Melting snow brings first mosquitoes

Q When do mosquitoes usually become active?

A It depends. Some hatch early in water that collects on the ground from melting snow, said Mike McLean, public information officer for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. There are 51 species of mosquitoes in Minnesota, and they can have different behaviors.

A common group of mosquitoes, called floodwater early spring mosquitoes, lay eggs directly on the ground. The eggs spend the winter under the snow; the adult mosquitoes die. When the snow melts, the mosquitoes hatch in the meltwater and begin their life cycle, emerging as adults that start biting sometime in early May.

There may be meltwater now, McLean said, but neither the water nor the temperature triggers the hatch. Instead, the eggs respond to the length of day, waiting until April to hatch. It's a safety mechanism, McLean explained.

"That way, if we get a warm week, they won't hatch and then later freeze and die," he said. "It's too early and they know it."

A little later, the eggs of mosquitoes that need higher summer temperatures will hatch. These floodwater summertime mosquitoes account for most of those that bite us, and they usually start appearing around Memorial Day.

Late in summer, we'll start seeing another species, McLean said, but they tend to bite birds rather than people.

Meanwhile, the whole mosquito population ages. Contrary to what many people think, mosquitoes don't drop dead after they bite, said McLean.

If you are bitten by a mosquito in August, the chances are good that it has fed on many different hosts, which increases your chances of contracting West Nile Virus. But there must be a sick bird in the mix. You can't get the viral disease from a mosquito that has fed on an infected human or horse, McLean said, only from one that has fed on an infected bird.

Stinky dry cleaning? Q Our dry cleaner is returning our clothing with a bad odor, like an amalgamation of bad body odors and perfumes. Could the cleaning fluid be too dirty? This has even happened with unworn items. What should we do?

A Without a doubt, the dry cleaner should return odor-free clothing to the customer, according to Brian Johnson with the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute in Laurel, Md. Considering that the odors persist, even on unworn items, it would appear this odor problem is specific to this dry cleaner.

Return the clothing to the dry cleaner and explain the situation. If there's no remedy to your satisfaction, switch dry cleaners.

Send your questions to Fixit in care of the Star Tribune, 425 Portland Av., Minneapolis, MN 55488, or call 612-673-7032, or e-mail fixit@startribune.com. Past columns are available at www.startribune.com/fixit. Sorry, Fixit cannot supply individual replies.