Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All, I've noticed that repti-bark is often listed as an acceptable substrate, but have also seen that the bark of fir trees can contain many toxic chemicals. Needlees to say, I'm a little hesitant to use it as on the packaging its listed as "the ground bark of fir trees" I've read the posts about loose substrate in general, but does anybody have an experience or info on Repti-Bark in particular? Any input welcome.
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0.0.1 Snow Corn
0.0.1 Oketee
1.1 Ghosts
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0 Burmese Python

I used to use large amounts of reptibark in the past. It is safe for reptiles toxic wise. Reptibark looks nice and holds humidity very well. The downsides: Reptibark can and will carry mites. It is not heat treated as that would remove its humidity holding properties. Evey time I would put in new bark i got infested with mites. When I started treating all new reptibark with Provent A Mite or Equate Bedding Spray no more mite infestations.

Loose substrate ingestion is a concern. I used to keep my burms, rainbow boas, anacondas, bloods, and retics on bark. They would injest some bark when eating. After loosing a beautiful tiger retic to a compaction of the bark, I switched all my 42 constrictors to newspaper. No injestion worrys and cage cleaning with a large collection is much easier. Sure snakes in the wild swallow all sorts of things when eating. And they are expendable in the wild-one of the reasons for large litters. But they do not feed off a steady surface of bark chips or wood chips all the time. I feel much better keeping my snakes on paper. Bill.
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

Thanks for the information, one question for you. Would it be possible to boil the reptibark to rid it of mites, or would that cause it to disintegrate or cause some problem?
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0.0.1 Snow Corn
0.0.1 Oketee
1.1 Ghosts
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0 Burmese Python

I have never boiled it or know any one who has so i don't know what boiling will really do to reptibark. you can boil some and see what happens. Might be a mess and more trouble than worth to boil a large amount of the bark. The Equate Bedding Spray is found in the health section at WalMart and costs $4 a can. Spray the reptibark in its bag and seal it up for a day or two and it will be insect free.. Let air dry before putting in a cage. Bill.
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

Something we found on accident, but do not do as a practice. If you CO2 anything like that it will also kill any bugs. Of course you have to think about eggs.

I'm not sure if its worth that much trouble. I make my own. I like to place moist mulch in a plastic bag with a few poked holes. and NUKE IT! Steam is hotter than boiling water. I learned this from watching green houses steam their own soil mixs.

I have just one secret. I do it when the wife is not home.
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Tom

www.herpzilla.com

Good info. I went ahead and tried the boiling with a small sample, medium boil for 3 minutes. THe bark has held up fine. I'm going to do another trial for 5 minutes. If it holds up for that I'll assume any bugs will be dead.
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0.0.1 Snow Corn
0.0.1 Oketee
1.1 Ghosts
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0 Burmese Python

Tom,

Do you worry about any toxins from the plastic bag? I seem to remevber an article I read somewhere that suggested some plastics can leave something behind when heated. (not to be too paranoid)

Bob.

just thought id add an interesting story.last month,when building my new planted vivarium,i found some old,large sheets of bark outside.i decided to place some pieces in the microwave and heat them for 5 minutes to kill anything that may be living on or in it.after 5 minutes,the bark was removed and was so hot it was sizzling in some places.after removing it, i noticed that there we ants all over the place.some dead but many were very much alive,swarming all over the inside of my microwave and the wood.anyway,i was shocked that 5 minutes ,heated on high,was still not enough to kill ants.just though it was interesting.i no longer use a microwave.instead i use conventional oven.

er....something came up. Yeah, something came up. Maybe we could eat out next time on me. that way you don't have to cook. LOL!

lol,yea i thought about tossing the microwave after that happend but im a cheap bastard and it was a perfectly good microwave.i know the story is hard to believe but i swear on my sons life.i cooked it for 5 full minutes on high!! and there were swarms of live,pissed off ants.i think a large part of it had to do with the fact that the piece was rather large and was not able to be rotated on the spinning tray.ever cook a frozen dinner in the microwave and not have it spinning on that tray??half is cokked and the other half is frozen.

No, I never thought of that. I think it's called plastizing. I have it happen with cheap plastic bottles and RO water. You can actually smell that. I've never smelled any plastic break down, but I've only done it a few time too.

To be honest I do not sterilize much. I grind 10 bags with my chipper, and it sits in a garabe can to dry out. On occasion for something special I have done it as a precaution. I use aspen and a crinkled paper producted for most of my snakes.

But you bring a valid point up.

tom
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Tom

www.herpzilla.com

Hay Herpzilla, you ever think about freezing it? Kills bacteria that make tennis shoes smell, kills bacteria in F/t rodents, seems it would kill off most pest.

Since I'm here gret idea, I may have to try it. Keep up the good work!

Ok, I know I just responded to myself, but after I made the last post and saw "Icey" in a topic,,,,, freezing came to mind. I often talk to myself in real life, right, , , right. Say good night tom

Good Night
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Tom

www.herpzilla.com

"normal" is only a setting on the dryer! LOL!