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I have an established 30 gallon tank containing my female okeetee corn that has been doing very well. Last night I placed a f/t pinkie in the small feeding dish and checked just a few min later to find it covered with small red ants. I have never seen them before and watched them trail to a large grapevine that I put in the tank a couple of weeks ago (purchased from a pet store) I assume they were in the wood, so I removed immediately along with tray and bowls. I have not seen any more but will change substrate anyway.

My question is how to sanitize the wood to kill the ants and not harm my corn? Comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

If it were me, I'd just get rid of the branch rather than trying to clean it, and I would be very careful to check any remaining substrate you have to see if they actually came from the substrate and just moved into the branch once in the cage.

If you want to clean the branch rather than get rid of it, clean it in a bleach/water solution and then let it dry over a few days before placing it back in the tank to let any residual chlorine disipate. You can also place it in your oven to cook it. I don't remember what I've read for how to do this, but I think it's something like 350F for 30 minutes. I could be wrong about that though.
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colubridlady@gmail.com

3.3 adult cornsnakes
5.8 baby cornsnakes
8 cornsnake eggs

Soak the branch and all other branches in your tank that can be burrowed in (any piece of real wood) in the bleach solution, then let it dry INSIDE (common mistake I see made is its put outside), then put it in a 250 degree oven for upwards of an hour. But keep an eye on it, depending on the size it may take as little as 30 minutes.

I would change all the substrate...just throw it all out, then wipe your entire tank down with a damp cloth. make sure there arent any more ants in there. then go back to the petstore and raise hell and make them give you a new bag of substrate for free, lol.
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