Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i'm going to give cypress mulch a try for junior's new enclosure, but i want to make sure that there aren't going to be any tiny little "friends" moving in with him.

i've read that you can bake substrate to kill of any litle critters; a forum search yielded the following suggestions:

10-15 minutes @ 275 degrees
2 hours @ 225 degrees
wrap in foil and bake at 100 degrees "or so" (no time given)
15 minutes @ 400 degrees

seems that past advice on the subject is varied. what do you guys personally recommend?

In order to basically sterilize the substrate, its inside temperature has to reach 120 degrees Celsius for at least 20 min.
So you should use at least 275 degrees F (I use 300) for an appropriate time depending on the volume you are baking.
I put the substrate into the big aluminum single use roasting pans, cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 90 - 120 min. (as it takes a while for that volume to warm up). I also wet the substrate before baking. That way it doesn't get bone dry, but is evenly lightly moist when baked.

Gaby

yours is certainly the most specific i've read (and you give the reason behind it, too!). the stuff i have (currently still in bags in my garage) looks pretty moist already, so i'm glad that it's not detrimental that it's not already bone-dry. i'm wondering too, if i put a rack in there, if i could get two pans of it going at once... hmm...

is cypress mulch what you use for your redfoots, out of curiosity? i really like your enclosure (i've seen pics on other threads before)!

i can't wait to get home from work and start baking so i can start letting junior play in his big new enclosure (after it cools off of course)!

Thanks for the compliments on the enclosure!

Yes,- there is no problem with putting in two pans at a time. That's what I do, and since I got a stove with a double oven, I can even do three pans at a time. That helps significantly to get the about 15 trays, I have to do for a complete media change, done.

I have switched to using cypress mulch a little while ago, because my original mix of a fir bark base and sphagnum moss on top seemed to be too acidic, which resulted in a (fortunately manageable) problem with the plastrons of my younger animals.
The down side of cypress is, that it doesn't hold moisture the way sphagnum moss does,- so I had to play with humidity issues once again. We never stop learning...

Gaby