What do mosquitoes eat?
If you have a wildlife garden pond, its likely you have mosquitoes with larvae swimming in it or adults flying over it. They were one of the first inhabitants of my new wildlife pond. There are so many predators in my pond that they certainly do not last long! So what do they eat? Blood I can hear you all say! Of course you are right, but only partially. As larvae mosquitoes filter floating food particles, grazing on algae, leaf detritus and animal remains. The adult females procure a blood-meal (from humans, livestock, birds, reptiles and mammals, depending on the species) and supplement their diet with plant juices. Adult males do not require blood relying solely on plant juices. The females need the protein from the blood for the development of their eggs.
As larvae they are harmless filtering machines! Watch them in video below.
What eats mosquitoes?
Parasites and predators find them in every different habitat they live in and eat them at every stage of their lives: eggs, larvae, pupae, emerging, resting and ovipositing adults. Predation of larvae and pupae will depend upon which aquatic habitat or other habitat the mosquito finds itself. It would appear that those mosquito larvae found in tree-hole water may not have water based predators to contend with in the UK. This list is not a definitive list and for ease of reading and time, I have used mostly common names! Besides, many of these actual predatory species only have a scientific name and not all of the species named predate on mosquitoes.
What water bodies do larvae and pupae live in?
They inhabit water bodies which can be broadly separated into: permanent freshwater, temporary woodland pool/flooded areas, brackish water salt marshes, tree-hole water and artificial habitats, such as water butts and can even include stacked car tyres! Inside artificial containers, there would be less areas for mosquito larvae to hide and less escape routes from predators.
Predation
Different predators will predate them depending upon the habitat used, species of mosquito and the stages of life cycle that predator and prey are at in a given moment in time. For example, certain water beetle larvae may not encounter mosquito larvae when remaining on the bottom of the water body, which is where they may live at a certain stage of their life cycle whereas the mosquito larvae tend to stay near the water surface.
Predators
Numerous freshwater fish species including pond dwelling common minnow, sticklebacks and goldfish;
Tadpoles and adults of newts, toads and frogs;
Adult and larvae water beetles, e.g. great diving beetle;
Caddie flies; Stoneflies; Pond slaters; Shrimps; Mayflies; Dragonfly/damselfly adults and larvae;
Whirligig beetles; Water measurers; Water crickets; Water scorpions; Flatworms;
Predatory flies, e.g.dance flies, thick headed flies. It appears that these predatory flies predate emerging or resting mosquitos on the water surface and possibly ovipositing females. Even more surprising is that researchers found that these flies accounted for a significant number of mosquitos.
Pond skaters, (which stab the larvae or adults with their piercing/sucking mouthparts as they emerge and suck the life juices as do other true bugs!)
Backswimmers, not to be confused with mainly vegetarian lesser water boatmen which swim top side up and common backswimmers swim on their backs;
Spiders with and without webs, taking many whilst they rest in vegetation;
Click on picture to enlarge
Swifts; Housemartins; Swallows; Meadow pipits; Pied flycatchers; Pied Wagtails;
Blue tits; Coal tits; Willow tits; Marsh tits; Long tailed tits; Wren; Goldcrests:
Chiffchaffs; Grey wagtails; Moorhens; Linnets; Willow warbler;
Whitethroat; Mallard; Siskin; Redpoll; Yellowhammer and Bats.
Noticeably missing from this bird list is Great tits, Robins, Blackbirds, though likely they would not miss a quick meal if they saw and caught one resting!
Certain bacteria; fungi; parasitic aquatic mites; protozoa; nematodes and viral infections.
Even hibernating mosquitoes (never knew they hibernated!) are not safe from hunting spiders.
The backswimmers are common and effective predators of mosquito larvae. They were amongst the very first invertebrates to inhabit my new wildlife pond, within 4-5 days. There were mosquito larvae present in the water when they arrived. I actually heard a low buzz/humming noise as then a plop, as one flew past my head and into the pond! Yes, they can fly as well as swim! I also found one nearby the pond, trying to swim on a wet paving slab!
Refs. Besides my own experiences and observations:
Download Natural predators and parasites of British mosquitoes which was very interesting!
