Driftwood, and other extras

[Andariel]

When you guys talk about puttin driftwood or other stuff (besides like the 1/2 logs and stuff u can get in a pet store) in the tank (A) to help with humidity and (B) for looks/function... What all do you do to it before introducing it to the snakes enviroment?

I ask because I'd be afraid that a piece of driftwood (HIGHLY available in my area) might contain bacteria/fungus/insects/etc.... and wouldn't they be harmful or infect the snakes enviroment?

-Chris

[RPlank]

Cook it! Seriously! Put it in the oven for a while, at a temp that won't catch it on fire. (200 or so) Keep an eye on it, but that should kill off anything living in it.

[Andariel]

lol I read somewhere about cookin them, but I thought it was just BS lol. My thinkin was Wood + heat = Fire... but i guess at a low enough temperature it wouldn't catch fire.

How long would u leave it in at 200degrees?

[Ironhead]

I dont know how long you should leave it in there, but you should have some A-1 suace handy. :lol:

[Ironhead]

We need spell checker....that was suppose to read.....SAUCE

[steelsack]

if it's small enough, or you can cut the wood into sections to be screwed together after, or just got a mongo pot, boiling for about 20 minutes would be the best way to kill all the little crawlies. Alot of bacteria and such can withstand surprisingly high temps.
However, if the piece is just too big, baking will probably be fine.........I've just learned to trust boiling for pretty much sterilizing the subject.

[Andariel]

Would the same apply to pine mulch for substrate? Bake it like french fries lol.

[CTReptileRescue]

Would the same apply to pine mulch for substrate? Bake it like french fries lol.

I wouldn't use pine mulch, there have been alot of health issues related to pine and cedar mulch as substrate.
We use cypriss and it works great. We don't steralize it and have never hada problem. We always buy it fron the same place and the one time we didn't (found at gas station, trying to save a little time) and that bag was full of bugs. So you just have to find a good distributor.
As for baking and boiling, we usually boil too. (Don't boil rocks I learned the hard way...lol), we will bake rocks or larger peices of "furniture".
But that works for us
Thanks
Rusty

[Marla]

I haven't learned the hard way ... why not boil rocks?

[Andariel]

cause they EXPLODE lol... did that a couple times at scout camp when i was little (for fun, we knew what would happen).

The moisture inside the rocks heats up and vaporizes causing the rock to explode to release the pressure.... Same concept why you DO NOT deep fry a FROZEN or partially thawed turkey.... unless u want a flaming turkey shooting across the yard.