preparing wood/pesiticides

[searchand_dstry]

I have a dogwood tree & apple tree in my yard that I wanted to take wood off and boil for my chinchillas.. However, Ohio does do mosquito spraying & they didn't do it last year. I was talking to my dad about it today & he said he has us on the "Do Not Fog" list because we eat our apples in the summer. Apparently you can register your house so they skip it in the fogging process?

Now I know trees that have been sprayed with pesticides should not be used, but since we use no pesticides of our own & out house is skipped, would it be okay to take wood off of these trees to use for my chins?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chinniechantel]

I would not risk it. Chins are so small, a little pesticide could affect them more than it would us.

 

[SunshineChins]

How do they spray? When I lived in Brevard county FL they have a truck that just drives around in the summer and sprays into the air. Doesn't really go to each house or the back yard just sort of sprays while the truck goes down the road.

Also.. are you sure its a pesticide? They use some sort of fuel (or at least thats what I thought I read in the paper) which forms a skin on standing water so that the mosquitos cannot breed.

 

[aznmexaggie]

I work for an entomology research lab and we do quite a few studies with mosquitoes and the insecticides that are effective at killing and repelling mosquitoes. Here in CA, many mosquito abatement districts and pest control companies are turning to using more "green" products and there are many insecticides that just contain oils from herbs as the active ingredients rather than synthetic chemicals. I would find out what type of insecticide is used in the routine sprayings and could potentially drift onto your trees before deciding whether or not to use the wood.

 

[searchand_dstry]

How do they spray? When I lived in Brevard county FL they have a truck that just drives around in the summer and sprays into the air. Doesn't really go to each house or the back yard just sort of sprays while the truck goes down the road.

Also.. are you sure its a pesticide? They use some sort of fuel (or at least thats what I thought I read in the paper) which forms a skin on standing water so that the mosquitos cannot breed.

I was trying to figure that out last night online. I always thought that they just came down w/ a truck and sprayed into the air (that kills the adult mosquitoes) and they also put something in stagnant water to kill eggs & larva. My dad said were on something so they don't spray our house so I am honestly not sure how they do it, or if it changed over the years. That's why I was wondering if it's safe because it doesn't actually go on anything. Just into the air. I'll have to do some more research & find out.

 

[searchand_dstry]

I work for an entomology research lab and we do quite a few studies with mosquitoes and the insecticides that are effective at killing and repelling mosquitoes. Here in CA, many mosquito abatement districts and pest control companies are turning to using more "green" products and there are many insecticides that just contain oils from herbs as the active ingredients rather than synthetic chemicals. I would find out what type of insecticide is used in the routine sprayings and could potentially drift onto your trees before deciding whether or not to use the wood.

Okay, I'll do some research tonight & find out. What would be considered not harmful to my chinchillas & is there anything that the preparing process would cancel out?

 

[soqrbrad]

Heavy metals and pesticides are really really hard to get out of organic objects (plants and animals) because they often times chemically bond with the host. When an animal eats an infected plant they digest the organic part but the heavy metal/pesticide part then attaches to their bodies. Over time with a lot of exposure these levels can get higher and higher and can start to cause problems at high concentrations.

Examples of the extreme cases are like the Japanese Mercury poisoning fiasco in the 1950's. Miamuta disease I believe. Long term exposure led to very high concentrations of mercury in people. The same thing happens in the animal world with a variety of chemicals/heavy metals.

Snap back to reality though, feeding your chin one or two branches likely will not kill it, however, being a smaller animal a lower concentration of pollutant will likely have a much bigger effect due to body weight/size. (same reason why smaller people often succumb to the effects of alcohol quicker). So by using the wood you would be taking a risk and without a detailed laboratory study on the wood you really don't know how polluted your wood is.

Then again, no wood is perfectly safe as there are trace amounts of a lot of things all over the place. Even the store bought stuff probably has traces of heavy metals and pesticides and other nasty stuff because there is just no way to avoid it.

I hope this helps to explain both sides.