The mosquitoes are coming! Blame the heavy rainfall in NJ

New Jersey has had a lot of rainfall lately, causing flooding, pools of water and prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

It's going to be a bad mosquito season in New Jersey, says Joseph Conlon, tech adviser for The American Mosquito Control Association based in Mount Laurel.

In the short term, it probably won't have much effect because rain washes away a lot of the mosquitoes. But as the rain water recedes, it leaves puddles for mosquitoes to breed.

Expect to see many more mosquitos in about a month.

There are things people can do to help lessen the impact in their surrounding areas. Conlon suggests people should dress properly by wearing long sleeved pants and shirts. Make them loosely fitted because mosquitoes can and will bite through tightly fitted clothing.

He said in New Jersey, many residents use tarps to cover their wood piles. The creases in those tarps are places for mosquitoes to breed. Conlon said clear them out once every five days.

It's also a good idea to empty water from kiddie pools, sandboxes, flowerpots and birdbaths.

Conlon stressed it's important to use insect repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. If it's EPA registered, that means it has been tested to the EPA satisfaction that it will not be harmful and it will give a person a minimum of at least two hours of protection.

Using pesticides and larvicides also registered by the EPA is important because they are safe chemicals. One popular pesticide to use is the "mosquito dunk," which is doughnut shaped. Conlon said larvae eats it, which then produces a fatal toxin in their guts. But the pesticide is non-toxic to other animals.

Ther's also the "mosquito torpedo," which Conlon said keeps mosquitoes from developing into adults.

"It's basically a Peter Pan chemical," said Conlon. It is not dangerous to people.

Both the dunk and torpedo can be found in most hardware stores.

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