Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i found a great log for a tank i want to put together but it has ants. how can i get rid of them? can i just soak the log for a week or more?

dennis

What kind of ants? I have found that my frogs love some ants, but spit others out. If you have tincs, drop one in front of it to see if it will eat the ants. If it does, you have free food. Regardless, I'd use a power washer (water only, no detergent) to knock off the loose layers of wood/bark. The Shedd Aquarium used to freeze their wood for a week before using it in aquariums. If you have a chest freezer, that might not be a bad idea.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

i dont have any frogs yet but i will be getting a pair or at leats a couple of leucomelas. the first thing i did was take a pressure washer to the log and i thought that did the job and threw it in the back of my truck to take it home. once i got home i saw just as many ants on it as BEFORE i pressure washed it! i do have a big freezer but will that just make the ants dormant or kill them outright?

dennis

Another thing you can try is to bake the wood in an oven if it will fit on a low temp (about130 degrees) for a bit and that will kill everything (bacteria, fungus, molds, parasites, etc............) just my .02

TonyT

for how long?

dennis

Yes, baking the log is another method that really follows the same logic as freezing it. Baking at that temp won't kill everything (that's why doctor's offices have to use an autoclave on their instruments--very high temps required to kill nearly everything), but it should do a good job, depending on the size of the log. I've never tried the freezer method with ants, so I really don't know about the outcome. I let mine sit outside for a couple of weeks in sub-zero weather before I used it . . . but mine didn't have holes bored into the wood, and it was solid Osage Orange root.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Isn't that what Grills are for ? I have put wet wood in my propane grill and baked it for an hour. The outside thermometer said it 500 degrees, the wood steamed like crazy but it didn't scorch it or anything.

Temp and Time would probably be better left to your own judgement. I would start on a low temp and see how it does and just get a little hotter till I got to something like 250-350 or so. As far as time I would just watch it and make sure it is not scorching it.

TonyT

wouldn't the wood burn if the temperture got that high?

Not sure, I have never used this method just heard of it. Thats why I was saying to keep an eye on it. Keep the temp low and the time high and you can achieve the same results.

TonyT

i have liqiud nitrogen that would work right?

dennis

Your killing ants, not The Blob. What I'd do is just freeze the log, then stick it in a bucket of boiling water. Or just freeze it and warm it off and on for a week or so, usually kills them, most ants aren't that versatile.