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How do you clean rocks to use in a terrarium?

rc_racer_007 May 31, 2003 06:15 PM

i got some little rocks and two large rocks i plan to use in my terrarium. how do you clean them? i got them from a clean river in virginia, but still, you dont know whats up stream.
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 5.30.03

Replies (3)

markj May 31, 2003 06:41 PM

First I would scrub them with some sort of a scrub brush outside under your garden hose just to get all the extra debris on the outside cleaned off. You can then boil them or bake them. I have boiled rocks, just got the water boiling and used some tongs and stuck them in there for a while, then make sure you use tongs to get them out and don't touch them for a while. It worked for my fire bellied toad tank and the rocks have been in there 1.5 years with no problems. I don't know anything about baking them but maybe someone else will.
Mark Jemison

slaytonp May 31, 2003 06:44 PM

Use the old fashioned recipe for cooking kidneys--first boil the piss out of them.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

Homer1 Jun 01, 2003 11:31 AM

After taking a brush and water hose to them, I spray mine down with that "Clorox Cleanup(a dilute bleach solution), let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then rinse them off under very hot water. I then spray them off with a vinegar solution and allow that to sit for about 10 minutes. Next, they are rinsed again, and I let them soak in clean hot water for 30 minutes and drain and rinse again. I might even let them sit in another tub of hot water again if I have the time. However, I don't put the rocks in the terrarium for at least 12 hours after that . . . just to let any bleach that MIGHT be left to dissipate.

Homer
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of All Trivialities

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