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A wet spring followed by hot weather has created nearly perfect conditions for mosquitoes to breed across Saskatchewan, sending populations soaring well-above normal levels.
Sean Prager, an insect researcher with the University of Saskatchewan, said mosquitoes rely on standing water to complete the early stages of their life cycle, making this year’s combination of heavy moisture and heat especially favourable for the insects.
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“Mosquitoes are semi-aquatic, so when they are not adults, they are aquatic … they lay eggs on or near the water, and those eggs turn into larvae,” Prager explained.
Prager said the recent mosquito trap data paints a clear picture of just how the populations have increased.
He added the City of Saskatoon monitors mosquito activity using traps throughout the city, and the latest counts are significantly higher than normal.
“I believe the last count (was) about seven times what we would normally expect, or seven times sort of the average,” he said.
Those numbers don’t come as a surprise, given this summer’s weather pattern.
“The warmer it is, the more quickly they go through their life stages,” Prager said. “You heat the mosquitoes up (and) they grow up a little faster. It’s why we put things in an incubator.”
Prager said this has led to one of the worst mosquito seasons in decades.
For homeowners hoping to keep mosquito numbers down, Prager said getting rid of large pools of water is key.
“If you’re really concerned and you can’t dump the water, you can commercially purchase something similar to what the cities use, which is a sort of a bacterial insecticide that you kind of throw into the water and it will kill the larvae,” he explained.
Prager added he’s against relying on popular home remedies circulating online or through word of mouth, and said people should stick to scientific proven methods.
“Deet works (but) if you don’t like Deet for one reason or another, you can use something called IR 3535,” Prager said.
“A lot of stores now will have something they call it like a non-Deet insecticide or air repellent, and that has picaridin in it (which) also works fairly pretty well. And then there’s this sort of funky stuff that does work, called oil of lemon eucalyptus.”
He adds while garlic sprays and other homemade mixtures continue to attract attention, there is little scientific evidence they actually repel mosquitoes.
“All of the science would suggest that that’s great if you want your yard to smell like a Greek restaurant, but it’s not if you want to repel mosquitoes,” he said.
As Saskatchewan’s summer progresses, Prager said he expects mosquitoes to remain plentiful as long as warm temperatures and standing water continue to provide ideal breeding conditions. For now, he advised residents may want to keep the bug spray close at hand before heading outdoors.