Very healthy pond George,well done…
Thanks Mike, it will get better!! Cheers George
We inherited a small artificial pond, about ten feet long, two feet wide and two feet deep. Two years ago we placed ordinary “feeder fish” goldfish at 22 cents each, about an inch long. We have no fountain, no nothing, the fish are now over 6 inches long, had babies last year, and no more mosquitoes! We do feed them from april to october (we live on the west coast of Canada). Just be very sure there is no chance your pond could flood releasing fish into the natural waterways – this is would be extremely detrimental to the ecology of local waterways.
No fish and no chance of flooding into nearby rivers… 3 miles away! Thanks for sharing, G
Installed a small pond two weeks ago and now have mozzie larvae in residence. Was going to try and get them out but may wait and see if other predictors do the job for me. (S. Wales, UK) .
They will Rob. Just be patient, so many creatures ea them, like flying ants they provide a seasonal glut for our wildlife. Cheers George
Hey, I have recently seen a weird transparent worm with tiny red dots on its body. It’s about 1 or 2 inches long. Do you know what it it’s?
Sorry Josh. Try the earthworm society! Cheers, George
Thanks for helping me identify these small creatures in my new wildlife pond. My question is ….would they be harmful to birds taking a bath or drinking at the pond edge?
The birds may even try to snap them up given half a chance!
Hey we recently made our own pond in the back garden. We have had the pond for just over a week or two now and we have noticed loads like thousands of small worm/ tadpole like creatures swimming around in it which we have identified as mosquito larvae. So my question is when they fully develop and grow will they leave our pond or will they constantly stay around the pond? Because we are thinking if we will be able to access our garden now without the threat of a mozzie bite. Eagerly waiting your reply. Thank you
Predators will sort out many of these as your pond develops, in particular, backswimmers which were the first to come to my pond for a feast!
Thanks for this brilliant info. I am home-schooling my two children during the corona virus lockdown and the first thing we did was dig a wildlife pond. But as we can’t get any water plants at the moment we didn’t know wether any wildlife would come. But hey presto! The mosquito larvae appeared! We took a sample and looked at them under the microscope and when they kept still long enough the children could see them just like in your picture. A bit scary close up . Then we wondered what they ate and what would eat them. My son thought algae ( he was right) I thought they move too fast to be a herbivore so maybe they eat smaller creatures that we can’t see in the pond. Luckily we found your info and he can say he made a really great prediction! ( Mine not so good!)
Keep up the great work!
Thanks, nice to know my time and effort is appreciated. Thanks for sharing, George
Hi George, we have also created a lockdown pond, I have wildflower seed to grow round the edge and managed to get some starwort. First colonisers were mosquito larvae but we now have rat tailed maggots. The pond is next wygelia and clematis and there are 100 s of hoverglies, bees etc. Could the hoverflies used it as its close or is the water quality in our pond already bad? It is mainly rainwater and it is about 3 weeks old?
You find that species either thrive or fade as the water and plants etc., change, so does the wildlife…Cheers George
hi Just like the lady above we have created a small wildlife pond with an old washing up bowl, filled with rocks and rainwater and dug into a shaded area of our garden (we are in the UK). A few weeks ago we noticed literally hundreds of these tiny larvae (mosquito i guess) and after some research i have released 5 tiny (1.5 inch) goldfish in to the pond as we didn’t want to be overrun with biting insects around our patio area.
A few hours later, upon studying the pond and the watching the fish settle in, we have spotted a newt living in our pond. I am now worried that i have done the wrong thing in introducing the fish! I didn’t know there were resident newts and can see that goldfish will eat newt eggs 🙁 should i scoop out the fish and relocate them to a fish tank? Any advice welcome please. Many thanks
I never have fish in any of my wildlife ponds because they eat the tiny wildlife in the pond! Cheers George
I’m very jealous of your newt… I put in a small pond with a preformed liner a month ago and now have hundreds of mozzie larvae. I’ve put in a few native plants and have 2 snails and a water mite but can’t wait for anything else to appear to eat the mozzies.
Thanks for sharing. I hope you have lots of interesting visitors. Cheers George
Hi, we have also created a lockdown pond, our first inhabitants are some beetles, this was ok until today, I added some hornwort which had some tadpoles in and the beetles are now attaching the tadpoles, is there anything we can do to try to save at least a few.
