Sterelising driftwood / branches etc

[ally_pup]

Went on a hunt today for some nice pieces of driftwood / branches for herp tanks. Found some nice natural pieces just wondering apart from soaking them is there anything else you can wash them with to sterelise them and make them safe to put in their tanks?

[MatE]

Boil them in Hot water which will kill just about everything.

[fuegan13]

some people like to sand them back and seal or laquer (spelling?) them.... but that seems a little extreme to me... i usually just put it in an empty bath and pout a few jugs of boiling water and then fill the bath up with hot and let it sit for a few days

[Crush]

Well you could trie this but it would take a few eeks to work.
Put the wood in big garbage bag and seal it.
Next leave it out i the sun for a couple of days or even weeks.
It should get really hot in there and bake the wood and kill all the nastys.

Crush

[llasher]

Hey ally_pup, you will never actually sterilise the wood, unless you have an autoclave and you keep your enclosures sterile which is impossible. You may be able to disinfect the wood by washing with bleach, rinsing, allowing to dry then lacquering with a water based paint. That's what I have done. I personally would avoid leaving them sitting in tepid water as I think that would actually promote growth of microorganisms. Just my opinion.

[arbok]

i put mine in boiling water for an hour or two then stick em in the freezer over night take em out and wrap in paper towel til they dry out, and then give em a spray with top of descent

[nutta]

soak in in the bath tub over night with f10 leave it to dry in the sun and a lick of water based varnish and dont forget to seal the ends aswel

[Lesa]

Just wondering why it's necessary to sterilise. I've read on this site that mites can't be transferred through wood, it has to be from animal to animal. What other nasties do we risk bringing into the enclosure? I only ask becuase a snakes natural environment is anything but sterile?

[llasher]

Lesa: you are right as my post suggests you cannot "sterilise" unless you are in an operating theatre and both you and the snake are prepped and gowned! I think the point is that you disinfect and clean as best you can.

Most of us don't keep snakes in their natural environment we keep them confined in 4x2x2 melamine boxes, plus we want our kids to look aesthetically pristine so it is difficult to compare the wild to the pet situation. I agree I understood that mites were transferred from reptile to reptile but I'm not sure the jury isn't still out on whether dirt encrusted rotting old bits of wood may not harbour other microorganisms or provide a reservoir for mites that are already on a snake.