No matter how clean you keep animal enclosures, there are always flies around in the summer months. I greatly dislike flies around my fur babies; I like chemical fly repellents even less!  So I am constantly looking for natural ways to keep flies at bay.

I stumbled on to an idea about using sprigs of fresh mint and lavender, twist-tied to the bars of the cage.  We have mint growing, and lavender growing, so I got right on this idea.  And, you know what?  It works!!  I really think flies don’t like mint!  And, it turns out, I REALLY do!  The smell of the fresh mint and lavender, when smooshed slightly together with the twist tie, is wonderful!

When these sprigs dry out, I put them up on top of the cage and tie fresh ones on.  The bunnies really seem to like them, too!  Little Pixie Ruth likes them a bit too much, and eats them if I don’t keep them out of her reach.  They are perfectly fine for her to eat, but doesn’t do “fly duty” in her little stomach!

So, what if you don’t grow lots of mint?  It turns out that if you put about 15 drops of peppermint essential oil in a small spray bottle of purified water and spritz it on and around the cage each day – that works really well, too.  Be careful not to spray it directly on the bunnies (you don’t want to get it in their eyes), just on the cage.

SO excited to be hosting Animal B.E.S.T. this weekend at Morter Farm.  Along with teaching the amazing Animal B.E.S.T. procedure for small and large animals, we will have a whole presentation about using essential oils in animal care.  You can find out more about Animal B.E.S.T. at http://www.morter.com.