Mosquito prevention starts with you. Learning to identify mosquitoes and understand the mosquito life cycle will help you eliminate mosquitoes in and around your home. Learn more about how to identify mosquitoes, where they might be coming from, and what to do if you find mosquitoes breeding.
What are mosquitoes?
Mosquitoes are small flying insects. Only female mosquitoes bite. Male mosquitoes will fly and buzz around you but they cannot bite. Male mosquitoes feed on flower nectar, like a butterfly. Female mosquitoes need blood to develop eggs.
Most adult mosquitoes live 2-3 weeks. Female mosquitoes can lay hundreds of eggs during her life span and need a water source to deposit those eggs in. That source of water might be in your backyard such as; an unmaintained swimming pool, a yard drain, a plant water tray, or a pet’s water dish.
What is the mosquito life cycle?
Mosquitoes need water to go from an egg to an adult. Female mosquitoes lay eggs on the water surface or on the sides of containers that can hold water. The eggs hatch after a few days or when covered with water.
The larvae that hatch from the eggs, eat algae, bacteria, and microorganisms living in the water. Larvae can take as few as 4 days to fully develop in the water, depending on temperature and water conditions, before changing into pupae.
The pupae are a non-feeding stage that do not eat but are in the process of transforming into the adult mosquito. This transformation can take place in 1 day. When the adult mosquito is fully formed it will emerge from the pupa and fly away.