# Other Pythons > General Pythons >  Are essential oils dangerous for snakes?

## Medduussa

I've been dealing with a bug problem for a little while now, I have been spraying lavender oil on my bed. Is it dangerous to spray in the same room as my snake? Or to have my snake on my bed afterwards? Obviously I wouldn't put her on my bed for awhile I'm just wondering about it. Or if I have to wash my covers first. 


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## Jeanne

Essential oils should not ever be used for any purpose around reptiles...period.

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ballpythonluvr (12-02-2016),_PokeyTheNinja_ (12-02-2016)

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## Kirks_Herps

"pure" essential oils are made from plant extract and are non toxic it would be the same as if you had a lavender plant in your room. i see no issue here as long as its not sprayed directly on the snake

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## mlededee

Tree oils (tea tree, cedar, cinnamon etc.) and citrus oils are toxic to reptiles (regardless of purity). Those oils should be avoided completely and other oils kept out of close proximity to your reptiles. Diffusing/spraying an oil into the air is not at all the same as having a plant in the room. When the oil is diffused you are forced to breathe in the oil particles from the air, which does not happen from simply having a plant in the room.

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*Bogertophis* (09-11-2021),_GoingPostal_ (09-13-2021),_nikkubus_ (09-11-2021),PitOnTheProwl (12-05-2016),_PokeyTheNinja_ (12-05-2016)

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## Calider

Essential oils are incredibly dangerous to use around nearly any animal, and I have personally seen several pets of different species brought into my work for emergency treatment after coming into contact with anything from tea tree to eucalyptus to citronella to lavender. The only animal I can think of off the top of my head that is okay with EO's would be a horse. We have had a few different herps come in for treatment after coming into contact with cedar, even diluted. Cedar will sicken or kill just about anything, tea tree will drop your cat dead in under an hour and make your dog vomit itself into a coma, catnip oil will RIP your sugar gliders, and pretty much anything can cause irritation of skin and respiratory system in reptiles and other small animals, which is the reason we don't use aromatic bedding for our herps. I'd need to do some more research as my practice doesn't deal with herps very often but it is possible, just because of the global locations of the plants, that tea tree and eucalyptus may be safe for some reptiles in such diluted quantity as they would encounter in the wild IE brushing up against the leaves of the eucalyptus tree they are climbing, etc. Reptiles are not people. If you sprinkle salt on your skin, it doesn't hurt you. Sprinkle it on your gecko and you will probably kill it. Never liken herps to humans, we are not the same and we do not have the same tolerances for things. When I was a kid, my mom used to put lavender on our pillowcases to help us sleep, and while I never put my snake directly on my pillow, he did live in the same room and he never exhibited any distress from it. I was always very careful with him though because he was extremely expensive (at the time) and always washed my hands before handling him. Him being a LTC/GTP, and me being a small child, he was more of a display animal than a pet, so I didn't take him out much anyway.

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## mlededee

> I'd need to do some more research as my practice doesn't deal with herps very often but it is possible, just because of the global locations of the plants, that tea tree and eucalyptus may be safe for some reptiles in such diluted quantity as they would encounter in the wild IE brushing up against the leaves of the eucalyptus tree they are climbing, etc.


Those oils are not safe for reptiles, not even when diluted. They are among the most toxic to reptiles, in fact. Brushing up against the leaf of a whole plant is not the same as coming into contact with a highly concentrated essential oil that may have been processed in a number of ways (making it into a form which would not be found in nature).

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*Bogertophis* (09-11-2021)

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## Albert Clark

> I've been dealing with a bug problem for a little while now, I have been spraying lavender oil on my bed. Is it dangerous to spray in the same room as my snake? Or to have my snake on my bed afterwards? Obviously I wouldn't put her on my bed for awhile I'm just wondering about it. Or if I have to wash my covers first. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


  What kind of bug?

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## Calider

> Those oils are not safe for reptiles, not even when diluted. They are among the most toxic to reptiles, in fact. Brushing up against the leaf of a whole plant is not the same as coming into contact with a highly concentrated essential oil that may have been processed in a number of ways (making it into a form which would not be found in nature).


 :Wink: Okie

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## Claire&snek

My mom sprayed some essential oils down on our carpet (without me knowing) in front of our 3 reptile (one is a ball python) cages last night because she thought it stunk in there and we were having company over that night…I freaked out and made sure it would never happen again but after it getting sprayed once (I cracked open the windows for a bit) do you think that they are ok if it never happens again? 

