Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know someone already asked on this forum but I cant find it. I recently took a lot of branches and big sticks from the woods for my iguanas terrarium, I was wondering how to sterilize them or kill the little critters that are in them that I cant see, or should this not even be a thing to do (taking sticks out of the woods)? Thanks Everyone!

Better would be to buy them from a reptile pet supply. I bought some driftwood from a Jacksonville pet store. If tou eally want the tree branch for your ig, first soak it in bleach water for a few hours (submerged). Then let it dry in the sun, and gas off the bleach fumes.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

I have bought some from a pet store but sometimes I just cant seem to find the right shaped one or really big ones that suit my iguana. Thanks for the quick response!

For really long or large pieces of wood, I use a big tarp and soak them in detergent and water, and so far I haven't had any problems. I remove any loose bark and use a wire brush to clean up any loose stuff, give it a heavy soak in laundry detergent, borax (which kills fleas better than any flea spray btw) and water for 48 hours, then heavy rinse and dry in the hot sun. For smaller pieces, baking in the oven works too. I personally don't like bleach, it seems no matter how long I air it out, it still gives off that bleach smell for weeks.

If you got a buddy that works at a pizza joint this will work out great! Take your logs/sticks to the pizza joint and shove them in the oven for 20 minutes at 1500 degrees. Then spray them off with cold water. Clean them up with sandpaper if youre going for looks.

as I think a kiln would work as well!

One of the safest things to do is soak the wood in a heavy salt water solution then back the wood in your oven for at least 20 min @ 200 degrees. Sometimes bleach can soak into wood, and of course change color.

chris