cleaning branches

If i get to pick something up from a park or some place i find branches... how should i clean them properly if i have to???

i hear some people use bleach and some that get them into the oven.. wont that start a fire or something?

will a regular cleaning house antibacterial work?? and how much should i wait from cleeaning to setting it up??

ohoh and last question.. when someone says they use a 1:10 ratio bleach to water.. to they mean like of the whole thing youll use.. it has 1 part bleach and the rest water or what?? thanks!

I just spray them with a hose.

Bleach would be best if you want to sanitize IMO.

1:10 referrers to one part bleach, ten parts water I believe.

Bleach will evaporate and not leave any chemicals behind.
Just rinse it well afterwards, and let it totally dry.

I just stick them in the enclosure, straight from my yard! You can put them in the oven, only set it to 200 for about a half hour and you wont start any fires Just keep an eye on it. If your going to do any kind of cleaning of them do that. That will kill anything deep within the branches/sticks. Just be sure theyre coming from a pest/herbicide free area. 1/10 ratio for example would be 1 cup of bleach to 10 cups water, but using whatever measuring unit you like depending on how much you need.

Edit: Forgot to mention, DO NOT use any type of conifer/sap bearing tree.

Sorry for the ignorance but by conifer/sap bearing tree you mean pine trees for example? or..?

EDIT: you meant 200F right?? sorry i dont live in the U.S.

Solid Snake said:

I just spray them with a hose.

Bleach would be best if you want to sanitize IMO.

1:10 referrers to one part bleach, ten parts water I believe.

Bleach will evaporate and not leave any chemicals behind.
Just rinse it well afterwards, and let it totally dry.

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Ok, i think ill end up spraying like you! thanks! its for my FR im starting

LeoM said:

Sorry for the ignorance but by conifer/sap bearing tree you mean pine trees for example? or..?

EDIT: you meant 200F right?? sorry i dont live in the U.S.

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He means 93C

Haha good that i checked... or i was actually going to start a fire

imo, sodium hypochlorite is the clear choice.

Solid Snake said:

I just spray them with a hose.

Bleach would be best if you want to sanitize IMO.

1:10 referrers to one part bleach, ten parts water I believe.

Bleach will evaporate and not leave any chemicals behind.
Just rinse it well afterwards, and let it totally dry.

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assuming we are talking about real branches and not bio-(ick)vines, i agree with solid snake that bleach is the best way although, imo i would use a 1:4 bleach:water ratio (assuming we are talking about household bleach, industrial bleach is about 3x stronger, household bleach is usually<6%, industrial bleach is usually around 15%).

imo any chemical disinfectant used should be approved for use with food contact surfaces, since chams are subject to drinking from vines, and some feeders like crickets are subject to chewing on vines. bleach is the safest/most readily available chemical sanitizer. bleach is approved by the usda for use with human food contact surfaces. its made mostly from salt water, and reverts back to mostly salt water shortly after being used, so, imo bleach is best/safest/cheapest choice. imo, all those $10 bottles of mite cleaner just a scam, bleach is safer, works better and a $1.39 bottle is enough for at least a year of some serious disinfecting sessions. (should be noted its subject to a gradual decline in potency over time, even when left in the bottle, so imo should be replaced yearly). a simple dedicated spray bottle is usually plenty for a disinfecting session, thats about $0.03 worth lol.
also, if you have branches that are chalky or like to shed pieces of bark, you can blast them off at the car wash and seal them with hot wax. their hot wax solution is almost always a dilute carnuba solution, which is also relatively harmless in small qtys. ( carnuba is often used in food products like chocolate and lip balm/cosmetics. hot waxing can reduce chalky or shedding branches, and if your animal decides to drink off of them , you dont have to be paranoid about what you used to disinfect them with (assuming they are a cham safe plant to begin with). as for bio-vines, the best way to disinfect them, is in an incinerator. jmo
ps dont just spray it on then rinse it off. it needs to partially evaporate in order to oxidize, and it needs to oxidize in order to sanitize, so spray it on , let sit till almost dry, then rinse off (easier to rinse if you dont let it dry completely), and letting it dry completely can leave salt residue. same goes for cages and equip, i always bleach, semi-dry, rinse, hot wax ( i'll admit the hot wax is optional, its just sort of a xantho thing! )

Now I'm not saying that bleach/water doesnt work, But heat IMO is the best option for disinfecting... I don't believe bleaching will kill something within the branch though.. Heat penetrates, and kills parasites deep inside the wood. This is based on personal experience and knowledge, and is actually an aspect of my job.

What about an autoclave?

Autoclaves the best way to kill and micro bacteria ! But I'm.not sure anyone woukd let u use their autoclave for sticks lol!

Solid Snake said:

What about an autoclave?

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As long as the temps exceed 120 degrees for several minutes then yes. I believe autoclave temps usually run around 135-140 degrees, and those temps are plenty.

