody plants, so they make lakes with trees around them a living hell to be around. Insect repellent also seems to do next to nothing to this horrible creature. If you go outside in the spring, you have to wear long sleeves and pants. It’s the only way to protect yourself from these monsters.
Then there are the intimidating black flies. Florida has about 18 species of these black flies, which are also known as buffalo gnats or turkey gnats. They have a humpbacked appearance and fly around the eyes, ears, and hair of their host. Their favorite development sites including slow-moving water, like small rivers or creeks. As such, they become much more problematic and numerous after heavy rain. They are daytime biters and can move through your screens to get inside. With all of these various species, you can see how they are some of the most common Florida parasites.
Common Florida Parasites: Who To Call?
Gone are the old-fashioned, traditional days of hazardous pest control management techniques that put pets. People and the planet at risk of being damaged in order to receive some sort of relief from our pest problem. Thanks to newer technologies and a better understanding of pests we can help our environment while trying to eliminating the pest problem, those traditional days of poisonous hazards being considered and classified as “necessary evils” and “collateral damage” are nearly over for the most part.
Earth’s Best was founded in 1994 to provide effective and cutting edge and eco-friendly natural Florida pest control. Earth’s Best can always provide you with the latest and most comprehensive range of services and information needed to protect your children, employees, pets, and the environment.
We look forward to offering our Tampa pest control services to our current and future clients. To schedule an appointment please call us at 1-800-634-1313.
