All mosquitoes need to breed is a tablespoon of standing water. Okaloosa County operates a seasonal spraying program, but residents can mitigate mosquitoes on their own property by storing or regularly changing sources of standing water like pools, buckets, toys, trash cans, pet bowls and birdbaths.
Those with ponds should either aerate them or stock them with fish or mosquito dunks. Okaloosa County Mosquito Control may offer pond owners a starter stock of gambusia, also known as mosquitofish, on request, depending on availability.
Residents can also reduce their individual risk of mosquito bites by staying indoors when mosquitoes are most active between dusk and dawn, using air conditioning or sitting within the air stream of a fan when outdoors and using mosquito repellents with active ingredients such as DEET, picaridin, IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus.
The county also recommends checking and maintaining window and door screens, as well as clearing blocked gutters that may collect water after prolonged rains.
Okaloosa County monitors six mosquito traps in the north of the county and six in the south, checking weekly for species capable of carrying different diseases, such as West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis, yellow fever and Zika, among others. The county has not been made aware of any cases of West Nile virus in the county this year.
The traps determine priority locations for seasonal spraying initiatives. The county’s spraying schedule is available online. If residents do not want their area sprayed, or if they believe they need additional mosquito control measures, they can contact Okaloosa County Mosquito Control.
