# £50 for abit of wood



## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

I went into the rep shop today and they had some really nice bits of wood in.
I'm kitting a few vivs out so wanted a branch in each viv so the corns had somthing to climb up

£50 for WOOD??? :gasp: :gasp: :gasp:

It grows on blummin trees after all.

So i'm on a mission this week, in the local woodland, drift wood at the beach and basically any nice rocks i see too.

Going to treat it with bleach and then sand down i think


It's not like they have any nastys in that will hurt the snake


DO PEOPLE PAY THIS? :devil:


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## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

that price is stupid


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

miss_rawr said:


> that price is stupid


It would just fit in a 3ft viv, not very wide either :gasp:


I know shops need to mark things up but, by how much!


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## rybuzz (Feb 12, 2008)

your supposed to bake rocks i think, there is various techniques to remove harmful bacteria and parasites from the wood but for £50 i'm sure its worth it!


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

rybuzz said:


> your supposed to bake rocks i think, there is various techniques to remove harmful bacteria and parasites from the wood but for £50 i'm sure its worth it!


You can Freeze most things - 

I'm going to 

Wash in bleach n water 1.10 parts i think it is

then freeze in my freezer, the bit that doesn't fit i'm goint to put boiling water over it.

I'm sure that'll be fine, its only worrying about things living in the viv and not so much the snake aspect


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## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

fill your bath with boiling water and put the wood in it :2thumb:


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

miss_rawr said:


> fill your bath with boiling water and put the wood in it :2thumb:


HAHA,

my mam and dad already thing im crazy imagine what they'll think when i have sticks and stone in the bath!

Well i'll do it if it saves me money :whistling2:


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## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

stephenie191 said:


> HAHA,
> 
> my mam and dad already thing im crazy imagine what they'll think when i have sticks and stone in the bath!
> 
> Well i'll do it if it saves me money :whistling2:


what are you doing in the bathroom!?
WASHING MY WOOD GO AWAY!!!


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## Joe1507 (Aug 11, 2008)

RIDICULOUS, Go to woods and get some


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

Joe1507 said:


> RIDICULOUS, Go to woods and get some


I live near a woodland park so anything thats lying about i'm going to have away! LOL

I want a big ish log, around 30 inch long so i'm gona take my sister and make her pick it up

( i hate insects, :gasp: she looks after me so she can get em all off LOL)


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## fourdown (Oct 3, 2008)

i wouldn't bake any stones or rocks tho.

If you're not sure if it porous it can P O P !

Believe me it's not nice!!

I had a rock shatter in the oven, real dangerous!

also i was pruning a willow, when it was in summer the branch i cut off was moist. 
I peeled the bark off underneath and left it in the sun.

Man oh man the branches didn't even need sanding, they are sooooo smooth!

PHOTO:










SMOOOOOOOOOOOOTH!


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## LANEYABC123 (Sep 6, 2008)

*Wood*

In my reptile/fish shop
i have seen a piece of bogwood
for £75
it was huge !!: victory:


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## 15060 (Feb 17, 2008)

Most of the woods that are sold for reptiles are imported from Indonesia and other places abroad. We tend to use a lot of repti branch which is very smooth and nice designs, but it is expensive. The wholesalers charge by weight and i suppose it has to include the huge fees to ship it across from overseas.


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## jamesandnina (Apr 8, 2009)

my mate is a tree surgeon and got me ucaliptus for my dragons that was 18 months ago and no probs yet but i did scrub them all with bleach 1st


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## Babycakes (Mar 6, 2009)

I'm heading down to the beach to hunt for some nice driftwood and stones for my viv. I'm going to stick it all in a bucket of milton for 24 hours, then let it soak in a few changes of clean water for another 48 to get some of the salt out.


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## Soulwax (Jan 6, 2009)

Wood is always ridiculous prices for some reason


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

I went for a walk today and all the bits i found where rotten or just boring long bits.

I think drift wood will be my best bet or cut a tree down for parts :whistling2:


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## snickers (Aug 15, 2007)

> all the bits i found where rotten or just boring long bits.

That's the problem !
If you spot council workmen cutting trees offer them a fiver for a bootful of branches. You could also keep an eye out for a tree surgeon or even ring one up. We got a load from a tree surgeon cutting up an oak tree down the street. And get out there next time theres a storm.


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

snickers said:


> > all the bits i found where rotten or just boring long bits.
> 
> That's the problem !
> If you spot council workmen cutting trees offer them a fiver for a bootful of branches. You could also keep an eye out for a tree surgeon or even ring one up. We got a load from a tree surgeon cutting up an oak tree down the street. And get out there next time theres a storm.


