Mailing Address:
8905 First Street
Beaumont, Texas 77705
|
|
|
Phone: 409-719-5940
Fax: 409-727-4176
|
|
|
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8 a.m. until noon. & 1 p.m.
– 5 p.m.
|
|
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide the citizens of Jefferson County safe, effective and cost
efficient control of mosquitoes while adhering to the highest standards of integrity
and professionalism
|
All spray schedules are dependent on weather conditions or other unknown circumstances.
The spray schedules are for general areas and may not include your specific neighborhood
or weekend sprays.
The schedules we submit are for P.M. of the day submitted and A.M. for the following
day. The schedules will be for aerial sections and separately for ground sections.
Spray Schedule (Last updated: 4/19/2018 3:11:54 PM)
Method: Trucks
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2018
Time: PM
Area(s):
HOW DO I CONTACT MOSQUITO CONTROL?
The Jefferson County Mosquito Control District offices are located at 8905 First
Street, Beaumont, Texas, 77705. We can be reached during normal business hours from
8 AM to noon and 1 PM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, at 409-719-5940.
When the mosquitoes are bad, you may have to call several times in order to get
through. Please be nice to our secretary when you call - remember, it's not her
fault!
If you are calling to request spraying for a public gathering or special event,
please give us at least a week of advance notice. This enables
us to perform surveillance, see what mosquito species is present and schedule control
activities if required. Please don't call us the day before or the day of an event
and expect us to be able to get there immediately.
Click here for contact list
MOSQUITOES
We have approximately 50 species of mosquitoes in Jefferson County. Of these, the
public commonly encounters about 12. It is important to know which species you are
dealing with before control strategies can be planned and initiated, as the different
species vary in breeding sites, flight ranges, peak activity periods, and biting
behavior.
BASIC BIOLOGY
Eggs are laid in one of two ways, depending on the species. Some species (pool breeders)
lay eggs directly on standing water. These eggs hatch in 24 to 48 hours, and the
mosquito larvae take 5 to 7 days to emerge as adults. Fresh eggs are laid every
day, so mosquito production is constant unless the water evaporates. This type of
egg laying behavior is also common in artificial containers such as tires, bird
baths, buckets & cans, rain gutters, etc. These species usually fly only 1 to 5
miles.
Other species (flood water breeders) lay eggs on dry ground in depressions or low
areas that will hold water after a rain or high tide. These eggs are viable for
several years, and will hatch in minutes after being submerged if water temperatures
are in the right range. Again, 5 to 7 days are spent in the larval stage before
the mosquito emerges as an adult. Because all the eggs hatch at once, large numbers
of mosquitoes are produced simultaneously. Think of them as tiny time bombs! This
is why you have no mosquitoes on one day, and the next day you are covered with
them. These species can fly up to 100+ miles. Some species also lay these eggs in
dry artificial containers..
Regardless of the species, only 20% of the eggs that are deposited survive to become
adults, and of these, about half, or 10%, are females. This means that only 10%
of the potential mosquito population causes all of our problems.
RICE FIELD MOSQUITOES
These are a large black mosquito with white or yellow bands on their legs. They
are a flood water variety, with an average flight range is 20 to 40 miles. They
are very aggressive biters, both day and night. The eggs are deposited in rice fields,
fallow fields, & pastures in any depression that will hold water, including hoof
prints. These mosquitoes are attracted to Beaumont and other areas in the western
half of the county by the glow of lights at night, which are easily seen from as
far away as Fannett or China. We try to intercept these mosquitoes on the edge of
town as they migrate in. Residents can do nothing to help us control this species.
SALT MARSH MOSQUITOES
These are medium sized brown mosquito with white bands on their legs. Also a flood
water variety, they are very aggressive biters with a flight range of 100+ miles.
This species is most common in the eastern and southern areas of the county, and
is attracted to town by city and industrial lights. Again, we try to intercept them
on the edge of town as they move in. The public, again, can do nothing to help.
ASIAN TIGER MOSQUITOES
Although first discovered in this country in 1985 in Houston, Texas, this species
has become the #1 urban mosquito in the south. This is a small black mosquito with
silver or white bands on the legs and one white stripe down the back between the
wings. It lays eggs only in containers, not in puddles on the ground. Breeding sites
for this species were originally in tree rot holes and stumps, but it now takes
extensive advantage of the artificial containers that we so thoughtfully provide
(cans, buckets, tires, bird baths, clogged rain gutters, pet water dishes, anything
that will hold water for 5 to 7 days). Eggs are laid just above the water line in
the container. Rain fall or movement of the container submerges the eggs, which
hatch in minutes. Peak activity period for this mosquito is rather unusual, being
during middle of the day instead of at night. The flight range for this mosquito
only 1 to 2 miles, so if you breed them, you will feed them. They are hesitant but
persistent in biting behavior. This species receives only minimal exposure to our
sprays due to the unusual daytime activity period. The only effective control for
this mosquito is removal of the breeding sites by property owner. The public must
help with this one.
CULEX SPECIES
These are small, nondescript brown mosquitoes, most of which are active only at
night. They breed in standing water high in organic matter, and are common in underground
storm sewers and in water standing under houses built on piers. They have only a
1 to 5 mile flight range. One species can transmit St Louis Encephalitis if it bites
an infected bird and then bites a human. Residents can help by eliminating water
standing around the home.
