Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've heard of putting branches in the oven to get rid of tiny bugs, I would think that this would work. Does anyone do this and are there any other methods of getting insects out?

Yes, I have used the oven to sterilize water bowels and other cage furnishing i.e. ceramic, stone, wood and glass.

Preheat to 200 degrees. Place item into the oven for 30 minutes. Check to see if it has sap or resins coming from it, retreat the item until completely dry. And Bam!

If the bark is still on your wooden item I would skin it and sand it. Insure the wooden item it completely dry. Also some type of wood (pine / cedar) is toxic to some reptiles.

Disclaimer: never leave any article unattended in your oven, especially wood. National safety counsel has problems with it.

Good Luck…Dann

preheat the oven to 250 or 300 and put some foil under the branch to catch dead bugs, bark and sap. Leave it in for an hour or so, and keep an eye on it. Expect it to make the whole house smell like wood. Also, try scrubbing it down in a 10% bleach solution first, then bake it. Woods ignition temp is higher than some ovens can get, so don't worry bout a fire hazard unless bark falls on the heating element. You can also try spraying the branch down afterward with Provent-a-mite.
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Coastal Carpet Python 0.1 (Lillith)
Albino Burm 0.1 (Kimba)
Columbian RedTail 0.1 (Squishy)
Kenyan Sand Boa 1.0 (Shai'hulud)
Common Snapping Turtle 1.1 (Sherman and Abrahms)
RES 1.0 (speedy)

I have to disagree with the other post.

Bleach has Sodium Hypochlorite in it (HOCI). When mixed with water it becomes another substances (NaOCI). When placed in an oven and vaporized it releases Chlorine Gas. This substance is Very Toxic to all life forms that breathe.

Absolute nothing will survive at 200 degrees for 30 minutes. Anything further than this seems a waste of time and energy. Unless it needs more time to dry.

Bleaching serves no purpose in an oven at any temperature. Bleach does not evade all microorganisms. Its properties cannot penetrate some cell membranes to reach the nucleus to destroy the cell. I do clean my enclosures with 10 –1 water to bleach. I would suggest not using bleach in your oven if your using heat as your treatment.

Good Luck……Dann

after reading my own post again, I realized what I wrote. I usually do the bleach wipe down after the bake, and I don't mean a bleach soak. Just a wipe down. I got the order mixed up.
Thanks for pointing out my mistake... I didn't want to make anyone gas themselves...
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Coastal Carpet Python 0.1 (Lillith)
Albino Burm 0.1 (Kimba)
Columbian RedTail 0.1 (Squishy)
Kenyan Sand Boa 1.0 (Shai'hulud)
Common Snapping Turtle 1.1 (Sherman and Abrahms)
RES 1.0 (speedy)

Your intent was good, thats what counts. Good herping to you.

Dann..

I think this weekend I will try the oven idea. I have a carpet python on the way and I just wanted to get everything out of the branches. If I can just find a way to fit the branches in the oven!