Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — it's the single biggest lever you have. Culex tarsalis, the main West Nile carrier here, breeds almost exclusively in still, stagnant water sitting in containers, not in moving streams or healthy ponds with fish. Dump what you can, and Bti-dose what you can't.

Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) is a naturally occurring bacterium sold as "Mosquito Dunks" or "Mosquito Bits." It kills mosquito larvae and is harmless to people, pets, birds, and fish — the EPA has reviewed it as posing no meaningful risk outside the target insect. Always read and follow the product label.

Unused dunks keep their potency indefinitely in storage, and a deployed dunk typically treats water for about 30 days, which is why we pair it with Bti Bits for faster knockdown between doses. Check your product's label for exact timing.

They work because they exploit her own instinct: she needs still, foul water to lay eggs on. A dark container of funky water is more attractive to her than most natural sites — so a Bti-dosed trap doesn't just avoid breeding mosquitoes, it actively pulls egg-laying females away from everywhere else on your land.

Not if you build them right. Every open-water build plan on this site specifies a coarse safety guard (never fine window screen, which keeps her out and defeats the trap) and a wildlife escape ramp using non-galvanized materials, so anything that falls in — or drinks from — the water can climb back out.

Risk climbs through the summer and typically peaks in late August through September, then ends at the first hard frost. The smart move is to be set up before the peak — start when the snow's gone, not after you're already getting bit.

Walk your property after the next rain and dump every bit of standing water you can reach. That alone — no traps, no Bti — removes real breeding sites. If you can't drain something (a stock tank, a low spot), that's the one place a Bti dunk is worth the ten dollars.