How to Prevent & Get Rid of Mosquitoes Outside and Inside

• Keep mosquitos out of your home by screening in your doors and windows. Replace any damaged screening that a mosquito could get through.
• Slip into a long shirt and pants whenever you head outside, and protect any of your exposed skin with a DEET-rich bug repellent.
• Remove any sources of standing water around your home to eliminate potential mosquito breeding grounds.

Indoor Mosquito Solutions

Shut and seal all potential mosquito entrances with door and window screens. Purchase or make your own screens to seal up your windows and prevent any mosquitoes from making their way into your home. If it’s possible, install screen doors as well to block off another potential mosquito entrance point. If you already have window and door screens, inspect them periodically for holes and tears and replace them as needed. Pro tip: Small pests like ants and mosquitoes often get in your home through unnoticed cracks and crevices. Make sure your home is sealed with no openings so the pests will have no way of getting inside. Purchase caulk to do this yourself, or hire a pest control company to do it for you.

Opt for air conditioning instead of opening your windows. Opening your windows can be a refreshing way to stay cool, but it can also invite unwanted pests into your home. When possible, stay cool by switching on your AC instead. Opening your windows shouldn’t be too much of an issue if you have window screens installed. Still, it’s always better to be on the safe side when it comes to mosquitoes!

Set out a bowl of peppermint oil-infused water. Pour water into a shallow bowl until it’s completely filled up. Then, squeeze a few droplets of peppermint oil onto the surface of the water. Put the bowl out in a room where you’ve noticed a lot of mosquitoes hanging out—with any luck, the essential oil infusion will help keep them away. Some people find that a bowl of water mixed with a little dish soap can be an effective way to kill mosquitoes.

Kill mosquitoes on-sight with both hands. Spot a pesky critter buzzing around your head? Rather than swatting the insect with one hand, use 2 hands to “clap” the mosquito so it can’t escape. If the bug is resting on a flat surface, like a wall or table, just use one hand to slap the mosquito and kill it instantly. Swatting a mosquito with just 1 hand actually makes it harder to kill the mosquito, since you end up driving the insect back over your hand. Using 2 hands prevents the mosquito from getting blown away. Don’t want to get your hands dirty? Try using a rolled-up newspaper or a mosquito swatter instead. Whenever possible, try to clap or swat the mosquitoes rather than using a chemical spray indoors.

Outdoor Mosquito Solutions

Spritz an insecticide on any greenery mosquitoes could land on. Check the label on your pesticide for instructions on how (and where) to apply it. Sprayable insecticides are typically designed to kill adult mosquitoes, and are meant to be sprayed on common mosquito landing spots, like bushes, shrubs, and other vegetation around your home. Want to get rid of mosquito larvae instead? Use a larvicide in any bodies of water on your property (like a pond). To protect the other animals in and around the water, choose a larvicide with a Bti bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis), which only targets black flies, mosquitoes, and midges.

Place an outdoor mosquito trap. Shop around for traps designed to catch mosquitoes specifically rather than any type of insect buzzing around your yard. Some of the best traps to consider are: AGO traps: Set a variety of Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGO) traps around your yard. They resemble appealing breeding spots, and trick female mosquitoes into laying their eggs on a sheet of adhesive paper rather than in a pool of water. Carbon dioxide traps: Traps like the Mosquito Magnet lure the insects in with carbon dioxide before catching and trapping them. Warning: Avoid bug-zapping types of traps. While they will kill mosquitoes, they’ll also kill a host of other insects (including bugs that help pollinate your yard).

Replace your outdoor bulbs with bug lights. Switch out your traditional bulbs with bug lights—while these bulbs won’t kill off mosquitoes, the yellow light prevents as many insects from hanging around the outside of your home.

Add cedar mulch to your garden. Switch out traditional mulch for cedar mulch; besides soaking up extra moisture, this special type of mulch can also keep mosquitoes away. This is because the wood gives off compounds known as hydrocarbons, which have natural insecticide-like effects. Western red cedar mulch works especially well, but any type of cedar mulch should get the job done.