Thankfully the company we had over was some good friends of ours who have TONS of experience with reptiles and have been keeping and studying them for over 16 years…they told us that if it was a one time thing it is fine but if it happened all the time then you have issues.
I also freaked out because I have asthma (so way to go mom) and it bothered me so It maybe bothered the reptiles? Again…one time thing wont happen again, what do you guys think? (Sorry to piggyback off your post  :Sad: )

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## Bogertophis

Old thread (5 years) but important safety topic- so I won't criticize your post.   :Wink:   Just want to point out that essential oils are NOT all the same- there's way too many kinds to generalize as to their potential effects on reptiles & whether or not your pets are safe now.  And oils don't evaporate the way other (water-based) things do either, so I think it's time for a good steam-cleaning of the carpet, that would be safer, IMO.

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_nikkubus_ (09-11-2021)

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## bcr229

> Old thread (5 years) but important safety topic- so I won't criticize your post.    Just want to point out that essential oils are NOT all the same- there's way too many kinds to generalize as to their potential effects on reptiles & whether or not your pets are safe now.  And oils don't evaporate the way other (water-based) things do either, so I think it's time for a good steam-cleaning of the carpet, that would be safer, IMO.


Not sure steam cleaning is the best idea as that will get the oil hot and potentially turn it into an aerosol as the carpet get hot, and then cools and dries.  Future vacuuming will also be a problem - any oil stuck to dust particles too small for the filter to pick up will become airborne.

It might be easier to relocate the reptiles to a different part of the house.

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## Bogertophis

> Not sure steam cleaning is the best idea as that will get the oil hot and potentially turn it into an aerosol as the carpet get hot, and then cools and dries.  Future vacuuming will also be a problem - any oil stuck to dust particles too small for the filter to pick up will become airborne.
> 
> It might be easier to relocate the reptiles to a different part of the house.


You're right, & I was thinking about that too.  The only reason I said "steam cleaning" is that I was thinking they might be able to remove it altogether- they have some excellent stain-removing products now, but you'd have to mention it's an issue they'd need to "spot clean".   You'd surely want the reptiles out of the room during the cleaning, & like you said, depending on what oils were used, even future vacuuming could be an issue.  Sorry I wasn't more clear, & glad you mentioned.

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## Claire&snek

Ok...ops didn't realize it's been 5 years! :Razz: 

Well it was sprayed a few times on the carpet only and the smell is gone by now so what do you think? Are we in the clear? Also, I'll do anything for our reptiles but there really isn't anywhere else they could comfortably go? Do you think we're in the clear?

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## Claire&snek

Also the reptile people we had over took a look at the ingredients (it's not at all pure essential oil) a lot of it is water with some flower essential oil (it's a spray so it's not pure oils)...the only thing was there was an ingredient called "fragrance" but no citrus or tree oil or anything like that...what do you guys think...if you need it I can send the list of exact stuff in it...just let me know  :Smile:

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## Bogertophis

The term "essential oil" generally refers to a concentrated bottle with one ingredient that was distilled from a single plant source & exhibiting characteristics of the plant from which it originated- regardless of whether it's sprayed, dabbed or poured from a container.   Apparently that's NOT what you sprayed & since the smell is now "gone"...?   :Confused2:   Meh.  Who knows?  but probably okay.

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## Claire&snek

So this is the front and back of the spray bottlehope this gives more info (trying to upload the picture using Tapatalk so sorry if it takes a sec)  :Smile: 


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## Claire&snek



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## Claire&snek

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## Claire&snek

Better up close picture 


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## tempo36

> "pure" essential oils are made from plant extract and are non toxic it would be the same as if you had a lavender plant in your room. i see no issue here as long as its not sprayed directly on the snake


I deleted my first two attempts at a sentence...so here's try #3! Just because something is "natural", "pure", or "plant extract" doesn't make it harmless, especially when crossing species. 

Cyanide is found in apple seeds. 

Aspirin is found in tree bark. 

Several chemotherapy drugs, such as doxorubicin and paclitaxel, come from plants and bacteria. 

The oils from pine and cedar are potentially toxic to reptiles, although there's some debate about this as I understand it. 

Several essential oils are toxic to cats, wintergreen, citrus, and birch among others as I recall; because cats lack certain hepatic enzymes that break these down. 

So, no, just because an essential oil is "natural" doesn't mean it's fine for snakes.

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*bcr229* (09-12-2021),*Bogertophis* (09-12-2021),Claire&snek (09-20-2021)

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## Claire&snek

Ok thank you! Its been over a week and the reptiles are doing fine but I made sue my family and i know not to spray anything else in our room at all, since there reptiles are there, anymore. Thanks again everyone!


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