# how do you NUKE your wood/substrate



## dcap (Sep 3, 2011)

Prompted by a thread elsewhere on mites, I'm curious on the way you NUKE any new bit of wood coming into your collection's cages (cork bark or a natural wood hide from a shop or branches from the wild). 

And do you also use this process for a bag of substrate?

some use the microwave (limited size, and I don't own one, I eat real food)
some try the freezer (?)
some do the bleach thing (I can't get my head around any kind of rinsing of a bleached bit of wood)
some then paint their wood with varnish (use on boats)

an auto-clave is a high pressure steam over used for sterilization ... its 121*C at 15-20 mins. Its used in medicine to sterilize equipment and in hospitals for sterilizing operating tools, and tattooist use one too. We don't want anything micro-biological getting into us in those environments. 

I use the nearest thing I have to an auto-clave, the oven. I wrap any new wood (from reptile shops or gathered from the wild) in aluminium foil and then bake it at 130*C for 30mins ... sure, this isn't 121*C for 15-20 min but that is under high pressure. So I pop the temp up a bit and for longer time. I don't want to set the stuff on fire! You're basically cooking any bugs, and bug eggs. Cooked is dead. I think its pretty much a safe bet. 

(I have no idea what the micro-wave equivalent of an auto-clave is?)


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

If it's from the wild, I don't. I'm pretty keen on what Spikebrit likes to call the 'bioactive' system. I do try to avoid collecting material for amphibians (for example) from near ponds with native 'phibs, but I believe excessive sterility causes more problems than it solves.


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

When I first kept reps I used to do all the bleach/freeze/cook...dont bother anymore. Find a branch I like in the park, take home, scrub off any moss or unsightly bits with hot water, leave to dry then put it in viv.


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## Oskorei (Jun 15, 2010)

Microwave  kills any mites etc and leaves your kitchen smelling like a forest <3


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## Amy2310 (Feb 28, 2011)

Pleco07 said:


> When I first kept reps I used to do all the bleach/freeze/cook...dont bother anymore. Find a branch I like in the park, take home, scrub off any moss or unsightly bits with hot water, leave to dry then put it in viv.


This ^^ If the wood is beginning to rot I don't bother with it at all and leave it where it is. But usually scrub with hot water, strip any bits I don't like, leave it to dry and put it in.


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## Barlow (Sep 23, 2010)

Just put it straight in there. All the creepy crawlies will do the enclosure good. I put branches and leaflitter straight into my vivs. My peacock monitors also nest their eggs in leaflitter.


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

I've never done anything, jut dry it out, if it isnt already and plonk it straight in there, the little bugs will add to the ecosystem and create a varied food source if the occupant is isectivorious. 

If you are worried about mites you can bake it but there really is little need. 

Jay


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## xboa (Jun 9, 2010)

This is the first thread i've read where everybody is saying dont bother doing anything with the wood, i thought it was a big deal having bugs and stuff in there?


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

xboa said:


> This is the first thread i've read where everybody is saying dont bother doing anything with the wood, i thought it was a big deal having bugs and stuff in there?


tends to be a lizard section obsession :whistling2: in the phib section its the opposite its all about live vivs!as for mites its 99% more likely that the mites invaded the viv naturally rather than being introduced by some decor


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

sambridge15 said:


> tends to be a lizard section obsession :whistling2: in the phib section its the opposite its all about live vivs!as for mites its 99% more likely that the mites invaded the viv naturally rather than being introduced by some decor


hey don't tar all lizard people with that brush.


i just tends to be the lizard people who know very little about the benefits of bugs and over exaggerate the damage they can cause. Far more damege occur from cleaning with bleech then puting in a wild log. 

jay


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## xboa (Jun 9, 2010)

Either way you guys have saved me abit of trouble, theres no way i can fit any of the bits of wood i've got in my oven lol

Thanks :thumb:


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