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I've just recieved this e-mail from a friend who lives in Grand Cayman
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With the first week of the new rainy season just over, there's been a burst in the mosquito population, so much so that the Govt has recommended people to stay indoors between 6pm and 8pm each evening for the next week or so, and avoid outside activities unless well protected with repellent. This is a bit unusual.
Most of the mosquitoes are dusk dwellers, hence the time restrictions. Cayman still has some daytime mozzies, but these are bigger, slower and easier to see & swat.
The mosquito control program can't do anything before the rains start. Pellets left out in the hope of rain would be washed away in the first downpour. Pellet laying (otherwise called pond seeding) has to wait until puddles, lakes form, and then get done while the mozzies are breeding. The pellets kill the larvae. The bigger ponds get certain fish added, and which find mozzie larvae tasty.
Finally there's the mobile foggers. Just like the spray can that you might set up to fog an entire room or house in the UK (esp for things like dog fleas or silverfish), we have several pickup trucks that have a large fogger on the back. The trucks drive around residential areas and the fogging covers acres, subject to there being little wind. Its not quite a brazier on the back of a lorry, but its the same idea. An oil-based solution but containing pyrethrum.
And there's the planes - 2 of them - like crop dusters, dropping liquefied pellets and fog into boggy areas where the truck can't get to. Low flying is an understatement.
I've been out this evening and it wasn't pleasant. Dog has to learn to **** & run.
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With the first week of the new rainy season just over, there's been a burst in the mosquito population, so much so that the Govt has recommended people to stay indoors between 6pm and 8pm each evening for the next week or so, and avoid outside activities unless well protected with repellent. This is a bit unusual.
Most of the mosquitoes are dusk dwellers, hence the time restrictions. Cayman still has some daytime mozzies, but these are bigger, slower and easier to see & swat.
The mosquito control program can't do anything before the rains start. Pellets left out in the hope of rain would be washed away in the first downpour. Pellet laying (otherwise called pond seeding) has to wait until puddles, lakes form, and then get done while the mozzies are breeding. The pellets kill the larvae. The bigger ponds get certain fish added, and which find mozzie larvae tasty.
Finally there's the mobile foggers. Just like the spray can that you might set up to fog an entire room or house in the UK (esp for things like dog fleas or silverfish), we have several pickup trucks that have a large fogger on the back. The trucks drive around residential areas and the fogging covers acres, subject to there being little wind. Its not quite a brazier on the back of a lorry, but its the same idea. An oil-based solution but containing pyrethrum.
And there's the planes - 2 of them - like crop dusters, dropping liquefied pellets and fog into boggy areas where the truck can't get to. Low flying is an understatement.
I've been out this evening and it wasn't pleasant. Dog has to learn to **** & run.
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