Set out plants that mosquitoes don’t enjoy, like citronella and basil. Head to your local plant nursery and pick up plants like catnip, lavender, citronella, basil, lemon balm, pennyroyal, marigold, rosemary, peppermint, scented geraniums, and lemongrass. Mosquitoes aren’t typically fans of the way these plants smell, so they might help you get rid of the pests naturally. Some people find that diffusing certain essential oils (like catnip, lavender, or lemon eucalyptus) is an effective way to repel mosquitoes. However, experts aren’t a fan of essential oil-based pest control due to how little is known about its efficacy.

Install bat and bird nest boxes to welcome mosquito predators to your yard. Bats and birds like yellow warblers, swallows, purple martins, and eastern kingbirds all like to snack on mosquitoes. Building bat boxes and nest boxes are both great ways to get these natural predators to spend a little more time around your property. Have a pond or other natural water source on your property? Look into housing fish like eastern mudminnows, pygmy killfish, bream, or spotted sunfish, which are all known to eat mosquito larvae.

Keeping Mosquitoes off Your Skin

Wear long pants and shirts that keep your skin covered up. Before heading outside, swap out your shorts for jeans or sweatpants, and your T-shirt for a long-sleeved tee. The less real estate the critters have access to, the fewer mosquito bites you’ll net overall.

Spritz yourself with DEET-rich mosquito repellent to prevent itchy bites. DEET, chemically known as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, hides your smell from mosquitoes, which makes it more difficult for these pests to find (and bite) you. Following the bug spray’s instructions, spritz it over your exposed skin (but avoid sensitive areas like your mouth, ears, eyes, and any cuts or scrapes). Spray the repellent on your hands before applying it to your face to avoid any irritation. Only apply the bare minimum amount of product that you need to coat your skin. Not a fan of chemical-based repellents? That’s totally valid—try an oil-based repellent like Repel instead. Some people like using citronella-based products to guard against mosquitoes, but research shows that DEET-based repellents offer longer protection.

Hang out inside when it starts to get dark. Mosquitoes are most active in the early evening hours when the sun isn’t beating down. So, it’s best to stay inside at that time to prevent the blood-sucking pests from getting a free meal. If you have to head outside, make sure to cover up in a long-sleeve shirt and long pants, and to spritz any exposed skin with DEET-rich bug repellent.

Hang up mosquito netting around your bed if your windows aren’t screened. Pick up a mosquito net that’s large enough to drape over your entire bed and has at least 156 holes for every 1 sq in (6.5 cm). Tuck the bottom edges of the net beneath your mattress before slipping into bed for the night. A mosquito net might not be necessary if you have screened-in windows and doors, but it can be an invaluable tool if you’re staying/traveling in an area without these resources.

Preventing Infestations

Get rid of any standing water around your property. Take a lap around your home and look for any type of standing water—rain barrels, empty wheelbarrows, plant pots, and bird baths are all potential offenders. The more standing water you get rid of, the less appealing your yard will be for female mosquitoes hoping to lay eggs. Here are a few tips to keep standing water (and mosquitoes) out of your home: Clean out your gutters to prevent blockages. Empty and replace any outdoor pet water bowls regularly. Inspect any junk in your yard that could hold water, like toys or tires. Place a layer of sand beneath any plant pots to keep water from pooling underneath. Warning: Mosquitoes can reproduce in 1 tsp (4.9 mL) of stagnant water. That’s why it’s so important to inspect any possible item that can hold water!

Care for any water features and swimming pools on your property. If you have a koi pond or swimming pool that doesn't see much use, it may become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Do yourself and your neighbors a favor by doing regular maintenance to keep the water fresh and flowing. Cut back vegetation from around your pond or other water features. If you have a birdbath or another small source of water, change the water frequently or agitate it so mosquitoes won't lay eggs there. Treat your pool with the proper chemicals to make it uninhabitable for mosquitoes.

Maintain your lawn and trim down any shrubbery. Like us, mosquitoes like to hang out in cooler areas when the weather gets hot—so, the less shade your yard has to offer for these micro-sized critters, the better. Focus on mowing down any patches of tall grass, as well as removing any tree branches that create a lot of shade. Keep an eye out for any large or overgrown bushes as well, which may create appealing shade.