CHEMICALS
Our insecticides have no real residual effect. We must actually hit the mosquito
directly with a droplet in order to kill it. If more mosquitoes fly into an area
after the spray has settled, they are not effected. Obviously, it is very important
to spray the right place at the right time under the right weather conditions in
order to achieve control. It is very frustrating and expensive when large populations
of mosquitoes are rapidly re-infesting residential areas, as repeated sprays are
required. Spray trucks are sufficient for light mosquito populations, but aircraft
are needed for moderate to heavy infestations and covering large areas quickly.
SURVEILLANCEE
This is the key to the control program. We must spray only where needed and when
needed in order to contact the maximum number of mosquitoes with the droplets. Surveillance
methods used include mosquito traps, take landing rates (count the number that lands
on you from the waist down in three minutes at different locations in the county),
and considering citizen service requests when planning control efforts. We must
have enough mosquitoes in an area to justify expense of control activity, as the
cost to put the an aircraft up with a load of chemical is approximately $2000. We
can cover 5,120 acres with that one flight.
URBAN FLIGHT
More and more people are moving from the relatively mosquito free urban areas to
the country and suburbs that are expanding on the edge of town. Folks are moving
to the country for the "good life," but forgetting that the "good life" includes
snakes, alligators, rats, mosquitoes, and mosquito control aircraft coming over
at 100 feet early in the morning or in late evening.
People are moving into our primary intercept zones (Cheek, Willow Creek, Fannett,
etc.), often in subdivisions that were recently ricefields or are surrounded by
rice fields. It takes them a while to get used to the mosquito activity levels and
the frequency of aerial spraying. Some residents don't like us spraying over them,
but want us to somehow get rid of the mosquitoes. They do not understand the lack
of residual in our chemicals. We will speak to civic or social groups as our schedule
permits in order to explain the basics of our operation - what we can do and what
our limitations are - if asked to do so.
WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG TO SPRAY?
Jefferson County has approximately 945 square miles of territory. Our recent rural
and suburban population growth has dramatically increased the acreage in the aerial
spray sections. The result is that with perfect weather conditions, it takes us
about 7 days using 3 aircraft to cover all of the spray sections one time. Under
heavy mosquito situations, we just can't keep up with the re-infestation rate. Even
so, we use an average of 20,000 gallons of spray each year and cover over 1,250,000
acres each year with the aircraft alone.
We can only spray for about 2 ½ hours after dawn and for 1 hour before dusk because
of thermal updrafts. These air currents are caused by the solar heating of the ground,
which causes the warm air to rise upward. Spraying during these updrafts is a waste
of time, money and chemical, as the spray droplets are caught in the rising column
of air and never come down in Jefferson County.
WHAT CAN I DO TO HAVE LESS MOSQUITOES AT MY HOUSE?
The first line of defense is to make sure that you are not breeding mosquitoes on
your own property. Walk your yard and check for anything that is holding water.
Anything that can hold water for 5 days or more is a potential mosquito breeding
site. Even bottle caps are capable of producing mosquitoes.
If you can, remove the container or store it where it will not fill with water.
This is the best way to handle the problem. If the container is a bird bath, pet
water dish, or some other container that you can not remove, then be sure to rinse
it out completely every 3 days. Do NOT simply add water to the
container - you must flush the mosquito larvae out onto the ground to kill them.
If you collect rain water for your plants, simply place a piece of screen over the
container so that the mosquitoes can't get in to lay eggs.
Remember to clean your rain gutters! Blockages can cause water to stand in them
long enough to produce mosquitoes. Fill in low areas in your yard or under your
house if possible. Repair all water leaks as soon as possible. Even plastic sheeting
can hold water in the folds and produce large numbers of mosquitoes. Remember, if
you breed mosquitoes, you will feed mosquitoes.
When mosquitoes are flying in from miles away, there is little the home owner can
do. Most importantly, you do not want to attract mosquitoes to your house. Either
turn off security lights or replace them with motion detector lights that come on
only when needed. If you must have a security light on at all times, change the
bulb from a mercury vapor to a sodium vapor bulb. The yellowish sodium vapor light
is less attractive to insects than the blue-white mercury vapor light. Turn off
your bug zapper - less than 2% of the bugs that you see killed are actually mosquitoes,
but the light does attract them into the area.
MOSQUITO TRIVIA
The Jefferson County Mosquito Control District was organized in 1950 after the death
of several children due to mosquito transmitted encephalitis. Dr. Paul Meyer of
Port Arthur was instrumental in the formation of the District.
Mosquitoes can not transmit AIDS.
Bug zappers are best placed in your neighbor's yard so that the mosquitoes will
go next door! Turn them off if the mosquitoes are heavy. If you do have one, don't
hang it right over the patio table - move it back from where you will be located.
Purple martins and bats may eat a few mosquitoes, in fact, we count on their help,
but they will not cause a noticeable drop in your mosquito population.
Only female mosquitoes bite. Blood supplies proteins to build eggs with, rather
than being a food source. Mosquitoes live on carbohydrate sources like nectar and
plant sap. They have even been known to sneak a little sugar water of hummingbird
feeders.
The annual cost per Jefferson County resident for mosquito control (which also includes
county roadside weed control) is $5.52 per person.
YOU STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
If you need additional information or answers to any questions that are not covered
here, then call the Mosquito Control office and ask for the Director, Kevin Sexton.
If he doesn't know the answer, he probably knows who to ask to find out.