If someone had access to one, and was able to use it for this I'd say go for it.
They are almost exclusively used in the medical field for sterilizing medical equipment, so if its used for that then why not

LeoM said:

If i get to pick something up from a park or some place i find branches... how should i clean them properly if i have to???

i hear some people use bleach and some that get them into the oven.. wont that start a fire or something?

will a regular cleaning house antibacterial work?? and how much should i wait from cleeaning to setting it up??

ohoh and last question.. when someone says they use a 1:10 ratio bleach to water.. to they mean like of the whole thing youll use.. it has 1 part bleach and the rest water or what?? thanks!

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if you are in mexico,you should be able to find some manzanita, makes a excellent climbing branch, if you can make it to the pacific side, madrona makes an excellent branch as well.

autoclave, thats rediculous, who'd have one of those!

tattooistchameleon said:

Autoclaves the best way to kill and micro bacteria ! But I'm.not sure anyone would let u use their autoclave for sticks lol!

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lol ! anyone in the area is welcome to use mine !, but they are generally not big enough to hold a full size climbing branch. anything that would fit in my autoclave would also fit in a large microwave, which would work just as well.

pasturization vs sterilization

coldbloodedAL said:

As long as the temps exceed 120 degrees for several minutes then yes. I believe autoclave temps usually run around 135-140 degrees, and those temps are plenty.

If someone had access to one, and was able to use it for this I'd say go for it.
They are almost exclusively used in the medical field for sterilizing medical equipment, so if its used for that then why not

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lol again. doesnt really matter what you put in them, because whatever you put in, comes out sterile, (or pasteurized, depending) you can fill them up with manure (and have, many times).

just for future reference, pasteurization begins at around 142*f, but true sterilization requires temps well in excess of 240*f.
typically they are operated at about 250-259*f at pressures of 15-20 psi, for up to an hr or more. some encapsulted pathogens can withstand boiling for hrs. this is why boiling alone is not sufficient for sterilization. so, oddly enough, i have an autoclave, but i still bleach, semi-dry, rinse, hot wax. its the xantho way, doesnt mean its the only way.

pasturization trivia / thread hijack

not to hijack the thread but a little pasteurization trivia while we are on the subject ( i think we've pretty well covered the branch thing) louis pasteur and claude bernard were the first modern chemists credited with discovery of the process (now known as pasteurization) in 1862, oddly enough they intended it for beer and wine, not milk. a german chemist franz von soxhlet was the first to seriously suggest it for milk in 1886. all three were considered pioneers, completely ignoring the fact that the chinese, had already discovered the process over 700 years earlier. fair enough, what comes around, goes around, we ripped them off for pasteurization, now they rip off our electronics. lol.
franz von soxhlet is also known as the father of SFE (or SupercriticalFluidExtraction) which uses a device known as a soxhlet extractor, oddly enough i also happen to have the mother of all soxhlet extractors, LO2xl
you never know when you might need to do a little emergency labwork here in jharkendar, lol.

i know, gorgeous isnt it ?

pathogen safety

here i go raining on the parade AGAIN.
taken from post #9

"Ataraxia said, "If you use a tea strainer dedicate it to your fecal exams and do not use it for human food".

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not really sure why you would use a tea strainer for fecal exams, but good advice none the less.
just to be clear, anything in contact with pathogens carries a risk of pathogenic infection. some reptile pathogens can be particularly stubborn and nasty in humans, therefore, a proper hygienic protocol should be adapted for all pathogen related materials.

this means you dont want to do any sort of rinsing washing or disinfecting in your kitchen sink, your bathroom sink, your toilet, your bathtub, or imo, even your laundry sink.

any handling of possibly pathogenic material should be done wearing nitrile gloves in a dedicated area, disinfected both before and afterwards. any rinsing of materials should be done outside over a bucket of bleach (so you are not standing in pathogen water) and the bucket should be sprayed with bleach before touching it. before removing your gloves, wash your gloved hands with bleach and spray your arms with alcohol. after your gloves are off throw your clothes in the washer with bleach/hot water, shower, re-dress avoid putting your hands to your face mouth or eyes.
its important to note that anytime bare skin comes in contact with chams, plants or equip, that there is a risk of pathogenic infection, even if the cham has had a recent fecal that tested negative.
most reptile pathogens are transmitted by touch, so common sense is always advised, this would include not putting your cham on your face, or any equipment in your mouth (imo, good way to ingest coccidia or get a really nasty viral/bacterial infection of the eye). avoiding touching your face with your hands and properly disinfecting after handling and before eating or preparing food. just basic lab safety, something to think about. jmo

Lol Thank you for the in depth clarification, From now on you are the "King of Clean"!!
I appreciate your serious input I knew heat is probably the best way, personally I dont do anything to my branches unless I know there is something wrong with them. I only made the suggestion for IF the OP was going to clean his branches.. Fecals are a whole nother ball game. I take extreme precaution when Handling poo lol. Never without gloves.. and I try not to handle my chams often at all. Nice little autoclave btw!

