Peak mosquito activity in Western Colorado - KJCT8.com

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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - You might be experiencing a lot of itching and scratching from mosquito bites. There’s a pretty easy explanation for that as July is the peak time for mosquito activity in Western Colorado.

Water is essential for a mosquitos life cycle. Even just a half inch of water can promote breeding. Eliminating standing water around your property can help prevent breeding. Some hidden breeding sites include clogged gutters, water barrels, drains, water meter pits, irrigation diversion boxes, corrugated pipes, small fountains, and leaking sprinklers and valve boxes.

This year the Grand Valley is below average in the number of mosquitos due to the lack of rain and snowpack runoff. But they are still active.

“We do have a species of mosquito that’s permanent here in the valley that carries the west Nile virus,” said Grand River Mosquito Control District Manager Tim Moore. “And that is the one virus or disease that we can get from mosquitos here in Grand Junction. So we’re pretty careful to watch those counts of the Culex species.”

Mosquitos breed where we least expect it. An easy way to avoid being bitten is to follow the 3 D’s. Drain, dress, and defend.

“Drain is important because the mosquito life cycle is 7 days,” said Moore.

Eliminating standing water around your property can greatly reduce breeding potential. Some things you can do is get rid of old tires and drill holes in the bottom of tire swings. Empty, turn over, or get rid of anything that can hold water like buckets, toys, and tarps. Treat rain barrels for mosquitos and seal openings. Fill holes with sand or dirt. Clear clogged rain gutters. Fix leaky sprinklers and outdoor faucets. Empty wading pools when not in use and empty bird baths or change water weekly. And you can Request Grand River Mosquito Control District to inspect your irrigation system.

“The second one is dress and that’s pretty self explanatory,” said Moore. “Long sleeve shirts and pants when you’re out, especially in the morning or evening hours when mosquitos are active.”

Third is defend. Defend your body by wearing an insect repellant with the ingredient deet in it. Also take a look at your house if you have window screens with holes in them or doors that don’t close tight. Make those repairs so mosquitos can’t get in at night.

“This is our peak season for mosquitos around the Fourth of July is when the number of mosquitos we see hatching out adults in the valley peak out,” said Moore. “This week we’ll reach our peak if we didn’t reach it last week.”

They have 91 traps around the valley where they weekly trap the mosquitos, record the number, and bring them in to the lab for testing.

“And so when we do the mosquito identification from those live traps, we look at those Culex mosquitos and where they’re at,” says Moore. “We have found a few of those Culex mosquitos in the west Fruita area and also on Orchard Mesa.”

The Grand River Mosquito Control District sent 4 viles of mosquitos here in Mesa County carrying the virus to the state lab today to determine if they test positive for the West Nile Virus. So far Mesa County has not had any mosquitos test positive for the virus, but Weld County has.

Copyright 2021 KJCT. All rights reserved.

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