Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

I have some really nice driftwood I would like to put into my dart frog tank, the only problem is that it is currently in a fish tank. Does anyone know if it's possible to clean it so it is safe to put into the frog tank? If it is possible, how would you go about it? Thanks.
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Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson after.

Hs Kritter Kove

well i am not sure if you can or cant use the wood in the aquarium.

but when you clean the wood DO NOT use bleach. The best and easiest way to clean driftwood is to bake it at around 170-200 degrees for a half an hour.
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

Bleach is perfectly fine for cleaning driftwood. That's how most people do it: soak the wood in a water/bleach ratio a few hours, then soak in water, then bleach, then water. I repeated the last water step twice to make sure. Otherwise, my wood is fine, just lgihter in color whichh I like.
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P. sauvagei
derekb15.tripod.com/tropicaltreasures

hi
As long as the drift wood hasn't had any harsh chemicals on it ,i wouldn't clean it at all. as for baking it you can do that if you want to kill everything of in the wood, but i don't do that either because it kills all the natural things that make your vivarium a healthy mini ecosystem.hope this helps you
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Nate
1.1 alanis tincs
0.0.2 Azureus (soon)

I've used wood in my vivs that came from aquariums before, and they seem to do just fine. However, I would strongly recommend cleaning it before introducing it into your terrarium. Yes, it is good to have a healthy ecosystem in your tank, but you might be introducting something unwanted as well. Introducing small, harmless organisms such as springtails would be better warranted. In the meantime, it might be best to boil your wood.
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Randy
Lawrence, Kansas
1.1 Azureus
1.1 Cobalt
1.1 Fantasticus
2.2 Bastimentos Pumilio
2.4.1 Bri Bri Pumilio

I would have to disagree with the bleach suggestion. The bleach can stay in the wood then in a humid enviroment, such as a dart tank, the bleach can leach out over time. This is a slow death where the chemicals are slowly absorbed through the frogs skin. It will eventually build up in the frogs body and kill them. That is why scientist point out frogs and their deformities from absorbing chemicals in the wild. They easily absord the chemicals and can be very aparent or not. But death will follow if enough is absored.

I will say people have said they have used bleach with no problems, and some of the top breeders in the country say how bleached wood has caused mysterious deaths. I would not risk the frogs by using bleach.

A dart frog habitat should be as natural and chemical free as possible. Bleach is not find in their habitat and should stay away from it.

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

I would have to agree with this. Clean with very hot or boiling water, but i would not use any chemicals in anything as poris as wood. I can see using bleach to cean out a tank or something less likely to soak it up.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
D. leucomelas
D. azureus

Well, mine works fine in a humid enviroment. Strange how you say "top breeders of the country" meaning like you are making it up and can't think of any names. Anyways, you can do it however you want. I don't screw with little pieces of wood, so I can't fit them in the oven or in a pot of boiling water. The bleach solution works great. You jsut put in a little bleach per like 30 gallons of water. I soaked my ood in a plastic trash can and it worked good.You could also freeze the wood for a period of time to get the same result.
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P. sauvagei
derekb15.tripod.com/tropicaltreasures

Man, I had a really long message typed then my computer froze! let me try again.

It is almost funny how you (derek) can talk down to people and be almost cordial at the same time. I have no reason to lie about the breeder statement. But I would like to correct my self, I ment "one of the top breeders...." not "some of the top breeders..." my fault. I learned this through discusions with the breeder who i will acquir my darts from. I don't see why they would lie about this. And they did not mention his name, nor did I ask they are a very reputable breeder. I didn't see that it was neccesary. But i will post some exerts from our discutions on bleach and wood"

"...You do not want to do this because the wood will absorb
the bleach (or any other chemical for that matter). Then when the wood gets wet, as it will in a moist and humid environment like a terrarium, that bleach will leach out into the environment. This can kill the frog!!! It's a prolonged death. The bleach accumulates in the frog's system. You'll notice that the frog won't thrive and then one day it will be dead.

... You should not use any chemicals in the tank. The most
you can use safely is anti-bacterial soap and even then you need to make sure you rinse all the residue away before putting a frog into the environment.

... Frogs absorb all their moisture through their skin. Because of this they are really susceptible to chemicals in their environment. The way their skin is designed they quickly absorb the chemicals around them and it often leads to death. That is why when scientists talk about pollution in the environment and indicators of it they usually also speak of deformed frogs."

Those exerts are only from one e-mail. I have many others I can post in relation to his message but those covers all fields well. If you think im still making it up, I got some goliaths frogs for sell

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

Bleach if jsut fine for the frogs if you wash it out well. It doesn't stay trapped in the wood if you have the right amount. I will not waste my tim in pasting exerpts, but if you want some more opinions, come to thefrog.org No more of this, I know boiling, bleach, freezing, heating, etc. all work to sterilize wood.
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P. sauvagei
derekb15.tripod.com/tropicaltreasures

The thread on thefrog.org talking about cleaning wood.
talkto.thefrog.org/index.php?action=vthread&forum=5&topic=296

In the thread it seems the favored method is bleach but it seems that they also say bleach can leave residues a little later in the post.

derek, im not trying to cause a debate or argument. I am just more concerned with the safety of the animal(s).

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

It always amazes me that people will collect moss or buy moss that cannot be sterilized, but then will worry about thier wood being sterile!?! If you have moss in your viv - then you have introduced something just as unsterile as a peice of driftwood.
Sterilizing (to me) seems to be way overated - unless - you are moving things from one viv to another.