Ohh i didn't think of this! 

Thanks for that - i think i need the yellow pages :lol2:


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

If your council are anything like ours, you may find there'll be hundreds of 6 inch chunks but no decent bits ... talk about wasting time lol

Spotted this...erm... 'work of art' last time they thinned out the woods... 











As for the price of wood...If i remember right I paid £20 for a relatively boring 3ft piece of wood from my local rep shop about 10 yrs ago (For the GALS i had at the time of all things...lol) and I thought that was silly...£50 is rediculous !!!!


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## malia007 (Sep 6, 2008)

stephenie191 said:


> I went into the rep shop today and they had some really nice bits of wood in.
> I'm kitting a few vivs out so wanted a branch in each viv so the corns had somthing to climb up
> 
> £50 for WOOD??? :gasp: :gasp: :gasp:
> ...


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## andaroo (Nov 14, 2008)

The methods mentioned here aren't good enough please follow the following methods...

*Wood Sanitation*

Wood sanitation is an absolute necessity for all pieces that are collected from the outdoors for use in a reptile enclosure. In sanitizing the wild collected pieces, you are preventing bacteria and parasites from being introduced into your enclosures. The method used for sanitation will depend on the size and shape of the wood you need to cleanse.

The first step in sanitizing any size branch is to remove any leaves that may be present. Additionally, you should remove any smaller branches that you do not require, as well as any loose bark.

Smaller branches that can be placed in an oven, and watched, can be cleansed in a few hours. Larger branches that require soaking will take a few days to prepare for use.

Baking a branch or piece of wood at 200-250° F for 2-3 hours will destroy any internal parasites that the wood may be harboring. Increasing the temperature will NOT increase the speed in which the process is complete. It will however increase the likelihood that the wood catches fire. For safeties sake, please follow the directions as they are outlined.

If you are baking the wood, you must not leave it unattended. While the baking temperatures you are using are not typically capable of starting a fire, hot spots on the wood could cause combustion. The actual ignition point for wood exceeds 500° F. Regardless, be responsible and watch the wood.

The second method, which is often used for pieces of wood that are too large to fit in the oven, is to soak them. Soaking the wood takes more than a couple hours of your time, and requires that you have something large enough to contain the wood item while it soaks. Bath tubs and portable totes are ideal for soaking. Items that are even to large for those can be soaked in a childs baby or wading pool.

To properly soak wood, you should use a bleach solution. A ratio of 1/2 cup of bleach to one gallon of water will be sufficient. If you use a more concentrated solution, you will find it difficult to extinguish and leach the bleach out of the wood.

Using the ratio above, soak the wood for 24 hours in the solution. The bleach will seep into the wood and kill any parasites harboring inside. Once 24 hours has elapsed, remove the wood and rinse it thoroughly. You will now need to soak the wood again. This time soak the wood in clean water, that doesn't have any bleach. This process will need to be repeated several times over a 1-2 day period. The idea is to leach the bleach out of the wood. Every few hours you should remove the water in which the branch is soaking and replace it with fresh, clean water. This process will force the bleach into the clean water, diluting it with each replacement. As you continue to replace the water, the amount of bleach that will remain will dissipate until it has been leached completely.

Now you should allow the branch to air dry for several days, preferably outdoors. Hanging the branch from another item will help prevent any re-infestation from occurring.

Taking wood from nature is a great way to save money. It isn't always the best idea however. If you do not invest the time in sanitizing it, that money saved could end up being used to treat your reptile for parasites you introduced to the enclosure. 

Anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time. Save yourself a headache and sanitize the wood properly.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

for anyone looking for sensibly priced wood, i went to a shop near Portsmouth yesterday called Southcoast Exotics Southcoast Exotics, Reptiles & Amphibians, Ferplast Vivariums & A wide range of Reptile Equipment.

its an awesome shop, great range of lizards, snakes, spiders, frogs, tortoises, etc. they all look really well cared for and are in very nice enclosures. the guys there seriously know their stuff as well. cant recommend the shop enough for anyone who lives within sensible driving distance! its 45 mins from me but was well worth the journey.

anyway, they were selling Cork Oak branches for £2.50 per foot (really good sized wood as well). and also they had some really nice Grape Vine, i got 2 pieces that were entwined with each other, about 4 feet long, £7!! plus i got a long and short piece of Cork Oak for £15.

im not sure what the going rate of wood really is from other shops and sellers, but the guys were really helpful with some questions i had, are really enthusiastic about reptiles, so i didnt really care about the pricing, i would have paid double lol. but i thought it was incredibly cheap for what i got!

the wood is all untreated and uncleaned, some of it has moss growing on it, etc. so its going to need soaking (too big to bake) just like wood from the wild. but it saved me the bother of going for a walk in the woods, and then not knowing what type of wood i was getting and whether or not it would be toxic.

im sure there are similar shops all around the country, £50 for a simple piece of wood seems excessive. for £50 id want a giant root from some kind of exotic tree, or something else huge and rare!



andaroo said:


> The methods mentioned here aren't good enough please follow the following methods........................................Anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time. Save yourself a headache and sanitize the wood properly.


thanks for that method, really helpful. i was wondering how much soaking my wood would require, guess im going to be taking up the bath for a few days, im sure my family will love me!!


