Virgin Islands (British)
The following article was first published in the BVI Limin’ Times on November 13, 2008 in a column called ‘Island Life.’ It is republished here in full. But while this piece is acceptable as a valid impression on the part of the writer, there are some misconceptions and inaccuracies that will be addressed by the Coalition. Ok! Here’s a hint. The passages highlighted in blue are the points of contention. Not a big deal, right? Right!
Battling the Wildlife
By Claudia Colli
The BVI is generally a benign place. I visited Costa Rica last year and was impressed with the amount and toxicity of the snake population there. On Tortola, our snakes are small, dull in pattern and non-toxic. We have scorpions here, but unlike the ones in James Bond movies, they are not lethal, and the same is true of our spiders. It seems that the BVI’s most dangerous form of wildlife these days is the mosquito. And it’s not because they are particularly poisonous, although if you are bitten by the Aedes aegypti, which carries dengue, you can get very sick…no, it’s their sheer numbers. With all the rain that we have had recently, mosquitoes have become a fact of life.
Recently, I found mosquitoes in my cistern and I called the Department of Environmental Health. First, I was offered guppies to eradicate the problem, but I
Imagine 10 to 15 guppies, each no bigger than a third of the little fingernail, in a cistern filled with 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water. The guppies multiply rapidly, yes, but they perish just as quickly. That does not a fish tank make.
didn’t like the idea of my cistern becoming a giant fish tank. ^ In that case, the official suggested doing nothing except screening the outlet pipe. They only have a short life cycle he told me, and if they can’t get out (or back in), they will soon die off.
Imagine, say 500 adult mosquitoes, in our 30,000 to 40,000 gallon cistern, being closed in by proper screening and secure manhole covers. They all perish in there because of a lack of food. The householder averts a mosquito infestation, but what of the contamination of the cistern water by the dead mosquitoes? What contamination? I would be more concerned about the waste of the birds and rodents that is washed into the cistern from the roof – not to mention the dirt that cakes at the bottom of a cistern that is not cleaned out regularly.
Fine, except for the thought of a cistern filled with dead mosquitoes. ^
On the positive side, there are many interesting mosquito facts: there are 3,500 species of mosquitoes, in all; they can fly one to four hours continuously, and they actually feed off nectar and not blood. In perhaps, a misplaced sense of maternal duty, it is the female who bites, since she needs your blood to nurture her eggs.
Rather, some mosquitoes are nocturnal. However, most importantly, the Aedes aegypti, the Dengue mosquito is a day-biting mosquito. Never mind, it gets very active just after sunrise and before sunset. It does, however, remain active all day long and never all night long.
Mosquitoes are nocturnal, ^ so that’s why you find them out mostly at night, dawn and dusk. Also, contrary to popular opinion, both the male and female mosquito buzz; the sound is caused by the beating of their wings. You hear the female more often because she’s the one flitting around you in hopes of zeroing in on your blood. Having a fan blow on you as you sleep does repel mosquitoes, though. The insects are attracted to the carbon dioxide we expel and the air movement caused by the fan helps to dissipate it. It’s not just carbon dioxide that attracts them unfortunately: scent, sweat,
Bright colours? Absolutely not! Mosquitoes are attracted to dark coloured clothing only. And if I may add, anything dark such as containers, closets, bathrooms, corners, underneath furniture, and even the dark side of the foot. That is how sensitive they are to light and bright.
bright colors ^ and even movement are also big draws. Repellent, which masks our scent can help, but in reality it seems that we really don’t have a chance against the critters.
If all residents would emerge from the drought of complacency and would rid their premises of water-bearing containers that allow the Dengue mosquito to breed, then there would be no way for the Dengue viruses to trigger an epidemic of the disease in the territory. In that case, we would just have to deal with the pest mosquitoes, which by the way do not carry disease here. One of these pests is indeed ”nocturnal” in its habits. But guess where a lot of them survive? In our defective or open septic tanks.
It’s a shame, but a drought may be the only solution to our problem. ^
