Mosquitoes are the enemy. If you step outside from dusk until dawn, be ready to be dinner for these little bugs drinking your blood. Some wonder why they don’t come out for a little bit of food during the daylight hours. Where do they go during the day?
It’s interesting for many people to know female mosquitoes are the only ones that consume blood. They just need it so their eggs can develop. Then she’s done with you. After she bites you, she rests for a few days allowing the eggs to develop. These females don’t really even like humans that much. They prefer to feast on domestic animals and livestock. When they aren’t snacking on your blood, both female and male mosquitoes enjoy nectar from plants.
Most of these little bugs feast around the early evening. They then go to sleep and get up at dawn for another meal. The dry, hot heat during the rest of the day kills mosquitoes because they get dehydrated. During the day the mosquitoes are usually sleeping in a dry, dark place. They usually sleep in plants and grass. If it’s cloudy outside, you may see the mosquitoes out during the day. They cannot handle the high temperatures unless it’s accompanied with high humidity, so they usually hide out during the day. Sometimes they’ll resort to holes in trees or the ground. They also hide out in man-made structures like barns where it’s quiet and dark.
Here are some more fun facts you may not know about mosquitoes:
These fellows go through four stages in life. They start as an egg. Then they turn into larva. In this stage they eat things that float to the surface of the water where they live. They continue to live in the water until the adult stage. Then they get to dry land. The males are ready to mate. The females are ready to start biting people and animals for their blood.
These little guys love to spread disease. The bad news is that mosquitoes transmit diseases to a 10th of the human population. This means almost two million people die from mosquito bites each year.
Adults usually live from four to eight weeks. In the wild, they actually only live about two weeks. They don’t like humidity, lack of food, crazy temperatures and things that like to eat them. Adult male mosquitoes die after they mate.
There are different types of mosquitoes. Asian tiger mosquitoes are only active during the day. They love to bite others all day. The fun fact is they only bite when people or animals are sitting still.
If you’re looking for a mosquito breeding ground, look no further than a body of water. Even if it’s only been standing for a week, mosquitoes will find it. Lakes and ponds are actually not as popular for breeding because there are many fish and insects that like to feast on the critters. There is a type of mosquito called the dark rice-field species that breeds quickly. In less than a week, it can breed in standing water. This is why it’s so important for people to keep their yard clean by making sure kiddie pools, bird feeders and other areas don’t sit with water for long periods of time.
