If you live somewhere that may be prone by heavy rain, flooding, or ponded water, get yourself some of these “mosquito dunks.” They’re made with bacillus thuringiensis, safe for wildlife, but deadly for mosquito larvae. With a rise in mosquito-borne diseases affecting people and pets, it’s important to be proactive.
@kendonnelly @cassandra17lina How does the oil affect the feathers of birds who visit the water? What about other (beneficial) insects who might be there to take a drink?
@kendonnelly @cassandra17lina p.s. "take a drink" or live their larval stage under water - that's sealed with vegetable oil?
@CJLavoie @kendonnelly It’s not an issue from what I’ve seen.
@cassandra17lina @kendonnelly My question was about the suggestion to instead use vegetable oil.
@CJLavoie @cassandra17lina yes and I don’t know the answer.
@kendonnelly @CJLavoie @cassandra17lina I don't recommend the oil treatment NOR dish detergent. It smothers the whole pond and isn't good for water fowl, water plants, visiting animals nor fish. It goes rancid very quickly. I use mosquito fish or rosey reds plus the dunks/bits.
@CJLavoie @cassandra17lina I don’t really know. I look at it as a better solution than using pesticides. But I don’t have answers to your fair questions.
The dunks/granules are BT, not a pesticide per se. Bacillus thuringiensis.
Can confirm. Don’t want to harm any other life in a pond or waterway? This does the trick. Like it’s custom just for mosquitos without the toxic poison.
@cassandra17lina those work great! I put a bunch of them in a neighbors stagnant pool a few years ago
@cassandra17lina These do work great, targeted to mosquitos only. I use the granules they also sell, for use in my 7 gallon bird tub.
@cassandra17lina Where I live the city quit spraying for mosquitoes a few years ago and instead use something like this to target ponds where mosquitoes hatch. It cut the mosquito population WAY down. 🙂
@cassandra17lina thanks for the tip!
@cassandra17lina Don't throw that in your frog pond, though. It makes the tadpoles weird.
@cassandra17lina also a small amount of vegetable oil. It creates a skim on the surface, smothering the larvae. Completely natural and biodegradable.