Lavender oils/scents vs BP

[KingWheatley]

I tried to look up if Lavender will affect my BP, but I could only come up with articles about a morph (lavender ball python).

Currently my BP is showing signs that he is about to shed (TERRIBLE TIMING!!!) so he is sniff... licking.... er... snicking?... around like a storm being that he is basically blind for today. His room has been done up with JUST lavender carpet powder. I figure I can get away with just that.

The rest of the apartment has been bathed in 50%rubbing alcohol/fabuloso lavender, Lavender Vanilla Glade, and of course the same Lavender powder I used in the snake room to line the carpet along the walls that lead to exterior areas.

It is 10000000% necessary for all of this, for after moving into our new apartment, we found some tiny pesky little blood suckers notorious for causing hard to control infestations... that's right... Bed Bugs.... -shudder-

I read online that Lavender scented things and Lavender oils are basically like arsenic to them.

We have an exterminator coming Thursday and I have my hopes he will NOT spray the snake room (I'm taking off work for this event... I'll be packing my snake up and keeping him out of harms way... for as many hours as it takes for the chems to settle so as not to kill him... ) but I worry at the same time that reptile blood is delicious to these pests.

As it is... I'm having to skip feeding day until I can be sure that the blood from the mouse-feeding won't attract those little... bugs.

I have only seen a total of three so far. But all three were starving looking (not plump with blood) I killed two. The other got away because I freaked and threw the blanket across the room.

But Cookie is in shed! I can't run a humidifier yet and the spray bottle I use to mist water around is being used for that Lavender/Alcohol solution....

Help.


Herp Derp

[Jaajo]

I work in a homeless shelter in Finland and we have a bedbug problem from time to time. Our exterminator has told us that the only thing that gets rid of the bed bugs is either using the chemical or heat on EVERY room of the building as bed bugs will try to get away from the heat or chemicals. If you have seen a few of them that means there is a load more somewhere. The point when you start actually noticing them means that you have a lot of em. If you want to sleep in peace make sure your bed doesnt touch the walls, or nothing that the bedbugs could use for climbing touches the bed , then put little cups with little bit of baby powder spread to the sides under the bed legs.

[mlededee]

Do not use essential oils around snakes or other reptiles. If possible do not have the room that the snake lives in sprayed with pesticide and do not bring the snake into any room that has been treated for several weeks (I honestly don't know the actual safe time frame here). If all rooms will be sprayed the snake will need to be removed from the apartment completely.

You can kill bed bugs with borax powder. Sprinkle the borax in carpets, across doorways and all along the edges of rooms and in corners. This treatment is 100% safe for reptiles as long as the reptiles do not come into contact with the borax (don't let your snake crawl on the floor where borax is). I have used this method in my reptile room to help control ants and other pest bugs.

ETA: Don't ever use the spray bottle with the alcohol/lavender mix in it for Cookie again. Get a new one.

[KingWheatley]

Do not use essential oils around snakes or other reptiles. If possible do not have the room that the snake lives in sprayed with pesticide and do not bring the snake into any room that has been treated for several weeks (I honestly don't know the actual safe time frame here). If all rooms will be sprayed the snake will need to be removed from the apartment completely.

You can kill bed bugs with borax powder. Sprinkle the borax in carpets, across doorways and all along the edges of rooms and in corners. This treatment is 100% safe for reptiles as long as the reptiles do not come into contact with the borax (don't let your snake crawl on the floor where borax is). I have used this method in my reptile room to help control ants and other pest bugs.

ETA: Don't ever use the spray bottle with the alcohol/lavender mix in it for Cookie again. Get a new one.

I didn't use (edit: MY Lavender-alcohol spray) around Cookie's room at all. just the carpet powder with Lavender.

I asked the exterminator not to spray in the reptile room because I (will) have diatomaceous earth down. He said he still has to spray in there but putting a towel over his tank will be fine. He said they use a non-residual, so after 10 minutes it won't be in the air at all. "They are all natural and made out of plants." And instructed me not to use anything else other what they are using or their warranty will not be in effect.


Herp Derp

[mlededee]

I didn't use (edit: MY Lavender-alcohol spray) around Cookie's room at all. just the carpet powder with Lavender.