Thanks
That’s nature Clare. Unless you have lots of covers for the taddies to hide amongst…Cheers George
Hi Emma. A washing up bowl is way too small for 5 goldfish anyway so I would relocate them – it’s actually too small for 1 as they need much more room to thrive. They can live up to 20 years given proper conditions and enough room. Hope this helps
Good suggestion Jennie. Cheers George
So glad to have come across this page! We have created a small wildlife pond as a lockdown project and within a week we have thousands of mosquito larvae! We are also in the UK (South Wales). Hoping that the next level of the food chain will turn up soon to control them!!
They usually do Rebecca! Cheers George
ok thanks for your information, i have rehomed the goldfish in to an indoor fish tank and the wildlife pond has been reclaimed by the garden wildlife now!!
I was about to get some bio friendly insecticide after seeing the mosquito larvae in my newly made lock-down pond. Having been raised in Africa I tend to panic at the mention of mosquitoes – but thank goodness I have found your great site and now realise letting nature alone to do its thing will be the right choice if my wildlife pond is to succeed. Thank you!
My pleasure Tintin.Cheers George
Are Mosquito larvae bad for a wildlife pond, If so do I need to get rid go them?
Many many creatures feast on them Jenny. Cheers George
I’ve recently created a wildlife pond and put in, amongst other things, two water violets. They were doing fine for about 3 weeks but now, all in the space of a couple of days, they’ve been stripped bare of their lovely green foliage. I’ve noticed lots of midge larvae, could they be the culprits? The two Scirpus Cernuus have not been affected.
Sorry Karen, not my area with expertise or knowledge. Cheers G
You will like this one George , very excited I called my hubby out to come and look at the tadpoles in my relatively new wildlife pond ….. turns out they are mosquito larvea …. your page has really helped in my understanding that my pond is on the first step to be a real haven for wildlife , cheers
ha! Brigit, we can learn new things every day. Thanks for commenting. Glad it helped you! Cheers George
Hi there. I have some of these appear in my child’s water fountain toy outside. Obviously no other fish are in there to eat them. I need to clean it out and disinfect it to get rid of them really. Any advice ? Are these classed as a pest ?
DEpends if they are mozzies and how urgently you need the toy….they will be leaving soon of their own accord. Leave that decision to you Sid. Cheers George
Hi George
Great article. Thank you
We dug a large wildlife pond during Covid lockdown. Filled it with rain water which turned very green. Tadpoles/plants and millions of mosquito larva appeared…pond became very clean…but within the last week the larvae have disappeared, the pond has got very dark again and tadpole numbers are not what they were (I think).
Any ideas what is happening?
Thanks
Mike
Sorry Mike, could be many thangs. Check out predators and the mozzies arent in the pond for a long time. Cheers George
Thanks George. The cycle appears to be repeating itself…pond water clearing, larvae back, increased numbers of waterboatmen, tadpoles still visible, froglets appearing…must be a natural cycle. Appears very healthy again!
Regards
Mike
Hi,
We have had mosquito larvae disappear for a few weeks now. We had loads about 3 months ago. Is this normal at this time of year or should you always have larvae?
They don’t stay in the water that long in my garden and until recently I had some adults in my garden. Cheers George NN
Is it okay to leave mosquito larvae in my water feature? Once mature , will they move on? I don’t want to be inundated but at the same time, I’d prefer natural predators to keep them at bay.
Thank you.
Julie, They form part of the food chain for many creatures that live in the pond. e.g beetle and dragonfly larvae. Me, I just let them get on with it! To difficult to be rid of them and they are not there long. Cheers G
Hi George. I made a little wildlife pond in my garden only 10 days ago. I topped it up with water last night and a frog appeared from under the rock ( I love frogs) Then we noticed hundreds of tiny black things and my daughter said they were tadpoles. I assumed she was right because of the frog. But now I’ve read the questions on your site and I believe they must be mosquito larvae. There are literally hundreds. What would you advise I do – empty the little pond or just leave them? Would the frog of maybe been eating them. They’re tiny black things swimming around. The thought of them being mosquitoes makes me feel sick lol
Sue, They form part of the food chain for many creatures that live in the pond. e.g beetle and dragonfly larvae. Me, I just let them get on with it! Cheers G