This is the message of a social media campaign launched by Murcia Salud, in which advice is given on how to create your own homemade “mosquito trap”: simply take an empty 2-litre plastic water bottle, cut it in half (bottom half slightly larger), and fill the bottom half with a mix of water and sugar before adding fresh yeast. Then insert the top half of the bottle, upside down, into the container, and wrap a dark cloth around the whole contraption before leaving it in an appropriate spot. 

This device emits the carbon dioxide which usually attracts mosquitoes to their victims, and the only other instruction is to empty and refill it once a week. 

The tiger mosquito is strikingly distinct from other mosquitos due to its distinctive black and white striped markings, but other tips to prevent them becoming abundant in your home and garden include the following: 

– Don’t leave excess water standing in saucers after watering pot plants: alternatively, put fine sand in the saucers to prevent eggs being laid.

– Flush water through drains at least once a week.

– Constantly empty, wash and re-fill pets’ drinking bowls or animal water troughs.

– Check sagging drains, guttering, pipes or locations in which water could have collected.

– Avoid leaving stagnant water of any sort in the garden as it is a breeding ground: pots, containers, etc. remembering that even the smallest can be an attractive breeding ground for this and other types of mosquito.

– Always empty unused swimming pools, ponds, wheelbarrows and buckets.