First summer with outdoor tortoises

[Morganicandvegan]

Hi! In Austin, TX where I live, the mosquitoes become a huge problem for about half the year. I looked into a pest control service, but the products they were going to use supposedly weren't safe for tortoises. My two Russian tortoises normally freely roam the backyard which is grass - I do also have a little outdoor enclosure but it's mulch and not a big enough space for them to live full time.
I found this natural product called Wondercide - it's made with essential oils. Cedarwood, sesame, sodium laurel sulfate are the main ingredients. Inert ingredients are glyceryl monoctanoate, soap, decanoic acid, monoester with 1, 2, 3-propanetriol.
I saw some reviews that said it's safe for tortoises and they can carry on as normal. Would love to know if anyone has has experience with natural products like this!

 

[Maggie3fan]

I don't understand??? You need to protect a tortoise from mosquitoes?

 

[Tom]

Hi! In Austin, TX where I live, the mosquitoes become a huge problem for about half the year. I looked into a pest control service, but the products they were going to use supposedly weren't safe for tortoises. My two Russian tortoises normally freely roam the backyard which is grass - I do also have a little outdoor enclosure but it's mulch and not a big enough space for them to live full time.
I found this natural product called Wondercide - it's made with essential oils. Cedarwood, sesame, sodium laurel sulfate are the main ingredients. Inert ingredients are glyceryl monoctanoate, soap, decanoic acid, monoester with 1, 2, 3-propanetriol.
I saw some reviews that said it's safe for tortoises and they can carry on as normal. Would love to know if anyone has has experience with natural products like this!

Hello and welcome. There was another thread on this recently. Anything that is toxic or repellent to mosquitoes will also be toxic and repellent to your tortoises. There are two great ideas here in this thread:

Ugh Mosquitos

I thought since it's so dry this year I wouldn't be swarmed with mosquitos & I've moved out to the country. I've been lax about water bowls. Which is an easy fix. I have my outdoor aviary somewhat close to my torts. I have ziplock bags of water hung. I love thermacell for myself, but was...

tortoiseforum.org

Bats and mosquito fish. Something else I do is plant citronella bushes all around the yard, but not where tortoises can reach it or get access to leaves. I love the fragrant smell but bugs hate it.

There are also several types of mosquito traps that work very well, and you can always buy praying mantise egg cases and hatch those out too.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't understand??? You need to protect a tortoise from mosquitoes?

No, they want to get rid of mosquitos and keep the tortoise safe from the product they use.

 

[ArmadilloPup]

I won a war against ground and paper wasps with Mighty Mint, which is basically soap and peppermint. But I've tried both peppermint and cedar oil versus mosquitos/bugs, and the effect is very... meh. Does nothing for an area effect.

I have live peppermint plants around my foundation and those will help with crawlies, but I do still see mosquitos.