The Prevention
Playbook.

The number-one move, full stop. Mosquitoes need 7–10 days of standing water to grow up. Empty every saucer, bucket, and birdbath once a week and larvae never make it to adulthood. Put it on the calendar next to trash day.

Walk your whole property hunting water: plant saucers, clogged gutters, bin lids, tarps, drainpipe ridges, kids' toys. The tiger mosquito biting your ankles was almost certainly born within 150 feet of where you're standing.

Mosquito eggs glue themselves to container walls above the waterline and survive drying out. A quick scrub of birdbaths, buckets, and saucers removes the next generation, not just this week's water.

Rain barrel, pond, chronic wet spot? Drop in a Mosquito Dunk. Bti is a natural bacterium lethal to larvae but safe for people, pets, fish, birds, and bees. One dunk lasts ~30 days.

The cheapest way to never get bitten indoors is to keep mosquitoes outside. Patch tears with a dab of clear nail polish, make sure screens fit their frames, and keep doors shut at dusk when Culex is hunting.

Mosquitoes fly about 1 mph — a box fan outmuscles them and scatters the CO₂ trail they track to find you. The American Mosquito Control Association endorses fans. Bonus: it makes a city August survivable.

Use a CDC-recognized active: picaridin, DEET, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Our default is 20% picaridin — as effective as DEET without the grease, so you'll actually wear it.

Spray permethrin on shirts, socks, and hats (not skin) and treated fabric repels and kills mosquitoes — and ticks — for ~6 weeks. It's the enchantment spell for gardeners and dusk dog-walkers.

Traps like the Ovi-Catch AGO lure egg-laying females into a nursery they never leave — the CDC-validated way to shrink next month's population. Or build one free.

Because the tiger mosquito barely travels, a coordinated block beats any lone yard. Get neighbors dumping water and trapping together — that's the whole idea behind the Bed-Stuy pilot. Use 311 for abandoned properties.