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## headshed (Apr 17, 2009)

I bought a fantastic piece of java branch online from Evolution Reptiles here: Branches - Evolution Reptiles


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## alfie99 (Oct 12, 2007)

I have lots of sand blasted grape vine in stock there are a few pics herehttp://www.reptileforums.co.uk/equipment-classifieds/287268-grape-vine-cheap.html#post3735240 but there are a lot of really nice interesting pieces and some upto 3.5/4ft in lengh all at only £12 each.


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## GECKO=] (Apr 5, 2009)

why would you clean it with bleach that's just pathetic!


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## andaroo (Nov 14, 2008)

GECKO=] said:


> why would you clean it with bleach that's just pathetic!


you soak it in bleach to kill all traces of bacteria and parasites that infest wood collected from outside so your pets dont get sick and die. How is that so hard to understand?:yeahright:


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

GECKO=] said:


> why would you clean it with bleach that's just pathetic!


whats pathetic about it? have you ever pulled a strip of bark off of a live tree and seen how much lives underneath it? completely uncleaned youd have a fairly high chance of a beetle/ant/woodlouse/mite/other infestation in your vivarium within a few weeks, especially at high heat and humidity where everything breeds a lot faster. once youve got an infestation its pretty hard to get rid of it, plus it wont be restricted to the viv, your whole house could potentially get infested.

on the other hand most of the time this probably wouldnt happen. but id rather play it safe for the sake of a few hours of work.


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## Lee92 (Oct 22, 2008)

stephenie191 said:


> You can Freeze most things -
> 
> I'm going to
> 
> ...


Freezing won't kill any bacteria that are on it. it will just send them into a hibernation like state, and when you defrost the wood they'll just wake up and start multiplying again. so the other methods mentioned are much better ideas: victory:


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## snickers (Aug 15, 2007)

In practice there is little need to nuke branches. Cutting the bark removes pollution and most of he wildlife. Leaving it to dry for a month will kill of most of the rest.

We don't nuke cat scratching posts, and I put raw coco fibre in with my spiders. Worse I EAT cheese and thats crawling with bacteria. Cleanliness is fine and necessary but i can be taken to extremes.


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## matty321 (Mar 14, 2009)

you could try the range (if you have one nearby). i bought a piece of wood, quite a large piece actually, for £1.50. i went to a local reptile shop andthere were smaller pieces for about 8-9 quid. you can save alot of money there


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

snickers said:


> In practice there is little need to nuke branches. Cutting the bark removes pollution and most of he wildlife. Leaving it to dry for a month will kill of most of the rest.
> 
> We don't nuke cat scratching posts, and I put raw coco fibre in with my spiders. Worse I EAT cheese and thats crawling with bacteria. Cleanliness is fine and necessary but i can be taken to extremes.


That.


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## volly (Mar 6, 2009)

Anyone noticed that this thread is over a year old?


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## storm22 (Jan 11, 2009)

volly said:


> Anyone noticed that this thread is over a year old?


was gonna say exactly the same lol!!:no1::Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## garethwilliams (Jan 16, 2010)

i got my wood from work for my viv did not cost me a penny


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## Slashware (Dec 20, 2009)

it's much worse then, £50 pluse inflation


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## tatsu+stiggy (Jan 19, 2010)

I know rep shops are trying to make money but they can be ridiculous, even places online. I also get annoyed as i think there is too much worrying on here about their reptiles as too the parasite and nastys on wood and things you want outside to put in their enclousures. 
You cant protect them from everything, i needed a bit of wood to stop the sand in my beardies viv spilling over my tile, i got a bit of pine wood, sanded the balls off it and bleached and boiled it in a bucket. Let it dry for a day or 2, end of no problems what so ever.
I think some people need to be more hands on and not always use rep stores for everything, B&Q and hardware stores i get some things from like my digital hydrometer and temp meter i bought for £11 in machine mart, some places online wanted like £20 :gasp: 
I still use rep shops as we still need them but some prices are ridiculous

Rant over lol


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## J-Williams (Apr 7, 2010)

Well Im SUPER SUPER LUCKY!!!!! as not only do I have the beach nearby (Fornby Point) and woods nearby with plenty of Tree's (Pennington Flash) my Dad's Brother (Uncle) is a tree surgeon!!!!!

