Wild caught logs cleaning?

Went out on the trail and happened across two fallen log pieces, both have a great natural look and both have lichen/mossy stuff on them. I have seen that people pick them up and cook them for some time to sanitize for their enclosures- but what is the tried and true process for it?

is there a way I can do it while keeping the bark/lichen look?

Both piwces are a littlw damp, and both smaller than a foot in length.

I think the oven method work best if your desired effect is to try to keep it more the way it is, I believe it is put in your oven @ lowest temp yours can go for an hour or so? I never done this myself so sure someone with more experience will chime in any moment.. Best wishes always..;)

I'm not so sure the lichens will survive, but what I've done (for pieces that actually fit in my oven, which admittedly, hasn't been many) is to spray them wet
with the diluted chlorhexidine* (or similar product, I've used others too, like F10 & Nolvasan*) that I clean cages with, then bake them @ 250* for an hour or so.
The reason for the spray is to kill pathogens left by birds & other wildlife...things that might not die off in the oven. Never had any negative issues that I know
of from using such branches, and the bigger branches don't even get baked...only on my hot sunny driveway, but they tend to get re-sprayed a couple times.
(also use a wire brush to remove any loose bark first)(*and just don't use any diluted bleach solution for this as the fumes will never come out of porous wood,
& they'll be toxic to your animals)

I have to admit that from your thread title, I pictured you trying to catch these & some of them getting away...;)

I was hoping it would sound funny, but it reads so awkward [emoji23]

I have chlorahexidine for the snakes, so I'll do a good spray and a scrub before the oven.

Too bad about the bark and lichen though- they really tied the log together! Also does the type of wood matter? I'm not sure of the type I picked up. It's going to end up in a rat snakes viv and a bts viv.


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About the only branches I wouldn't use are cedar...many of mine are oak because that's what's around. If you notice a scent, you might also consider coating
them with a no-VOC waterproofing product...it's totally snake-cage-safe when dry & would help the branches shed cage dirt in the future too. But as much as
I think it's a good idea, I haven't bothered coating my branches...it's so easy to just get more...but that might be a consideration if yours were hard to come by,
especially if they fought hard to avoid being caught? :rofl:

And yeah, sorry about the bark & lichens but that's where most of the issues are. Once in a while, one of my un-baked branches will come with a beetle-
as far as I can tell they're harmless & remain in the branch, slowly chewing holes in it...I only know because I'll find a tiny 1" pile of wood dust under the
hole they made.

Yeah I'll probably do that then! There was a few chew tracks from I'm assuming bugs and/or worms.

One of the ends was essentially saw dust and I knocked it all off- I'm more than sure bugs live in it.

I'll post pics once it's done- and one of how the logs looked pre-scrub


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And yes- the Logs fought valiantly till the bitter end.


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My "toughest" branch was actually floating in the Buffalo River...I loved the graceful multi-curves & couldn't resist dragging it back from a kayak float, lol...
(and I dried it & re-sprayed it several times before I trusted it in the cage...but my big 7' Florida male rat snake loves it, so it was all worth the effort!)