I asked the exterminator not to spray in the reptile room because I (will) have diatomaceous earth down. He said he still has to spray in there but putting a towel over his tank will be fine. He said they use a non-residual, so after 10 minutes it won't be in the air at all. "They are all natural and made out of plants." And instructed me not to use anything else other what they are using or their warranty will not be in effect.


Herp Derp

Take Cookie and Cookie's enclosure out of the apartment for the entire day when the spraying happens. It doesn't matter what the pesticide is made out of. Essential oils are "all natural and made out of plants" and they can cause neurotoxicity and death in reptiles.

Think about it. If you put a towel over your face and sprayed perfume all around the room that you were in, you would probably still be able to smell the perfume through the towel, meaning that the airborne particles are getting through the towel. A towel is not a barrier for pesticide. Don't risk it. Just take Cookie somewhere else.

[Lizardlicks]

Side bar question: would PAM work on bed bugs same as snake mites? I don't know if they're susceptible to permethrin, but it seems like that would be a very safe way to go for both humans and snake if that's the case.

[KingWheatley]

Side bar question: would PAM work on bed bugs same as snake mites? I don't know if they're susceptible to permethrin, but it seems like that would be a very safe way to go for both humans and snake if that's the case.

I'd imagine it's made specifically for mites? Different bugs have their different arsenics, in a manner of speaking.

Still, would like to find out if it just so happens to work just the same.


Herp Derp

[KingWheatley]

Take Cookie and Cookie's enclosure out of the apartment for the entire day when the spraying happens. It doesn't matter what the pesticide is made out of. Essential oils are "all natural and made out of plants" and they can cause neurotoxicity and death in reptiles.

Think about it. If you put a towel over your face and sprayed perfume all around the room that you were in, you would probably still be able to smell the perfume through the towel, meaning that the airborne particles are getting through the towel. A towel is not a barrier for pesticide. Don't risk it. Just take Cookie somewhere else.

100% agree when it comes to residual pesticides. Although Perfume is residual, I believe. All essential oils and literally anything with scent is also residual. I made 100% certain not to spray around Cookie and made sure to keep the door shut as much as possible to prevent the Lavender smell from invading the snake room.

Right now I don't know anyone around me (we moved to Ohio) who is willing to watch Cookie. I recently also purchased a corn snake baby who my friend has no problem watching, (and currently is until a little later in the day) however she is scared of Cookie who is WAY bigger. (Corn snake baby is no bigger than a large worm O-O)

However the pesticide is odorless, this guy used it everywhere and it was used on my furniture and my bed as well. It is not residual at all. It would be more like as if you sprayed alcohol everywhere, as that is not residual as well. After it dries, like hand sanitizer to an extent if you removed the scented product and left the rest, there isn't anything left. I'm safe to literally lick the sheets if I do chose. I wouldn't, but you catch my drift. This pesticide is safe for children "and pets" to walk on/lay on when dry. Though I am not going to be taking Cookie or the new cornsnake out to slither around for a very long time. Their tanks, per my request, were not touched by the spray and are currently sitting on tables in the center of the room.

What I did do, for Cookie, was wrap him up in a clean shirt, put him in my carrying duffel-like bag I have used for transporting him anywhere, and we left for a couple hours. He doesn't seem to be acting any differently.


Herp Derp

[mlededee]

From what I have read, permethrin sometimes kills bedbugs but they can become resistant to it.

When a pest control company says that a pesticide is safe for pets, they mean cats and dogs. If you read the fine print in their literature there is usually a clause that states that they do not take responsibility for a pesticide treatment's effects on birds and reptiles. Because the same safety rules do NOT apply.

I also feel like an odorless pesticide is actually more dangerous than one you can smell. If you can't smell it, you don't know it is there. If you can, you know it is present and that you shouldn't be breathing it in or exposing your reptiles to it. Also, bedbugs are usually treated with a residual pesticide because they are so hard to eradicate. A non-residual pesticide will only work for a very short time, and you need long term effects to get rid of bed bugs.

[Lizardlicks]

From what I understand, heat treating is the better and safer option, but it's a big pain in the tuchus, so a lot of places use the spray and pray method.