Going stick hunting

[Michaelk20]

This weekend i'm going to go for a walk to look for some more decor for Sheldons house and my leopard gecko viv.

Few quick questions that i need a definitive answer on:

1. Should i de-bark

2. Wash/bleach/sanitise then rinse

3. Dry naturally or bake?

4. Scrub?

Cheers!

 

[nightanole]

My stick hunting:

Dont get sticks laying on ground, get them off live/dead trees or sticks off of fallen trees that are sticking up. Sticks laying on ground will have massive amounts of pill bugs, slugs, and all the other composters.

I dont debark

I dont bleach

I soak in a VERY salty water solution over night

I normally rinse with the salt water

I away bake afterwards if i can

The salt naturally comes off with a few misting.


Its just me, but im paranoid i wont be able to rinse off all the bleach and it get into the water supply, and i have frogs too so i stick with my salt scrub.

 

[sandrachameleon]

white vinegar is another safe cleanser. So is boiling water

I choose Arbutus if possible, so that there is no rough bark to hide fungus or creepy-crawlies.

 

[Michaelk20]

Ok cool, so for the cham home I'll be leaving the saltyness on there as itll come off with mistings like you said, but for the leopard geckos who wont be misted should i just rinse with clean normal water then bake?

How long and what temperature should i bake? I've read 100C for an hour? elsewhere ive read different

 

[bbprinting]

I put it on 350 for 10 minutes if and when I bake them.

 

[Michaelk20]

Ok, i take it thats Farenheit as you're in US so roughly 180C.

Is there any wood i should stay away from other than that left on the floor? Any type of wood i mean.

Cheers for the help so far!

 

[juice28]

PINE lol stay away from pine!...(just my opinion though) but its really sappy...i got a piece of pine and it was a pain in the...yea! i fired it in the oven and had to bbq on the grill for a week and a half until i could get that smell and taste out of anything i cooked not to mention the sap just bubbled out of the wood and dripped on the bottom of the oven...total pain to clean and it was off a dead tree...guess it wasnt that dead yet lol...maple trees are kinda sappy too when fairly freshly cut/broken... dead dried out tree branches...(correct me if im wrong pro's) just about anything that is already dead and fairly dried out should be fine..

 

[Michaelk20]

You've just saved my oven!

 

[juice28]

You've just saved my oven!

lol glad i could be of assistance lol

 

[Michaelk20]

lol glad i could be of assistance lol

Lol there is one pine forest round here and another just normal everyday tree forest and i was going to hit both in a day, i'll leave the pine one now.

Technically you've saved my legs too haha!

 

[juice28]

i dont wanna mess up the workout though lol