First time in 10years, our cats have gotten ticks on them. And it got me thinking...in any sort of society down scenario, wouldn't bugs have a population explosion? I mean no more bug lights, no more spraying, no more bug repellant stuff at the stores. And with a lot of corpses, you'd also get lots of food for them. Plus lack of mass sanitation/sewage facilities. Does anyone have any plans to deal with that? I know plain white vinegar works for us as a mosquito repellant, and the brewer's yeast pills makes the cats/dog unattractive to ticks. We've got chiggers out here too, but keeping the grass cut down is a good deterrent to most annoyances of that sort.
Tough to control grass without gasoline, but the animal population, which these pests depend upon as hosts, will have a dramatic drop due to hungry humans. Sounds like you already have control measures in place, tick outbreaks are cyclic, but that cycle might be broken in a society down scenario due to lack of hosts. Just have to defend yourself one bug at a time, and pick up a sling blade to keep the grass down.
I just had a conversation with @Witch Doctor 01 about this. If I recall WD said if you wash your pets in Lemon Joy detergent that the bugs hop off of them. It is the lemon scent that they do not like.
A couple guinea hens will clean those ticks out.. For some reason I do not have tick's nor flea's.. I have thought it could be something in the soil here. Now, on the other side of the mountain here, there are plenty of tick's and there a lot of flea's in the next county south of here.. An increase in vermin populations would definitely be a concern given flea's carry pneumonic plague and the tick's spread rocky mountain spotted fever..
Along those lines, we are pretty well stocked with essential oils, lavender, peppermint etc. I mix it with regular body shampoo and even in the prime season in our area it has kept my dog free from fleas - a bit too suburban for ticks I think and have never seen one up here outside the woods. I honestly am not sure there would be much more then extra flies if bodies started to pile up & it would only be a problem in the short Summer's we have here. My wife gets welts from a misquito bite so she always has a fairly large stock and variety of ways to keep from being bitten. True story: Buddy's wifes grandma kept asking what was so much better about living in the Portland OR area vs Mississippi. His wife tells her, to start there are hardly any bugs at all. Grandmas response: Well it just ain't good enough up there fur them bugs then... I still have a laugh every time I even think of that story. You couldn't pay me enough to move back to central Texas after living up here and acclimating to the differences.
I'm teaching my chickens to have an appetite for mice and it seems to work. I catch mice and throw them in to the yard and the chickens fight over them. Kinda a funny the chicken poo attracts flies and the birds feed on the Flies . I imagine they are feeding on any other critters the venture in their zone.
For mosquitos, I use lavender oil, peppermint, eucalyptus oil in a Jojoba carrier oil/ or grape seed oil... that should keep them off (30 drops lavender oil, 1 drop of peppermint oil, 5 drops of eucalyptus oil , remainder carrier oil... be careful with peppermint and eucalyptus as they are hot oils....) there are other oils you can add but start with these to see how you like it then I can recommend some others... If you are trying to hide I don't recommend this mix... for Tick removal We wash the animal in dawn and use forceps to remove the ticks... Tick repellent can be made as follows... 2 ounces liquid oil such a jojoba (which is non-greasy), olive, etc. 20-40 drops geranium bourbon essential oil Mix oil and essential oils together and add to a spray bottle, or better yet an oil mister that is less likely to clog. Store in a cool, dark area when not in use. Should last 2-3 months. YMMV...
Lavender Oil, Peppermint oil ( pure Extract oil) , Ceder Oil, lemon grass oil, and eucalyptus oils all mixed will repel all insects from your pets and home! Be careful with Mint ( can cause cardiac arrest!!!) and Ceder oil in small amounts ( ceder causes skin irritation, and can burn ) Apply directly, or mix with mild soap and water and apply to coat! Spray around doorways and windows and base boards in shaded areas! Pure ceder oil is best for keeping bugs out and when applied to a pets living areas will eliminate all bugs! The other thing that works is Diatomaceous powder sprinkled in with the pet food and sprinkled in the pets fure! Can also be sprinkled in the carpets and bedding and all areas the pets life! basically it gets in to the exoskeleton of bugs and dries them out, thus killing them!
Now , I'm not real good with this computer , internet stuff , but I read a while back , a fellow posted a link that stated , Opossums , can , or will , eat up to 500 ticks per day . I'm not trying to post false claims here , but maybe one of you internet savy guys could find out if this is really true . Might be worth picking up a new yard pet .
Opossums - killers of ticks They don't hunt ticks, but they do eat them. Targets of opportunity, so to say.
