AUSTIN — Mosquitoes can be difficult to kill. Just because you do not see them in the cold, does not mean they are gone.
The pesky animals have been around since prehistoric times.
"They are very hearty,” said Alan Brown, an entomologist with ABC Home and Commercial Services. “They're very well-developed to their environments."
He said when it gets below 50 degrees, mosquitoes, for the most part, become inactive.
Brown said the females of some species of mosquitoes, like Aedes aegypti, will lay a last batch of eggs. Those eggs will survive the winter, while the adults die.
However, other species just hibernate in the cold.
"Whether it be in a home, in a log, in an animal shelter, in the sewer or anywhere they can, where they can to protect themselves,” said Brown.
To ward off mosquitoes, Brown recommends, even in the colder months, pouring out standing water from your plants and anywhere in your yard, because when it warms up, the mosquitoes in hibernation can spring back up.
"If we're all careful about doing that, dumping those things, as egg-laying sites, our mosquito populations will go way down,” said Brown.
So why are mosquitoes so cold resistant?
Brown said it is because some of them feed on nectar instead of blood, so they build up fat, making them warmer.