BUGS in the perch I just bought!

[Sir Sagalot]

Hey there guys,

some quick help and advice would be awesome!
here's what's going on...

I've recently adopted a healthy young adult male Ball, named Khan. I'm in the process of setting up his Terrarium, and the girlfriend and I bought him a perch from a local pet store. We were told that the wood was "Wine Wood" aka "Grape Vine" wood, and that it had been insect treated and approved for terrarium use prior to the stores purchase of it. got it relatively cheap and brought it home to put it in. i washed it lightly under some running water and then proceeded upstairs to set it in with some other goodies we got him. here's the pickle: upon setting this large piece of decorative wood/branch and noticed 2 or 3 CLEARLY visible bugs crawling on it, and backing themselves out of holes in the wood. it seems the "bath" i gave the perch agitated the bugs and they came out of woodworks... no pun intended. upon closer inspection, i noticed hundreds of tiny pin sized holes all over the wood. shocked and dismayed i immediately pulled it from his enclosure and dunked it in a bath tub full of water. i watched the tub fill up and bubbles slowly pour out of some of the holes and saw a handful of the bugs floating on the surface. i got one on my hand and before i could snap a GOOD up close picture of it it FLEW from my hand back to the edge of the tub. utterly dismayed by the spectacle, I then did a short bit of googling and found no matches on the bug or the story, and decided to call the pet store to notify them. they're good people, and run a fairly decent business so i'm not bad mouthing the store at all, because i understand things like this can happen. I'm just glad i noticed the bugs while I had Khan around my neck, and immediately after I put the branch into his tank, and not hours, or god forbid days after setting it in. thinking about salinizing the water to sterilize it. i'm going to try to include some of the pictures i took in the process.

Does anyone recognize the story? or the BUGS? can anyone tell me if they're safe for my snake, or much more importantly for my home?

ANY information about this would be greatly appreciated.

[Kaorte]

Don't really know what those are.. maybe some type of flying ant, wood mites? Probably nothing that will hurt your snake. Either way.. Bake the wood in the oven @ ~200 for 30 min to an hour and that should kill anything.

[Sir Sagalot]

here are some pictures i snapped. they didnt upload from Google Chrome... but you can see the perch, an upclose look at the "burrowed holes", a shot of the bug after it flew from my hand, an up close shot of the pest, and again...

so, couldn't find anything on google, couldn't find anything in forums, and couldn't find anything about the dangers (if any)... i'll leave it to the community.

thanks again!

[Sir Sagalot]

I was planning on baking it after it's bath. I found one and let it crawl all over me for about 3 mins over a smoke break, and it didn't bite... so while it may be an invasive species of bug, I highly doubt it's harmful. but again, thanks for the recommend on the baking. wasn't sure exact temps or times.

while I have your attention, could I bake my own hardwoods I find outside and use them for perches? such as cherry, maple, or oak?

[Kaorte]

Yep you sure can! Dont see why not. Just make sure to clean it with good ole soap and water too. The baking will kill anything living.

I've seen the burrow holes in lots of wood perches I've bought, but I've never seen any bugs pop out. Yuck.