Good surveillance is the key to any successful mosquito control program. It revolves around daily inspections to determine mosquito populations, species composition, breeding habitat/locations, disease prevalence and rainfall. The gathering of accurate intelligence on mosquito populations not only helps us provide cost effective control, but also aids to evaluate the effectiveness of the control techniques.
 
Adult Surveillance - is accomplished by sampling mosquito populations to determine species and abundance. Activity periods of mosquitoes differ by species, with some biting strictly in the evening, some strictly during the day, while still others feed both night and day.

• Landing Rate Count: Standing in different mosquito habitats, inspectors record the number of mosquitoes landing on them in one minute.
• Light Trap: The New Jersey Light Trap is a simple insect trap that uses incandescent light to attract mosquitoes. We currently employ 36 of these traps at strategically fixed locations throughout the parish with most being placed in residential areas.
• CDC Trap: This trap is similar to a NJ trap but uses CO2 as an added attractant.  CO2 is the substance exhaled by humans and other mammals that is used by mosquitoes to locate their victims. Mosquitoes will follow the CO2 vapors thinking they've found an easy blood meal, right into the trap. These traps are portable and can be placed on demand as need for additional information arises.
• Hourly Trap: Mosquitoes are collected at timed intervals to monitor activity periods of different species. We then are able to adjust spray times as needed to coincide with peak activity periods.
• Gravid Trap: These traps are utilized to monitor potential disease vector species. They utilize a hay/fish oil infused water solution to attract the vector mosquitoes that are then sucked into a net. Being portable, these traps can also be utilized on demand as needed.
• Dipper: A white plastic drinking dipper on a rod is an easy way to collect mosquito larvae. The species, location and number collected are recorded.
• Bulb Syringe: A large syringe is used to suck water and larvae out of small places such as a tire, urn, flower pot etc.
• Ovitrap: An ovitrap is used to induce container-breeding species to lay their eggs in the trap.