Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well it's not really cleaning, but i didnt kno wut esel to call it, but....

my question is, should you bake peices of driftwood and like stones that u put in to your BD's cage? i thought i heard sumwhere that you should to that to prevent any chances of mites or sum other organism from being introduced into your BD's cage. So supposidly the baking in the oven kills them. Is this recommended? or not really necessary? and it makes sense to do it to peices of wood, but would u recommend for like river stones aswell???
-----
My baby Beardie!(aka the Fugative)

there are other ways of sterilizing stuff. you can soak it in approx. 9/10 water 1/10 bleach. or you can freeze it overnight. it is not neccesary but is a smart thing to do. if you soak it in the bleach/water mixture make sure you wash all bleach residue off with water.
-----
sincerely,
jonathan
JDDK Reptiles www.jddkreptiles.com

I actually do a combination of the water/bleach solution, and the oven. I soak in the water/bleach, rinse, allow to dry, rinse again, then bake. I believe the baking also helps to speed the drying process for the wood and prevents against molding.

Again let us stress the importance of rinsing thouroughly when using the bleach solution. Bleach is highly toxic and any remaining fumes can be very harmful to your dragon. I only use that method when absolutely necessary, such as moving the furniture from one reptile enclosure to another, or when the animal and enclosure are being treated for parasites. Otherwise for routine cleaning I simply clean with water, mild soap, and scrubbing, and then follow up with baking.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

heat is more effective that freezing. freezing may just put some nasties into a hibernation state. some requre freezing below 32F for 30 days. I like to stay away from bleach and use nolvasan whenever possible. I understand from Veronica however that her research shows only bleach will kill coccidia
-----
Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

Isn't the Nolvasan only ineffective against the cryptosporidium form of coccidia? I think I remember reading somewhere this strain of coccidia is very difficult to get rid of and is not usually a problem with beardies. I think the Nolvasan is supposed to be effective against the other, less resisitant strain, of coccidia.

Again I'm trying to recall something I read a while back so hopefully someone else will chime in here and tell me if I'm wrong. If I remember right the cryptosporidium was or is a problem with snakes.
-----
Rob Talkington