Fight the Bite Colorado-
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Property Maintenance

Maintenance workers are crucial to the prevention of mosquito breeding around the property, but managers and parks departments need to assure workers that a few simple precautions can reduce their risk of exposure to West Nile virus.

• Print a Property Maintenance Checklist
• Print a Home and Garden Checklist

Mosquitoes lay eggs in still water, which hatch in 7 to 10 days. If standing water is eliminated weekly around the property, many mosquitoes will be kept from breeding in the first place. Here are some things you can do:

• Remove standing water in ponds, ditches, clogged rain gutters, flower pots, plant saucers, puddles, buckets, equipment and cans.

• Check for items that might hold water including wheelbarrows, leaky air conditioner hoses, pool covers, tarps, plastic garden sheeting, and trash.

• Use mosquitofish or mosquito dunks to prevent mosquito larvae from growing in small areas of standing water. Use BTI for larger bodies of water. (See supplies page for more information.)

• Well-maintained swimming pools and spas are not a hazard since pool chemicals kill any larvae. The main concern is stagnant water, where mosquitoes lay their eggs undisturbed.

Personal Protection:

• Avoid mosquitoes at dawn and dusk when the bugs are most active.
• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants while outdoors.
• Apply insect repellent that contains DEET. Follow directions carefully.
Click here to learn more about DEET.

Your local health department may need you to bring in dead birds early in mosquito season to test the bird for West Nile virus. Later in the season, some health departments may need to record the location of dead birds, but do not need the actual specimen for testing. Call your local health department for more information. Click here for a list.

There is no evidence that a person can get West Nile virus from handling live or dead infected birds. Persons should avoid bare-handed contact when handling any dead animal.

You can safely dispose of dead birds by picking them up with gloved hands or with a shovel, double bagging them in plastic bags, and disposing of them in the trash.

West Nile Information Pages (Colo.)
Print the property maintenance checklist
Print a personal protection tip sheet
Print a brochure
Bird identification chart
Print a DEET brochure
DEET Online Website
Myths and Folk Remedies

Go to supplies / suppliers page
Pesticide Spraying in Colorado
Statewide listing of commercial pesticide applicators licensed in Colorado
Pesticides and Honey Bees
Naled Insecticide Factsheet

For more information call the toll-free
Colorado West Nile Virus HelpLine
1- 877- 462-2911
Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily

CDC West Nile Virus InfoLines
English: 1-888-246-2675
Español: 1-888-246-2857
Hearing-impaired TDD: 1-866-874-2646

PDF files can be viewed and printed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.