# how to clean corkbark



## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

hi how do you clean cork bark i have some in the shed that i used to have in my african land snails tank and its mukky so how do i get rid off the mud can you just wet it then dry it 

i have heard you can put it in the oven to get rid of any stuff

its for a tarantulas: victory:


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## ShouldIBeDamned (Aug 24, 2008)

I have no idea if what I did was right but I found a branch last night I needed for a set-up, boiled the kettle and poured it over, left it for a bit, scrubbed it then put it in the oven for about 20 mins...


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

ok i will try that what sort of temp in the oven 

hight or low lol


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## ShouldIBeDamned (Aug 24, 2008)

I did it at 200 degrees prob would have done gas mark 5 or 6 if i had a gas cooker


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

i have a elec cooker so im ok thanks alot mate


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

Cork bark i think you put in into a hot water and WEAK bleach solution then rinse in hot water then dry.......but don't hold me to that


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

yeah sounds ok but i might go for the first one sounds easy:2thumb:


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

Try boiling it if you have a big enough sauce pan


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

give it a wash with warm water, that's all thats required.
"cooking" won't kill off any bugs, neither will a kettle of water. The danger of using detergents is they'll affect your tarantula too.
Unless you suspect your wood of having parasites from exotic lands or flies there's little danger. Of course you could freeze it if that makes you happier as that's likely to kill off most exotic pests.


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## george dobson (May 20, 2009)

dont put in the cooker for long though i did so in in micowave an the cork burnt and snapped and caught fire


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## ShouldIBeDamned (Aug 24, 2008)

george dobson said:


> dont put in the cooker for long though i did so in in micowave an the cork burnt and snapped and caught fire


:lol2: I think the oven is a safer bet... microwaves are evil things! Although as Poxicator said we don't need to


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## matto2k (Nov 30, 2006)

i tend to submerge it in boiling water with a little bit of arc cleanse in it (as its save for inverts). then leave it there for 10 minutes to get into gaps etc.


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## schumi (Oct 22, 2009)

im going to use my sisters dishwasher for mine :lol2:
and dont use any dishwasher tablets
id imagine that would kill anything off and then maybe dry it off in the oven


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## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

I agree with Poxicator, ther is really little reason to sterilise everything that you put in your tarantula's enclosure. You won't kill off everything anyway and even if you managed to do it there are lots of fungal and bacterial spores in the air and it would be 'contaminated' almost the second you put it in with your spider. Remember there is no place that tarantulas live in the wild that is sterile and without fungus etc, especially not for tropical species where their environment positively teems with microbial life. 

So just give that piece of cork bark a good scrub with warm water to get the slime off (you said you'd used it with snails), let it dry off and use it : victory:
No need to make your life unnecessarily harder


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## Doomgerbs (Jul 29, 2008)

in the summer (if we get any) after a good soak in hot water you can leave it in the sun to dry (a windowsill is good). a couple of days of good sunlight will help kill pests as well as dry out the wood

Freezing will kill many things, when I kept gerbils I froze their hay (it can harbour mites) and their food (to kill of grain moth caterpillars which are an absolute pest).
48 hours is enough to destroy most things, while soaking in hot water will kill others and help float off any loose muck

for spores and other things that are tough enough to survive this treatment you will have to rely on your Ts being healthy enough to combat any parasitic load

oven is fine as long as you don't let it scorch but microwaves are a very different method of heating something and I am not surprised the result was a fire, I would be definitely not use a microwave to sterilise wood, although it can be used for glass jars etc (only heatproof glass) with a little water in them (but they must then be given lots of times to cool as they will be extremely hot).


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## atum (Jun 1, 2009)

george dobson said:


> dont put in the cooker for long though i did so in in micowave an the cork burnt and snapped and caught fire


Sorry, but... LOL!


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

thanks guy well i have submerged it in boiling water and left it for 1 hour. The i scrumbed it and then im letting it to dry thanks again guys


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## MARK H (May 13, 2009)

I find that bark is best cooked at 180 degrees for 20 mins and served with a crisp salad and a knob of garlic butter.:2thumb:


ShouldIBeDamned said:


> I did it at 200 degrees prob would have done gas mark 5 or 6 if i had a gas cooker


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