Santa Barbara’s Vector Control District is reporting an unseasonably high number of mosquito complaints this winter just as many districts to the south have done. This January and February’s heavier-than-normal rainfall followed by hotter-than-usual temperatures have conspired to create ideal breeding conditions for the blood-sucking bugs who like to lay their eggs in warm, stagnant pools of water.
Of concern this year is whether the unseasonably wet and warm weather has enticed the arrival of Aedes aegypti, an especially aggressive mosquito known colloquially as “the ankle biter.” This species is invasive, more opportunistic, feeds throughout the day not just in evening hours, and is known to spread dengue fever. The district is testing mosquito larvae for the presence of this species; it will begin trapping adult specimens soon. The last time “the ankle biter” was detected in Santa Barbara was 2021.
Vector control officials are asking residents to empty out any backyard buckets or other water receptacles that might prove reproductively useful and to wear long sleeves and long pants at dawn and dusk. In addition, the district is passing out mosquito eating fish to residents who ask.
