Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have many reptiles, and I use driftwood branches that I have found on the banks of the Missouri River in their enclosures. What should I be doing to the wood so it is SAFE? I do not know what kind of wood I use, but it is all weathered when I find it. In the past, I have bleached the wood by submerging and soaking all of the pieces for at least 3 hours (sometimes overnight)in bleach water in my bathtub, then rinsing with clean water, then soaking in clean water for at least 3 hours. I then let the wood dry in the sun. I have not had any problems so far with any of my branches, except for the grapevine branch that I bought at a reptile show (it absorbed the moisture and color from calci-sand that I was using for hermit crabs, and got mildew on it). I have sold a few pieces that I have "put together", and I would like to make sure that I will not harm any herps that use the branches that I design. Please let me know if there is something else that I should do.

Thanks,
Becky

Your Bleach method is probably the best option out there. There are woods that mildew and mold easier than others but there is nothing you can do about that. Do to the fact its the conditions in the cage that cause the mildew. Venting is probably the only cure.

Black Jungle

Is a good place for general terrarium info and they have info on a lot of different woods they actually sell.

Hope that helps a little.
Jeremy
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"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

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