Just a quick question today - Drain covers?

Hmmmm on this one I am no help! Sorry it's never been an issue for me. And you do want to keep down the mosquitoes for sure!

I am sure one of the guys will be able to help honey.

Never heard of anyone covering their floor drains.

Bob K

Hello Syringles:
Just a quick note on the drain covers when we stay in the D.R. we have the same layout as you are describing with the floor drains in the wash rooms and we cover them with a rubber stopper which we bring from Canada and is the same size as the floor drains but I would just cover them with saran wrap and tape them down and we also keep drain plugs in all the drains to stop any critters and mosquito's from coming up the drains and you could try burning a mosquito coils for a little bit in the evening they do smell but do work Hope this helps and hope you are enjoying your stay in paradise as we are looking forward to coming back to Bavaro area this Dec.for three and a half months or longer just depends on how things go for us up here in Canada and hopefully sell our place and move there before the winter sets in

Mosquitoes are a tricky problem to deal with because you need to attack them on two battle fronts, the adult stage mosquito and the larval stage. Community spraying programs largely focus on killing the adult mosquitoes and do little to kill off the larval stage reproduction, so the programs don't have great results as you are now finding out. You should use the mosquito coils or electric plug insect killers for indoor control of adult mosquitoes, but you also have to get rid of the larvae.

Covering the floor drains may sound like a quick fix, but they're just one small source of the problems related to the numerous breeding grounds in and around the home for mosquito larvae. You need to eliminate as many of the standing water sources as you possibly can which is were the mosquitoes will reproduce. House plants should not be allowed to accumulate water in trays under the plant pots and you should not consider watering them by filling up the trays. Get rid of any old tires around your property, make sure that bottles and/or any small containers that could possibly collect even tiny amount of water are disposed of properly or at the very least inverted so they can't collect water.

You also need to use some kind of insecticide to kill the larval stage. Methoprene is a very effective insecticide that's quite safe to use. It comes in two forms s-methoprene and r-methoprene and is commonly found in many forms including dust, granules, spray and liquid. One commonly used product that usually contains Methoprene is dog and cat flea powder (check product label to make sure) it's quite convenient to use and can be sprinkled into drains and around plants, in corners, etc., which will not only control the mosquitoes, but also a number of other insects.

In addition to all of the above, you should also use a good insect repellent with a reasonably high Deet content. This should take care of all of your problems and give your legs a well-deserved rest.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Good point repellent without enough DEET here is useless!

WjWoodward, thanks so very much for taking the time to provide all that information.  I pretty much knew about standing water and they do some type of smoking fumigation for the "skeeters" 2 or more times per week... The owner said that there is some type of problem with the Reverse Osmosis system and that was his reasoning for saying they might be coming from the drains.....HOWEVER; curious as to one other thing... I have no house plants BTW,,, I kill them too easy but one thing I found here that made me uncomfortable is the sofa and coffee table area have underneath a wicker or sisssal/wicker weaved type rug.  It does not look clean and since being in a little ill the least week, I noted that the worst time I ever feel bites is not outside, but I always get the during the hours I sit here and maybe watch a couple hours TV....I could swear I've even seen them fly out of there.. (tiny tiny ones although none around here are very big).  I told the manager this morning and he and his family who are local keep no rugs around on the floors... so got permission to just pull it up(pulled up another one made of cloth)...

I have to say that after removing that rug which i only shook outdoors, I came back to sweep and there was a mount of either dirt or dirty sand... I know that type of rug could never have been vacuumed and it was amazing to see so much dirt/sand/etc  had been there all along.  I hope my experiment (feel there were tiny ones in that rug) works and have been using deet anyways....

It sounds like you are either an entomologist or have interest in this field, appreciate the feedback...

Wicker furniture attracts termites.  WE have had this problem and treat our wicker furniture (a lot of furniture) every year or so.

I would be this is what it is

Bob K

and likely some sand flees in that rug, get rid of it.

RUG OUT....DIRTY SANDY GUNK OUT... even took out the cloth rug in the bedroom and probably getting rid of the bathroom rug (just collects dirt that you can't sweep and guessing by owner it's probably 2 or 3 years old and welcomed numerous guests!).  Crossing Fingers as I say, hanging in there has made me more committed to getting out and about.
Today was day 30 of this adventure.. Feel like only the last couple weeks have been part of true relaxation and discovery (oh, other than the insect life cycles of most frequent pests in Punta Cana adventure).. Beach tomorrow.   OH and BTW missed posting about the earthquake, Woke me up from a late afternoon nap about 5:00 and it was listed on Fox News (within 10 or 15 minutes afterwards) as a 5.8 with epicenter 30 miles at sea from Punta Cana tourist area 23 miles deep.  It certainly was very strong here and had alarmed enough local people, they refused to go back inside for a number of minutes.  No damage at all, but a small hint as to what it must have been like for those on the other half of this beautiful island in 2010....

No, I'm not an entomologist... Unfortunately I'm the one person out of every 10 that is considered to be a "mosquito magnet". The little buggers will feast on me and leave everybody else alone, so I've had to learn all kinds of ways to protect myself from them.

You might want to read the following posting to see if you're a "Mosquito Magnet" too!

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=193100

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Eating heaps of garlic, which is then exuded through the skin will help keep mossies away. Oil of citronella is good.