How do I steralize wood that seems to be growing a fungus?

[MelissaFlipski]

My husband was giving a thorough cleaning of our BP's tank tonight and when I was putting the Mopani wood back in, I noticed something white or tan on the bottom. I smelled it and it seems to be a fungus - smells like mushrooms.

Should I worry? How do I get rid of it? I am baking it at 190 degrees, is that enough? How long, etc.? Also, the wood is porous, is scrubbing it off after it's sterile enough? Any ideas?

By the way, we have been struggling with keeping our humidity high enough, so I am surprised to see this!

Thanks!

[Blue Apple Herps]

Bake it in the oven to kill off the fungus.

[MelissaFlipski]

Bake it in the oven to kill off the fungus.

Do you know what temperature and for how long? Do I still need to wash it off?

[K80tik]

can you scrape it off? id scrape most of it off. if you can sand down that spot (not to much to make a big dent in wood) then just reseal it with an epoxy paint or such... my 2 cents

[Brimstone111888]

I baked my branches at 325 for 25 minutes.

[Sunny1]

It seems that I am always treating wood for my cockatiels and this is what I do (and what has been suggested to me by other cockatiel keepers).

To treat wood to kill off any mold, fungus, etc. soak it in a few gallons of water with about a tablespoon of bleach for about an hour, after that rinse it off really well (I tend to use hot water for this). Then if it is a smaller branch that can fit in your oven, bake it at about 250* for about another hour. Otherwise leave it out in direct sunlight. This is so that the wood will be dry all the way through. I imagine that if it works for cockatiels, it would work for snakes too.

For regular cleaning of wood (once you do the initial thorough cleaning), I normally just scrub it really well with a mild dish soap and hot water and then I bake it at the 250*.

[West Coast Jungle]

I would use more than a tablespoon of bleach. I like 10-20% bleach solution to kill visible mold or soak husbandry items. When I clean my branches with the solution you can see the wood get a little whiter. You just want to make sure you rinse it real well and let it dry completely. You not only need to clean off mold but kill any spores that may be around.

[Sunny1]

Maybe you would want to go a little stronger for snakes. Birds will chew the wood whereas snakes won't, I didn't take that into effect.

I do use about a 10 - 20% bleach solution for cleaning/sterilizing cages though. On a side note, I am totally glad that the bleach companies are starting to come out with more and more bleach scents. I picked up a lavendar scented bleach that is actually not that bad (I can't stand the smell of regular bleach!!).

I was looking through some bookmarked pages of cockatiel info and found another method of treating wood as well (if you don't like the bleach thing). Wash it in a salt water mix then bake it. This would play into the same idea of using driftwood.

[bigballs]

could you boil it at all? that would kill everything.

how often do you clean your enclosure? is the substrate really wet?