Citronella Candles

[Little Bay Poo]

There are a lot of gnats here in Virginia, and it can be pretty unbearable outside at times. I wanted to take the bunnies outside on nice days and reduce the amount of bugs so I was thinking of using citronella candles set up on tables outside of the playpen. Does anyone know if citronella is safe for bunnies to be breathing in?

 

[maherwoman]

How far from the buns are the candles?

If they're on tables...given that they're at least a yard away from the buns AND outside, so it's probably dissipating a LOT by the time the buns smell it, I would think it was okay.

I'm not too familiar with the subject of Citronella candles with buns, so I'll do a search here, and post more helpful information for ya.

Hugs!

Edited to add: Googled "rabbits, citronella candles", and found a couple sites saying that they're okay to have around buns. I don't usually like using chemicals around the buns...but thinking of how far away it'll be from them, I don't think it'll be a problem.

You could also try sitting with your head at their level to see if you can smell the candle from down there. If it's really dissipated, or not at all, I'm sure they're just fine.

 

[luvthempigs]

I thought citronella was to repel mosquitos? I don't think it will help with the gnats.

 

[Little Bay Poo]

Rosie, thanks for looking that info up for me . I haven't tried the setup just yet (still waiting for another portable play yard to come in the mail to make a GIANT play yard :biggrin2 but the candles should be at least a yard away.

luvthempigs, I've actually never used citronella candles before so I have no idea how effective they'll be! They may not take care of gnats at all, but I figured I'd give it a try anyways, cause I can't think of any product specifically for gnats If anyone knows of something that takes care of gnats feel free to chime in!

 

[luvthempigs]

Is there any way you can put some type of netting or screen mesh around the pen? I would think that would work better than candles.

Or, It wouldn't be the most attractive thing but you could use those sticky fly tape strips around the pen (just don't put them on the pen because your bun may get caught up inthe, and believe me it won't be pretty)

Let us know how it goes

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

We have those tall Tiki torches that we put citronella in a few feet away from the pen. They are up high so the fumes stay up higher than at pen level and only one torch is a few feet away from the pen. I've never had a problem.

 

[luvthempigs]

Do you use those for gnats or mosquitos?

I know when I had horses the gnats could get really bad when it was hot and humid. We would use lots of fly spray and they were still bad. The more the horses or even me for that matter would sweat the worse they would get :grumpy:

 

[JimD]

it's supposed to repel mosquitoes, as well as flies and gnats.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

We use them for mosquitos. I think it works for gnats as well like Jim said. Oh, we also have a bug zapper:biggrin2:. You could get one of those! They're fun to watch at night.

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

Yep - Citronella is safe to use around rabbits. I'm investing in some citronella spray this summer to repel the flies.