EDIT: what do you think about using high volume peroxides for cleaning branches? Ive been using the heck out of it for disinfecting cages..

xanthoman said:

here i go raining on the parade AGAIN.
from post #9


not really sure why you would use a tea strainer for fecal exams, but good advice none the less.
just to be clear, anything in contact with pathogens carries a risk of pathogenic infection. some reptile pathogens can be particularly stubborn and nasty in humans, therefore, a proper hygienic protocol should be adapted for all pathogen related materials.

this means you dont want to do any sort of rinsing washing or disinfecting in your kitchen sink, your bathroom sink, your toilet, your bathtub, or imo, even your laundry sink.

any handling of possibly pathogenic material should be done wearing nitrile gloves in a dedicated area, disinfected both before and afterwards. any rinsing of materials should be done outside over a bucket of bleach (so you are not standing in pathogen water) and the bucket should be sprayed with bleach before touching it. before removing your gloves, wash your gloved hands with bleach and spray your arms with alcohol. after your gloves are off throw your clothes in the washer with bleach/hot water, shower, re-dress avoid putting your hands to your face mouth or eyes.
its important to note that anytime bare skin comes in contact with chams, plants or equip, that there is a risk of pathogenic infection, even if the cham has had a recent fecal that tested negative.
most reptile pathogens are transmitted by touch, so common sense is always advised, this would include not putting your cham on your face, or any equipment in your mouth (imo, good way to ingest coccidia or get a really nasty viral/bacterial infection of the eye). avoiding touching your face with your hands and properly disinfecting after handling and before eating or preparing food. just basic lab safety, something to think about. jmo

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imo, most keepers are far too casual about handling their chams and unaware of the risks involved. coccidia and strongylides are easily transmitted and not uncommon in humans. if you get a bacterial infection in your eye thats a serious thing, or coccidia can be very hard to treat in humans, some types of strongyloides like to travel through the heart as they pass through the body. remember we are dealing with something we cant see, many adhesive pathogens, can stay attached to whatever they touch for days or even weeks on end. many strongyloides, can pass right through the skin. its so easy to handle infected material and hrs later, you forget and rub your eyes or put your hand to your mouth not a good practice. my personal hunch is there are probably at least a few people on this forum that have some sort of cham related infection and dont even know it. (may do a future thread on how to self test for threadworms). anyway a little caution and common sense doesnt hurt, a little research whenever someone is doing something theyve never done before, is probably not a bad idea either

for anyone whos curious, its an all american model 921-21.5qt pressure canner that has been converted to a sterilizer. the same company also makes actual autoclaves, but they are about $100 more for the same model. the only operational difference is the way they vent steam. they both use exact same castings. for about $14 bucks you can swap out the vent thing with a screw in replacement part for the sterilizer and you have saved yourself $85, operationally, it becomes identical to the sterilizer. canners vent steam autoclaves dont after they start to pressurize. i think the only reason to buy the actual autoclave model would be if it was for a lab or application where certification was required. oh yeah, the actual autoclave has a red stripe on the gauge lol

xanthoman said:

not to hijack the thread but a little pasteurization trivia while we are on the subject ( i think we've pretty well covered the branch thing) louis pasteur and claude bernard were the first modern chemists credited with discovery of the process (now known as pasteurization) in 1862, oddly enough they intended it for beer and wine, not milk. a german chemist franz von soxhlet was the first to seriously suggest it for milk in 1886. all three were considered pioneers, completely ignoring the fact that the chinese, had already discovered the process over 700 years earlier. fair enough, what comes around, goes around, we ripped them off for pasteurization, now they rip off our electronics. lol.
franz von soxhlet is also known as the father of SFE (or SupercriticalFluidExtraction) which uses a device known as a soxhlet extractor, oddly enough i also happen to have the mother of all soxhlet extractors, LO2xl
you never know when you might need to do a little emergency labwork here in jharkendar, lol.

i know, gorgeous isnt it ?

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Yes it is, you are the man Xanthoman!

xanthoman said:

most reptile pathogens are transmitted by touch, so common sense is always advised, this would include not putting your cham on your face, or any equipment in your mouth (imo, good way to ingest coccidia or get a really nasty viral/bacterial infection of the eye). avoiding touching your face with your hands and properly disinfecting after handling and before eating or preparing food. just basic lab safety, something to think about. jmo

my personal hunch is there are probably at least a few people on this forum that have some sort of cham related infection and dont even know it. (may do a future thread on how to self test for threadworms). anyway a little caution and common sense doesnt hurt, a little research whenever someone is doing something theyve never done before, is probably not a bad idea either

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Yes, please do...

Yes please do that thread!