Insect Repellents The Mighty Bitey Bugs Are Here

Caution: Cats and birds must be treated differently. Their nervous systems cannot handle the stronger essential oils. You may find some cats tolerating Lemon Eucalyptus and Lavender. You must not ever use pennyroyal with cats and birds as it can cause severe damage to their nervous systems. Humans, dogs, and horses should not ingest pennyroyal. Pennyroyal has also been sited as a possible abortive so if you are pregnant or the dog or horse you are treating is pregnant, you may want to avoid pennyroyal. Use homeopathics, flower essences, and hydrosols with birds and cats.

 The oils listed here are the most commonly used. There are other essential oils that you can use and feel free to experiment to find out what works for you.

•  Mosquitoes             Lemon Eucalyptus,  Peppermint, Citronella
•  Ticks                       Lemon Eucalyptus,  Camphor
•  Fleas                      Pennyroyal, Lemon Eucalyptus, Tea Tree
•  Chiggers                Cedarwood (Red or Texas)
•  Roaches                Eucalyptus
•  Ants                        Peppermint usually
•  Ant Bites                 Tea Tree
•  Fire Ant Removal   Orange Oil with water, molasses, and liquid soap  applied to any mound.                                        

Garlic Oil is used to boost any of these formulas. Use garlic when you find the oils are not quite doing the job. When Mosquitoes have been gassed, they will not repel easily and will need the repellent boosted with Garlic. Garlic tends to be treated as offensive by many so use sparingly. One drop of Garlic is enough for a 1 oz blend.

 To make these repellents you will need:

1. glass spray bottle,
2. high grade alcohol like EverClear,
3. water
4. essential oils.

Fill the glass bottle to ¼ with alcohol. We all should be familiar with this alcohol since it is in so many hand sanitizers. Add the essential oils which can be 10 percent of the blend. 1 oz could have as much as 75 drops. One percent would be 7-8 drops per oz. You may use more or less depending on what you see is needed. Shake to combine. The liquid will look cloudy. Now add distilled or filtered water to fill the bottle. Shake. The liquid will be cloudy which means the oils are in suspension. If the liquid goes clear, you will need to shake again to mix the oils. Oils tend to fall out of suspension when the water is added. You could just make the blend with all alcohol, but this would be drying and expensive. Only add garlic if you feel the blend is not strong enough and 1 drop per oz is plenty.

Spray onto humans, dogs or horses and their environment. Fleas can live in your carpet and furniture. If you get an outbreak of fleas, you must treat the environment too.