Question for you 'natural' looking set up guys.

So I've been thinking of spicing up the little boa cages in a test for the big boas and Caesar. I want to put in some silk vines again and would like to put in a nice piece of driftwood. My question is last time i did driftwood years and years ago on a coco substrate, the driftwood started molding all around where it contacted the coco. How do you guys keep your driftwood from molding short of suspending it like perches?

Mind you I don’t use my driftwood as perches but I use Minwax polycrylic sealant(water based and non toxic/low voc) on mine. So far going 8 months strong with no sign of mold of any sort. It’s water resistant but not waterproof so I wouldn’t submerge it in water.

Another sealant I’ve used, though not on my wood pieces yet but on my custom decor, I’ve used this sealant, which is water proof. Both have been working great for me so far!
https://www.amazon.com/AgraLife-TriC.../dp/B00GG0B3X6

Depends on the wood. In a fully bioacoustics rice setup, your micro fauna should help control the mold but you also need to bake the wood even if driftwood to kill all spores. I recommend getting from pet shops or online that autoclave and season the wood to help li
it decay and bringing in fungal and mold spores. You need to sterilize everything you bring in especially love plants as they harbor mold as well. Bleach soak the plants and strip soil before planting to limit exposure.

Well it would be pet shop driftwood. Last time i used a piece of the pet shop driftwood, like i said, it molded right at where it sat on the Eco Earth.

So i would basically need to seal it? :(

What you can do is pick a piece that is JUST right. Meaning one that has less points of contact with the bottom. You can also mount the driftwood on a good sized piece of flat stone slate. Looks really nice and keeps it off of the substrate. Also keeps it from falling over and keeps it in the position you want it in.

Aside from that, unless you have a species such as a Rainbow Boa, your humidity shouldn't stay so high as to make it mold. Just try to keep it off the substrate by choosing the right pieces or mounting them on slate.

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...od-reptile.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...download_1.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...ge/LS001-2.jpg

Well the problem is wood + moisture + low ventilation + any outside contamination will always = mold.

Your choice is sterilize everything that goes in, including washing your hands every time you are going in or use synthetic simulated wood. All wood will mold if coming in contact with moisture and spores get into the cage.

If you are not going bioactive then keep the substrate dry and use other means to keep humidity up. I have no mold in any of my cages and I live in a dense forest in west Tennessee which has insane decaying organisms and we have mold everywhere.

See thats the problem. I can do wood perches which wouldnt mold as i have those in Pat's cage and they are fine and he has a constant 50-70% humidity. The thing is, his perches never touch any wet or damp things as i dont mist the cage.

The big pieces of wood would touch the substrate in the boa's cages. I might just go with a single perch for them. Maybe i'll order some from Specialty Enclosures and then order green PVC pipe and wrap and zip tie a silk vine on it to give grip.

And there is no way you can sterilize everything. Snakes will poop and piss, spores are carried on the air, feding FT food will get dragged through the substrate. Guess I'll probably just skip the wood logs and like i said, just rig up a perch for them or just go with a bunch of silk vines to give a nice jungle feel lol since they do already have their shelves which they use.

Did you see the above pictures ??

You can mount the big pieces on rock slate! You can be really creative and fasten the wood so it will stay up in the position you like. The little bit of substrate that may get dragged onto the slate won't be enough to cause any issue as it wouldn't be thick and dry quickly. You can even fasten the wood in more then one spot on the slate to keep it off the ground. Plus it looks wicked awesome :)

For example, if you found a piece such as that you could easily make it work. You can get 2 beautiful pieces of slate and drill through it. On the left you have only one attachment point, the part that touches the ground. On the right you would need a larger piece of slate and drill 2 holes and attach it to the 2 legs of the wood.

That would make a custom piece that would be quite very beautiful for a snake. It would be long and sturdy, too! Plus the slate adds to the natural look and helps the snake shed as well ;)


http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...ferns%20s-.jpg



This piece (shown in a fish tank) you could also attach to 2 pieces of slate. On the left you would need a larger piece and drill 3 holes to attach to the 3 legs and on the right you would need just one hole in a piece of slate. Between the 2 flat rocks it would be stable and look absolutely amazing in a snake cage! So much "more" then just perches, I think.

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...e/IMG_0662.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well it would be pet shop driftwood. Last time i used a piece of the pet shop driftwood, like i said, it molded right at where it sat on the Eco Earth.

So i would basically need to seal it? :(

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It certainly wouldn't hurt to give sealing try and see if you like it. I can only speak from my personal experience but so far the sealant has made clean up way easier (I used about 4-5 layers) because it gives the wood a bit of a smoother surface. If it helps, I actually just have my wood sitting directly on the substrate with no problems as of yet, so I'd say the sealant has been pretty effective! But I really like the slated rock mount Zina mentioned! (seriously I'm going to try this sometime!)

