Question: I recently returned to my house in upper Kuliouou Valley after an eight-month absence. Now, whenever I work in my garden, I am attacked by very small, fast-moving mosquitoes that I usually fail to notice until they have bitten me. The bites swell into extremely itchy bumps that persist for at least an hour. They are so bad that I can no longer enjoy sitting on my lanai unless there is a strong wind. When visiting a friend in Hawaii Kai recently, we were both badly attacked by these mosquitoes in his hill-slope garden. Has a new species of mosquito been introduced in East Oahu, or is there a population explosion of a previously rare variety due to recent weather?
Answer: There is no new mosquito species on Oahu, according to Pingjun Yang, an entomologist with the state Department of Health.
Based on your description, he thinks the mosquitoes attacking you are the Asia tiger mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus.
“This species breeds in both natural and artificial containers such as tree holes, bromeliads, buckets, plant saucers, etc.,” Yang said.
It takes just one breeding site in the yard or garden to produce “hundreds to thousands of mosquitoes,” he said, with new adult mosquitoes possibly emerging every day from that one source.
Yang said adult mosquitoes also like to hang around in the woods or bushes.
“We usually fail to notice this species because it has its lifesaving trick” — preferring to bite someone’s legs, back of the neck and back of the elbow. By the time you notice the bite, the mosquito gets a “warning by our body movements” and has enough time to escape, he said.
Additionally, Yang said, “We usually do not know when we are being bitten at the beginning since the biting is generally painless.”
How to mitigate the mosquito problem?
“Since all mosquitoes require water in which to breed, the best and easiest way to control mosquitoes is to get rid of standing water,” Yang said.
But be warned that even if you eliminate the breeding sources, some adult mosquitoes can live for several weeks.
At that point it may be time to pull out the mosquito repellent when you venture outdoors.
Question: I read your April 11 column about someone being charged $302 after his car was towed. I thought there was a state law setting the maximum fee a tow company could charge at $167.50.
Answer: There is a maximum fee that the city’s towing contractor, Leeward Auto Wreckers Inc., can charge, and that is $165 (excluding storage charges).
Those are for tows from public streets initiated by the Honolulu Police Department: See is.gd/XWNbj2.
Otherwise, as we explained in “Kokua Line” — is.gd/8TveB0 — the charges could amount to well more than $165 under towing charges allowed by Section 290-11(b) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Mahalo
To the person who turned in my iPad that I had left in a grocery cart at the Mililani Times Supermarket on April 12. I am forever grateful for your honesty. I am so lucky to live in Hawaii. — Michelle Evans
Auwe
To the neighbor who lets their dog bark constantly in the middle of the night, at 2, 3, 3:30, 5, 5:30 a.m. and all day. None of your neighbors is getting any sleep. This has been going on for months. Please show some consideration for an otherwise quiet neighborhood and put your dog away at night. — Anonymous
Note: People may contact the Hawaiian Humane Society for complaints about barking dogs (continuously for 10 minutes or intermittently for 30 minutes), loose or abandoned dogs, a dog bite or animal cruelty. Call 356-2250 or go to hawaiianhumane.org for information.
———
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
