Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband and I are on a tight budget thanks to our car breaking, anyway I found what looks to be grapevine and some really good shaped pieces of wood out by the lake behind our house, I want to put them in Diggers tank but I need to clean them first whats the best way? I have heard of washing with antibacterial soap and freezing for 48 hrs. Does this work? I really want to pretty the tank up and give him more hiding spots without paying for wood that I already have in my backyard.. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
1 more thing, I used two plastic sweaterboxes, cut them down and glued them together with a hole in the bottom side as a "cave" I then glued rocks that i disinfected to the sides with some fake flowers, it looks great but I'm concerned about the glue I used, I started with superglue, and when that ran out finished with silicone, will these hurt my turtle even if they have dried for a week before putting in the water with him? I haven't put it in yet because I kept adding to it... Thanks, sorry so long..

Hey,

I've actually never used any chemicals or freezing processes in cleaning wild wood that I find. I always just rinse it with strong hot water and scrub with one of those...green pads...brillo?...forgot what they're called. They're rougher than sponges and used to clean pots. Anyway, I rinse it A LOT to get all the debris, dead bugs, live bugs, and tannic acid out. Usually it's ok, and lasts a while. However, it will eventually rot and you'll need to replace it. I know some people bake the branch or use a mild bleach solution to clean. It also depends on what type of tree...I've used oak, maple, and other broadleaf trees. I try to stay away from conifers and evergreens cuz of tannic acid. It's interesting because I never believed in buying branches or rocks from pet stores..but the one time I did, the branch started staining the water in deep brown tannic acid color and I felt I wasted my $. Ironic, eh?

Johnny

I've got a tank with water deep brown from petstore driftwood, and I'm really mad because I'm BUYING that same stuff to put in another turtle tank to lower the pH. But I don't want to mix the water of two WC turtles from different continents. I'd have gotten wood from by the river but it's still a frozen swamp.

Aquarium approved silicone will not hurt anything. Some silicones say 'do not use in aquariums'... and I think those would be bad. I honestly don't know about superglue. But I like to stick to aquarium silicone personally. It's good for sticking all kinds of stuff!
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!

1/4 cup bleach to each gallon of water for 24 hours and
then rinse very well and allow to completely dry before
adding to your tank.

This will kill any bugs of germs on it.

Linda

Man you guys are a wealth of knowledge, I'll use everyones suggestions and see which works best (I have a lot of wood to treat) LOL, I'll let you guys know and post pics when it's done!
Thanks again!