At some point I'm pretty sure I'll have to either reseal or replace my driftwood (I got mine all from a show) but I think it's definitely increasing the longevity of the wood in general. Up to you of course!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

For example, if you found a piece such as that you could easily make it work. You can get 2 beautiful pieces of slate and drill through it. On the left you have only one attachment point, the part that touches the ground. On the right you would need a larger piece of slate and drill 2 holes and attach it to the 2 legs of the wood.

That would make a custom piece that would be quite very beautiful for a snake. It would be long and sturdy, too! Plus the slate adds to the natural look and helps the snake shed as well ;)


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ferns%20s-.jpg



This piece (shown in a fish tank) you could also attach to 2 pieces of slate. On the left you would need a larger piece and drill 3 holes to attach to the 3 legs and on the right you would need just one hole in a piece of slate. Between the 2 flat rocks it would be stable and look absolutely amazing in a snake cage! So much "more" then just perches, I think.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e/IMG_0662.jpg

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Yeah, we'll see. That seems like a lot of work lol. The snakes might just have suffer and use a shelf and maybe a perch haha. Thanks though :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MissterDog

It certainly wouldn't hurt to give sealing try and see if you like it. I can only speak from my personal experience but so far the sealant has made clean up way easier (I used about 4-5 layers) because it gives the wood a bit of a smoother surface. If it helps, I actually just have my wood sitting directly on the substrate with no problems as of yet, so I'd say the sealant has been pretty effective! But I really like the slated rock mount Zina mentioned! (seriously I'm going to try this sometime!)

At some point I'm pretty sure I'll have to either reseal or replace my driftwood (I got mine all from a show) but I think it's definitely increasing the longevity of the wood in general. Up to you of course!

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Yeah, the sealant idea seems easier lol. We'll see how excited i get for it after i drape a few silk vines in there and maybe another live plant.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Yeah, we'll see. That seems like a lot of work lol. The snakes might just have suffer and use a shelf and maybe a perch haha. Thanks though :)

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Whaaat???

You put together AP cages which takes a lot more work and trouble !!! LOL

You can get nice pieces of slate everywhere. You were going to get drift wood. All you have to do is mark where you need holes in the slate, a masonry bit and then drill steady and straight (helps if someone can pour a bit of water as you go). Then just pre drill some holes into the driftwood, put screws in, presto !!

Yes, gotta find nice wood and a piece or 2 of slate, and a bit of work, but what you get is ART !!! Instead of a measly boring shelf and perch! ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

Whaaat???

You put together AP cages which takes a lot more work and trouble !!! LOL

You can get nice pieces of slate everywhere. You were going to get drift wood. All you have to do is mark where you need holes in the slate, a masonry bit and then drill steady and straight (helps if someone can pour a bit of water as you go). Then just pre drill some holes into the driftwood, put screws in, presto !!

Yes, gotta find nice wood and a piece or 2 of slate, and a bit of work, but what you get is ART !!! Instead of a measly boring shelf and perch! ;)

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Well i was just going to buy driftwood from either a bird store or a pet store. I can get slate tiles from the floor store as i got a few for my beardie a while ago. I dont know, we'll see what happens lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well i was just going to buy driftwood from either a bird store or a pet store. I can get slate tiles from the floor store as i got a few for my beardie a while ago. I dont know, we'll see what happens lol.

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I have faith in you.

Now make it happen! LOL

If you find the right wood pieces, this could turn out KILLER !!!

The only sort of tricky part is drilling through slate. Just slow and steady and straight down, no angles. Plus someone pouring water as you go to cool it. Gotta be a masonry bit. But once you done that a couple of times its a piece of cake, too !

I think I will mount the piece I have that way too (for the gecko), I like that it stabilizes it and keeps it in the position I like.

If you want really cool long pieces of driftwood, try craigslist, too. Petstores ask crazy prices and usually their pieces are pitifully small.

Landscaping places often sell bigger pieces of Driftwood as well.

Petstores will be the most expensive place to buy that from..

I get my driftwood FREE from
Cleveleys beach :)

Crazy what gets swept up onto the beach though !!

Check this out !!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...42ca362589.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a270809b4d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...95ea43b279.jpg


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If you go to an aquarium store you can find pieces of wood already mounted to slate. Usually the specialty stores, not necessarily PetWhatsit superstores.


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I've had wood from the pet shop in with the ball python for about two years and I've never seen any sign of mold. The only thing I've ever done with it was clean it when he pooped on it. I may have bleached it once? But mostly I've just used chlorhexidine when it got dirty. I've also had cork bark for ~6 months+ now and no signs of mold on that either. It's all just plopped in there and I've misted it all and watered my plants basically on top of it. Still looks and smells just as good as new.