Weheeee plenty of wood for me!!! and Im friendly with a great pet shop!!! Weeheeee


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## matty321 (Mar 14, 2009)

you'd be better off leaving in boiling water as all known bacteria and virus' are destroyed beyond 67 degree's.


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## J-Williams (Apr 7, 2010)

WOW MATTY, :notworthy: thats an extremely interesting fact!! And Im sure it will come in handy in the future! :2thumb:


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## Em_J (Dec 14, 2009)

matty321 said:


> you'd be better off leaving in boiling water as all known bacteria and virus' are destroyed beyond 67 degree's.


Sorry, but not true.... Spore forming bacteria are very heat stable - _Clostridium botulinum_ spores withstand boiling for hours... _Bacillus anthracis_ needs dry heating at 160 degrees for 2 hours... And some bacterial spores need heat/boiling to germinate!

I'm not saying that anybody's snake is about to get botulism or anthrax, but there you go!!

(Sorry to sound like a know all but I've been revising bacteria all day.... its soooooo boring!)


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## J-Williams (Apr 7, 2010)

C or F though!


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## Em_J (Dec 14, 2009)

Sorry! C!!


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## Shiver (Apr 6, 2009)

stephenie191 said:


> I went into the rep shop today and they had some really nice bits of wood in.
> I'm kitting a few vivs out so wanted a branch in each viv so the corns had somthing to climb up
> 
> £50 for WOOD??? :gasp: :gasp: :gasp:
> ...


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## matty321 (Mar 14, 2009)

J-Williams said:


> WOW MATTY, :notworthy: thats an extremely interesting fact!! And Im sure it will come in handy in the future! :2thumb:


im a 16 year old geek  . how else do you think i spend my time. with friends?? not likely:lol2:


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## matty321 (Mar 14, 2009)

Em_J said:


> Sorry, but not true.... Spore forming bacteria are very heat stable - _Clostridium botulinum_ spores withstand boiling for hours... _Bacillus anthracis_ needs dry heating at 160 degrees for 2 hours... And some bacterial spores need heat/boiling to germinate!
> 
> I'm not saying that anybody's snake is about to get botulism or anthrax, but there you go!!
> 
> (Sorry to sound like a know all but I've been revising bacteria all day.... its soooooo boring!)


sorry let me rephrase that, all of the virus' and bacteria that could possibly harm you or your pet is destroyed at 67 degress c. and whats the chance of you piking up abit of wood with anthrax on or some other biological weapon like small pox  :lol2:


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## Em_J (Dec 14, 2009)

matty321 said:


> sorry let me rephrase that, all of the virus' and bacteria that could possibly harm you or your pet is destroyed at 67 degress c. and whats the chance of you piking up abit of wood with anthrax on or some other biological weapon like small pox  :lol2:


Well yeah unlikely! :lol: Anthrax though is still a veterinary disease, not just a biological weapon... There are rare sporadic cases (usually in cattle) in the UK every year (none in '07 - which is the last DEFRA report available). 

You just need to be sensible with things you bring in from the outside follow the advice above.... I'm a tight student, so anything I can do to save money! Although george is a worm atm, so I don't need to invest in anything big yet...


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## Carlos (Jul 28, 2009)

hahaha £50 aint bad... the rep shop near me has a piece of wood in there shaped wierd n they wntd £200 last tym i lukd its lyk a display piece! 2ft high n 2.5ft wide ... wel cnt say il b displayin it in 1 of my vivs hahaha


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## Spencer95 (Feb 20, 2010)

i saw a piece of wood for £50 at my local rep shop:L


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## Yazyaz1 (Oct 12, 2009)

matty321 said:


> im a 16 year old geek  . how else do you think i spend my time. with friends?? not likely:lol2:


im also a 16 year old nerd 

(and im ginger)

but im a closet ginger, i wear a top hat, nobody notices :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Boon (Mar 28, 2010)

stephenie191 said:


> I went into the rep shop today and they had some really nice bits of wood in.
> I'm kitting a few vivs out so wanted a branch in each viv so the corns had somthing to climb up
> 
> £50 for WOOD??? :gasp: :gasp: :gasp:
> ...


You could bake the wood which would also get rid of nastys and eliminate the fact of bleach left in any gaps of the wood


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