Making outdoor branches safe for chams

[peddro]

i found a whole bunch of nice pieces of wood in the ravine by my house and thought "well it's way cheaper than the pet store stuff". what should i do to make them parasite free? how long do i put them in the oven and at what temp? do i put them in boiling water first? with or without bleach?

thank

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

I normally do 250F for 15 minutes and make sure the branches don't touch the rack

-chris

 

[peddro]

ok. do i just put them on a cookie sheet then?

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

Pedro
make sure that the branches have been soaked in water overnight first
you may even wish to add a cup full of bleach even
cover the whole thing with foil to bake the heat in.

the chorine will turn into gas inside the over (be careful)
but the water will not only help with heating without fire.

check up sterilization lab tech for media (google)
of you want to take this approach

regardless, you may not be doing any favors
since some plants produce toxins that won't break down
and will leach out when your animals are water licking.
sometimes there are no safe shortcuts.

 

[Jordan]

Getting good branches really starts with finding them and asking yourself so pretty basic questions.

Why is this branch on the ground to begin with? A healthy tree does not just loose branches. Something has had to have happened. Has there been a bad thunderstorm recently, high wind conditions, is it winter time? These are pretty normal conditions when a branch might come off.

What kind of wood is it? Not always the easiest question to answer. A basic examination of the wood and trees in the area will usually yeild an answer. Check over the branch and the prospective tree it came off of. Do you notice any white or green on the bark. These are usually a sign of some sort of fungus or possibly bacteria. If the tree has it the branch might, so pass it on.

What is the condition of the branch itself? Any loose bark should be peeled back for inspection. Some trees like a beech tree shed bark all the time. On other trees this maybe abnormal and maybe an entrance point for something that is less then desirable. Noticing holes is not a good sign. Many bugs and there eggs dine on decaying wood. You don't want to fight these guys later on when they are in the cage. Millipedes are one that jump to my mind. On top of just looking creepy they will eat living plant matter if left with limit choices.

If they pass basic inspection then you can probably use them. I just wash mine with soapy water and rinse. I take aluminum foil and make a little tray if you will for them to lay on while in the oven. Any where from 200-250*F are good temperatures to do them in. Far higher temperatures then most living things can take and no where near hot enough for wood to ignite (wood ignites at 451*F). Not igniting and charing are to different things. Each wood is different so just keep your eye on the branches, flip them if you have to. The important part about how long is whether the inside of the wood gets to elevated temperatures or not. Kind of like cooking a piece of chicken. Your not really getting rid of any risk that are associated with cooking poultry if you just tan the outside. Bugs like a millipede could have eggs buried way down in the branch or fungus could be effecting it very deep within. You are better off to just let them go longer.

I don't know if I would recommend soaking the wood. I am positive that the wood would not char as easy. Seems like you would have to heat it double time just to ensure all the water is out again and then just run right back into the same problem. Any residual water in the middle could just ensure that eggs (or other things) are kept alive through the oven process. Water is a very good barrier against dry heat methods. Some woods will emit a whole lot of smoke if they are wet and heated. Kind of the idea behind signal fires and smoking meats.