Mar 13, 2012 – Come By And We’ll Keep A Light On For Ya
QUESTION:
I am in East Texas and my customers are complaining of an extremely heavy infestation of mosquito hawks. While I know they are harmless they are driving people crazy and I do not know what to tell them about controlling this nuisance. If we use pyrethroids to spray patio walls, window frames, patios, etc., will it do any good. There are no standing water places in any of the yards that we know of.
ANSWER:
These may be some of the most misunderstood of all insects. Somewhere somehow nearly all school children learned that these large Crane Flies in the family Tipulidae "eat mosquitoes", and thus their popular names of mosquito hawks and skeeter eaters. The fact is that they do NOT eat mosquitoes or any other insect and most of the adults of the large species do not feed at all, having mouthparts that are not functional. They do, however, fly very well and are attracted to lights at night, often entering homes when the front door is opened and they sneak on in. This is probably the basis of control for these harmless and beneficial creatures - turn off the porch lights during the season when they are out and about, change the lights to yellow bulbs to attract less of them, or be careful to keep doors and windows closed. The occasional crane fly that gets into the house could be removed with a vacuum cleaner.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I am in East Texas and my customers are complaining of an extremely heavy infestation of mosquito hawks. While I know they are harmless they are driving people crazy and I do not know what to tell them about controlling this nuisance. If we use pyrethroids to spray patio walls, window frames, patios, etc., will it do any good. There are no standing water places in any of the yards that we know of.
ANSWER:
These may be some of the most misunderstood of all insects. Somewhere somehow nearly all school children learned that these large Crane Flies in the family Tipulidae "eat mosquitoes", and thus their popular names of mosquito hawks and skeeter eaters. The fact is that they do NOT eat mosquitoes or any other insect and most of the adults of the large species do not feed at all, having mouthparts that are not functional. They do, however, fly very well and are attracted to lights at night, often entering homes when the front door is opened and they sneak on in. This is probably the basis of control for these harmless and beneficial creatures - turn off the porch lights during the season when they are out and about, change the lights to yellow bulbs to attract less of them, or be careful to keep doors and windows closed. The occasional crane fly that gets into the house could be removed with a vacuum cleaner.
I know people too who just get the heebie jeebies when they see these flies, which look like enormous mosquitoes. There is just something about bugs with legs that long that scares people, a testament to the rampant ignorance and intolerance so many people have about bugs. But, that is what keeps us in business I suppose. Yes, I believe you could spray over the walls where these insects gather at night by lights and kill many of the ones that rest on that surface. I just think this is an over-use of our toxic materials, and it's really unnecessary to kill them. Spraying all over patios and decks would probably do a lot less than treating just the areas by lights where the flies will land and stay. Better perhaps would be to do your best to educate your customers not only to tolerate them but to appreciate them for their role in nature. Except for the European Crane Fly, which is in the upper Northwest of the U.S. only and which feeds on turf, the larvae of these insects are important decomposers in Nature. They feed on decaying plant materials and help with the recycling effort to return plant materials to the soil as nutrients.
Preventing these flies may be impossible, other than to eliminate breeding sites on your customers' properties. The larvae will be found in any moist situation where fallen leaves are available, including wooded areas, banks of waterways, and open fields and pastures. You would have not control over these areas and could not affect the larvae living there, nor should you. If your customers have compost piles or thick layers of mulch in their yards this could be turned or removed to dry out the soil below. Of course, the larvae of the crane flies, often called "leather jackets", are part of the composting process. Anything they can do on their own property to eliminate piles of decaying material or old, rotting logs will reduce the larvae close to their homes. But, if they have natural areas around them the flies will be present and they will come if the lights are left on for them.
This is generally a seasonal thing, with the adult flies most common in the early spring after the winter rains. I believe Texas has had a lot of rain this season, so this is going to produce a lot more of the conditions these flies need to develop in. Managing exterior lights and keeping doors closed is probably a much more environmentally responsible approach than trying to kill them all with insecticides, so hopefully you can convince many of your customers to go that direction.
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