Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I was wondering if any one had any opinions on weather to use pvc or wood for braches in a baby ETB cage. I've been using wood and it molds within a week. Also do moldy branches affect the snake in any way in regargs to air Quality or other aspects.
Thank you.

Where are you getting these branches from, your backyard?? Try picking something up from a reptile store, or ordering online.. Wood IMO is better than PVC.
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Joe Lydon
Got Boids?

PVC works well, I burn mine to roughen them up or scratch them , to make it easier for the animal to grip onto it.ifyou want to use wood get some live branches and heat them in your oven at around 200 for a little while to kill any bugs etc, just keep an eye on the oven so you don't burn the place down.

Molding that quick makes me think your humidity is to high, to much can be as bad as not enough.
Randy
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty !
I just want the full glass I paid for !

Thank you both for your responses. Its been a learning experience tring to get the temps, humidity and venatlation right but I think I finnaly got it. the humidity stays around 60-70% all day and drops to 40-50% at night and temps at 80-85. My snake finally shed in one entire piece which made me happy as can be. Any way, how do you burn the PVC? I was conserned about the grip thin as well. I bought the wood at home depot, they were circular sticks about 3/8 of an inch thick.
Thanks again

Here's a link to how we do it. We only have a few animals left on wood and are slowly changing them all over to burnt PVC. It can be scrubbed with bleach, then washed with soap and water, and won't retain the bleach smell like wood will. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS OUTSIDE! The fumes given off by the PVC while you are burning are noxious.

As an alternative, you can also sand the PVC to roughen up the surface, but burning gives it a much more natural look and feel.

gemsoftherainforest.com/cageconstruction.html#Burning PVC
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Karen Clark
Gems of the Rainforest

What type of wood did you purchase?? I'm assuming it was a softer wood..
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Joe Lydon
Got Boids?

I used two branches of softer wood and two of harder wood but I'm not sure the types. The harder wood molded much slower than the softer/ thinner wood. I was thinking about waterproffing it but I wasn't sure about the chemical in the coating so I oppted for PVC. Is there anything to coat the wood with that is safe for the snake and prevents molding?
Thanks.