How to get rid of mosquitoes in your house is two jobs, clearing out the ones already inside and then closing the way in behind them.
Total Screen gets mosquitoes out of a home and keeps them out, so click here to contact Total Screen, today.
In this guide, we will explain where a mosquito hides indoors, how to find the one biting you at night, and the indoor water nobody checks.
A house only stays clear once every opening is closed, so get mosquito screens installed before the next warm spell.
How To Get Rid Of Mosquitoes In Your House
A mosquito indoors is not a visitor passing through, because the CDC says adult mosquitoes live indoors as well as outdoors.[2]
An adult mosquito lives about two to four weeks, so waiting one out is a long wait.[2]
The CDC also warns that a mosquito coming in from outdoors can start laying eggs indoors.[1]
An adult mosquito lives two to four weeks, which is longer than most people are willing to wait.
How to get rid of mosquitoes in your house is a two-step job, clearing out the adults and then emptying the water they breed in.[1]
The CDC puts an indoor insecticide last, after screens are installed and repaired and containers are emptied and scrubbed.[1]
In the CDC's own words, using only an indoor insecticide will not keep your home free of mosquitoes.[1]
Where A Mosquito Hides In A House
A mosquito in a house rests in dark, humid places, and the CDC names under sinks, in showers, in closets, under furniture and the laundry room.[1]
A mosquito is not circling the ceiling waiting to be swatted.
Between bites a mosquito sits still, low down, and out of the light.[1]
A mosquito picks the coolest, dampest, darkest corner of a room, which is rarely where anyone looks.
The rooms to check first are the ones that stay damp, which in most San Diego homes means the bathroom and the laundry room.[1]
A closet backing onto a bathroom wall holds the same still, humid air.
Searching the named resting spots beats swinging at the open air.
How To Find The One Biting You At Night
A mosquito that bites after dark is usually a Culex, the kind the CDC says is most active from dusk to dawn.[3]
The hour a bite lands is a clue, and when do mosquitoes come out in San Diego sets out which species flies when.
Lying still with the lights off rarely works, because a resting mosquito has no reason to move.
A bite at two in the morning narrows it to the Culex.
Check the resting places instead of the open air, starting with the bathroom, the laundry room and the underside of the furniture.[1]
Finding the mosquito settles tonight, and finding the water settles the rest of the week.
What a bite can actually carry in San Diego is a separate question, covered in our guide to mosquito illness.
The Indoor Water Nobody Checks
Indoor water is what turns one mosquito into several, and the County of San Diego keeps a list of the containers worth checking.[4]
The County names vases, plant propagation containers and lucky bamboo as indoor water to dump weekly.[4]
House plant saucers get the same weekly treatment, and an indoor fountain should be kept running or left dry.[4]
Every one of these refills itself on a schedule somebody set and then forgot.
Most of the indoor water people worry about is not the problem, which is the useful half of the County's advice.[4]
Pet bowls, drains, toilets, unfiltered aquariums and dirty dishes do not typically breed mosquitoes.[4]
The County's one condition is that a bowl or a drain is not left full for more than a week without being changed or drained.[4]
Why Dumping The Water Is Not Enough
Dumping a container does not remove the eggs, because Aedes mosquitoes lay above the waterline.[5]
The CDC's wording is that adult female Aedes mosquitoes lay eggs on the inner walls of containers with water, above the waterline.[5]
Tipping the water out leaves a ring of eggs stuck to the inside of the vase.
Pouring the water out leaves the eggs exactly where they were, which is why the brush matters.
The CDC's instruction is to empty and scrub, not simply to empty.[1]
Scrubbing the inner wall is what takes the eggs out with the water.[1]
Aedes aegypti lives indoors and outdoors, the CDC notes, while the tiger mosquito lives outdoors.[5]
What Keeps Mosquitoes Out Once The House Is Clear
A clear house stays clear only if the openings are closed, and the CDC's instruction is to install or repair and use window and door screens.[1]
The County of San Diego says the same, adding that a fine mesh is what keeps the small Aedes mosquitoes out.[4]
The CDC adds two habits, closing doors including the garage door, and using air conditioning when possible.[1]
An open window with a sound screen is the version of this room where nothing gets in.
A screen only helps while the mesh and the frame are sound, which is what can mosquitoes get through window screens works through.
Total Screen builds each screen to its own opening, because a screen that does not fit is an opening.
Every answer to how to get rid of mosquitoes in your house ends at the screens, because everything before the screens is a job you will be doing again.
Keep The Next One Outside
Clearing the house is the hard part, and keeping the next mosquito out is the part that lasts.
The second-best time to check your screens is today.
Total Screen repairs, rescreens & replaces window and door screens across San Diego, often with a same day or next day appointment.
A rescreen ends the cycle of clearing the same house every Summer.
Call Total Screen at (619) 871-7610 for a free on-site estimate.
Or click here to fill out our 2-question contact-form, and we'll get in touch right away.
Let's get the mosquitoes out of your house, and keep the next one on the far side of the screen.
Disclaimer: Total Screen is not a mosquito-control or public-health authority. This article is provided for informational purposes only, and is based on our online research of publicly available documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the County of San Diego and the other sources listed below. To report a mosquito problem, or to ask about treatment inside or on your property, contact the County of San Diego's Vector Control Program.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Mosquito Control at Home (“Mosquitoes rest in dark, humid places like under sinks, in showers, in closets, under furniture, or in the laundry room”; “Mosquitoes entering your house from outdoors can start laying eggs indoors”; “empty and scrub, turn over, cover, or throw out any items that hold water”; “Use an indoor insecticide if you still have mosquitoes in your home after installing and repairing screens and emptying and scrubbing containers”; “Using only an indoor insecticide will not keep your home free of mosquitoes”; “Install or repair and use window and door screens”; “Close doors, including garage doors”; “Use air conditioning when possible”). cdc.gov
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — About Mosquitoes (“Adult mosquitoes live for about 2 to 4 weeks”; “Adult mosquitoes live indoors and outdoors”). cdc.gov
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — About Culex Mosquitoes (“Adult Culex mosquitoes are most active from dusk to dawn”). cdc.gov
- County of San Diego, DEH Vector Control Program — Prevent Mosquitoes Indoors (vases, plant propagation containers and lucky bamboo dumped weekly; house plant saucers dumped weekly; “Keep indoor fountains running or leave them dry”; pet bowls, drains, toilets, unfiltered aquariums and dirty dishes typically do not breed mosquitoes unless left full “for more than a week without being changed or drained”; “Make sure your doors and windows are screened so mosquitoes cannot get in”). sandiegocounty.gov
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Life Cycle of Aedes Mosquitoes (“Adult female Aedes mosquitoes lay eggs on the inner walls of containers with water, above the waterline”; “Aedes aegypti mosquitoes live indoors and outdoors, while Ae. albopictus live outdoors”). cdc.gov