pesticides falling from the sky

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:49 pm

Well, my city officals (actually anyone who lives in sacramento county and prolly others in cali) have decided to from poisen from the sky to combat west nile virus masquitos. their pyrithrin based, and they say they will be safe for "most animals" but no one will tell me specificly which ones will be harmed. Im just assuming hermies will be at the top of the list...

So, today (mon), tuesday and wed. i plan on locking my crabs in my room, with all ventilation cut off, except for a fan for circulation... because my family plans on keeping all the doors and what not open... becuase we have no air conditionher and it will be 102f there abouts. arg.... what else can i do?

I heard that maybe keeping a moist towel over the whole lid may help.... in the old days cowboys used to use wet hankies to keep dust out of their lungs....

can someone offer my any help?

NaRnAR · Post by **NaRnAR** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:34 pm

Hmm that sounds a bit rash, I mean we have west nile around here, people just need to treat their ponds and lakes with mosquito stuff, and wear the DEET of course. IMO, they are only going to make the situation worse by keeping the more "able" mosquitos around while getting rid of the "weaker" ones.

I would think that covering the tank ina wet towel would have a good chance at trapping the chemicals before they reach into the tank, I would also keep the lid on the tank, to provide another barrier. If youre looking to "seal" the room perhaps laying moist towels around the widown panes and under the door will keep out the pesticides...kind of like you do to keep smoke out during a fire.

I think that pesticide would be really harmful not only to the mosquito population but also the other bug populations. How sad.

How long did they say before the chemicals settle??

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:38 pm

they havnt said... they mentioned that its not supposed to effect masquitos on the ground, just flying ones, but Ya, Im afraid their gunna wipe out all of our native bugs, which will kill the frogs and other repts/amphibians and basicly crash our little ecosystem.... like when they kill all the deer in folsom so the cougars started eating hikers... so now they have added more deer.....

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:48 pm

Pyrethrin is synthetic pyrethrum, which is derived from a South African chrysanthemum and I have it on authority from scientists at the Crustacean Society that it is deadly to crustaceans such as lobster when it gets into the water.

What I don't understand is why the state authorities aren't doing what is done in Southeast Asia about mosquitoes. If the males are irradiated, they become sterile. The sterile mosquitoes are released into the wild, where they mate with females. Female mosquitoes only mate once, so they are fooled by this and don't produce eggs thereafter. It works great in malaria-ridden places like Thailand and I really don't get why they won't do it here.

Pyrethrins are dangerous. The pest insects like aphids and spider mites are immune. Most predators such as pirate bugs and ladybugs, are not.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 5:25 pm

Don't you just love California? I never heard of this yet but thanks for posting it!

I technically live in Rancho Cordova, which used to be a part of Sacramento, but became it's own city in 2003. I am sure that I'll be affected by this too. I am not opening any of my windows or doors for a loong time now.

My family and I are just about fed up with this state, back in May, the police entered our house without a search warrant or anything, and arrested me for 'falsely reporting a crime' with 911. I wasn't even HOME at the time I alledgedly called 911, and we are taking this to court. I even have statements from teachers and friends I was with at the time. I can't wait to sue the pants of the state.

But anyway thats a whole nother story.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:18 pm

Shadow wrote:Don't you just love California? I never heard of this yet but thanks for posting it!

I technically live in Rancho Cordova, which used to be a part of Sacramento, but became it's own city in 2003. I am sure that I'll be affected by this too. I am not opening any of my windows or doors for a loong time now.

My family and I are just about fed up with this state, back in May, the police entered our house without a search warrant or anything, and arrested me for 'falsely reporting a crime' with 911. I wasn't even HOME at the time I alledgedly called 911, and we are taking this to court. I even have statements from teachers and friends I was with at the time. I can't wait to sue the pants of the state.

But anyway thats a whole nother story.

Someone could have used whats called a "beige box" to pull a sick prank on you. It allows someone to connect a telephone to your phone line from somewhere like behind your house, or anywhere they have access to your phone line. Thus the calls they make would show up on your phone records.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:30 pm

hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm....

you said that you wouldn't have air conditioning, and that the temps will be very high, with your door closed and no vrntilation you could injure the crabs by overheating them.

i dont know what u should do but i thought that i shoulld bring it to your attention!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:38 pm

keybowvio wrote:hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm....

you said that you wouldn't have air conditioning, and that the temps will be very high, with your door closed and no vrntilation you could injure the crabs by overheating them.

i dont know what u should do but i thought that i shoulld bring it to your attention!

She could always use a plug-in fan...? That is bad, I know around here they have trucks that go around spraying for mosquitos. Hasn't harmed my crabs though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:41 pm

a fan wont really cool down the room temp though. especially if thers no circulation.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:59 pm

I wish this coty would spray the trees...I got aphids falling like snow off my tree. Well, anyone who has a tree in thier frontyard has this problem here. The city owns the trees, we cant cut them, trim them or spray them, but they don't take care of them

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:46 pm

The city owns the trees, even if they're in your property?

...Thats messed up...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:10 pm

They spray here too. Parish (County to the rest of you) workers drive around in trucks spraying up and down each street. I'm a cable tech and work outside. Usually when they pass a person or animal they turn the spray off, but one day I was coming down my ladder into the street and he didn't see me. Well, I got envoloped! It sucked!!! On the bright side I didn't get bit by any mosquitos that day.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:13 pm

Yup they own them. They come trim them when they feel like it. And it doesn't even look good. They are all jacked. They just care about the power lines not how funny looking the tree is after they hack it.

I've called 32 times, my neighbor across the street 27(she came and asked me yesterday,lol) and the neighbor right next to me has called since april 1st of this year, every day. Have they sprayed? No.....

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:34 am

Vicki, if the city won't spray but you and your neighbors have had a gut full, there is a product that is very elegant in its action that maybe you and your neighbors can pool together to buy.

It's beauveria bassiana. This is an insect disease that attacks soft bodied insects like mites and aphids and won't bother you, and hopefully not your crabs. It works by infecting an insect, who then starts producing spores in its body. It wanders around, unable to eat, in pain (one hopes) for about a week to ten days, and every other one of its kind it bumps into is infected and passes it along. Then it dies. It's VERY effective, and a very appropriate way to kill something like aphids. And the bodies stay around so that newly arriving insects catch the spores.

It can be hard to find, but if you can do it, it is worth it. Here's a link with information about it:

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/general/htms/bassiana.htm

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 2:10 pm

Well, with my room shut off fromt he outside world, it didnt get any hotter then usual... but my crabbers all apear fine...

Shadow, you live in Rancho? Ya, i et your getting sprayed tonight or tomarrow.. I live in orangevale/citrus heights.

and on the arrest thing, ya, not all of the cops around here are good... my aunt used to work as a rep for the sheriffs deptartment... what sucks is that the few good cops get run out...

then we're stuck with the guys who harrassed you and captain camado the idiot motercycle cop who was yelling at me 30 seconds after i rolled my car.... hello... i wont listen when im upsidedown in my vehicle.....