Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Iam trying to steralize some very used stuff wich includes fake plastic/silk plants,bendable vines, real wood, and afew of the styrofoam backgrounds that come with the exo tanks, I have used bleach on tanks in the past but am concernd that it would not work on this stuff as it would seep into or eat away at the vines and background, plus some of this will be going into my frog tanks.

can anyone give me any suggestions on another way or chemical to clean up this stuff? I figured i will cook or boil the wood but iam not sure it will be enough, as most of the stuff was used in cages that had WC animals so Iam a bit peranoid about getting them good and clean.

Let me begin by saying that wc is not by itself worse than cb when we are discussing health issues.
CB stuff kept with other stuff of unknown origin, may pick contamination as badly .
This basically depends on your sources.

Now to address your question, boiling is a great way of getting rid of most problems-probably the best there is-, as long as the items can fit in a large enough container, and no residue is left other than humidity.Plastic items may be deformed by the heat.

Microwave ovens are tricky, I have personally "cooked" stuff covered with ants and many survived.

Bleach is very good , however, plastic foams treated with it might keep some inside, and it is basically toxic, so best to boil in this case.

I hope this helps,
David

In all honesty a good hot rinse is sufficient for most of the plastic and styro-foam stuff. The wood is the real issue, it can harbor fungus, molds, mites etc. Boiling is highly recommend. If there is any chance that the previous occupants had a serious illness or mites, trash it.