BARK ON or OFF, VARNISHED OR NATURAL????

[Surfcop24]

As you may remeber I made that 6ft x 4ft x 2ft (divided into two) enclosure....

I have chosen some logs/branches to put in their enclosure.....

And I am unsure how to do them......

A) As is..........???
B) As is but varnished........???
C) Bark off and Natural Wood..........???
D) Bark off and varnished..........???

Whats everyones thought and Opinions......? And some reasons for you decision if you have them please......

[SLACkra]

probably A, however if you give it a good enough clean to kill anything that maybe on it or under the bark. please some one correct me if i am wrong

andrew

[hugsta]

If they are fresh cut, then just put them staight in, they don't seem to perish at all in the enclosures and don't contain as many little bugs that dead wood can. Obviously make sure there are no ants, termites borers etc in the timber. Cut them to length and screw them in. I prefer the 'natural' look compared to laquered logs etc. Most my enclosure have fresh cut branches in them and have been there for many years, I have had no problems.

[Surfcop24]

Hmm...They are fresh cut yesterday....... And they dont have anything in them as far as I know......

I did leave them soaking in diluted bleach ( in Bathtub) over night to kill anything and clean them....so should be all good.......

Any other thoughs/ Suggestions????

[steve6610]

what huggy said, fresh cut , put them in, the only thing to watch out for
is certain branches or trees give out a smell,

cheers,
steve...........

[TrueBlue]

personally id let it cure for a while in a shed, rather than using it fresh.

[Surfcop24]

Hmm...Honestly...I am thinkin towards what Trublue has said..... Leave it for about a week or so... then put it in....

There has been mention of it warping as it dries.... and because it is so large...I was thinking of screwing it in place...( unless someone has a better idea...???), therefore I dont want it to twist the enclosure at all....

But hey as I have said ....I am asking for peoples thoughts and ideas....

### DONT JUST READ IT THEN LEAVE...... HAVE YOUR SAY!!!!!!

[Samma3l]

on a similar note, can anyone point me in the direction of a guide for cleaning & baking perches and such? Temps, times, cleaning products etc?

[peterjohnson64]

There has been a few posts recently Samma. A lot depends on the size of the branch. Those ones of Surfcops are quite large so I probably wouldn't recommend microwaving them and also trying to fully strip them of bark would take many many hours (I said fully). all you really want to do is to kill any little bugs that are in them. Trueblue made a good suggestion of boiling water. That will work for large ones as well as small and should kill most things.

[pugsly]

Just put it in.

[hugsta]

Am with you there Steve.

[Snow1369]

i recon c would look good !

[Jules]

Not bad looking sticks. They don't look like they have the real thick bark of some trees that would harbour lots of nasties. You may get a bit of shirinkage with drying but not so much I'd rekon. You could always just loosen the screws a little if needed. Like the rest said "chuck it in".

[junglemad]

Not bad looking sticks. They don't look like they have the real thick bark of some trees that would harbour lots of nasties. You may get a bit of shirinkage with drying but not so much I'd rekon. You could always just loosen the screws a little if needed. Like the rest said "chuck it in".

don't you just hate shrinkage guys? i know i do. it is going to be a long winter

love that first branch. i don't use them green personally. i get ones that a gum has thrown and cut them and chuck them straight in

[JungleRob]

To avoid the effects of shrinkage I use hook and eye fittings for my logs. The other advantage is that you can take them out of the enclosure without having to unscrew anything.

I'd put them straight in. Is generally only dead branches that get little nasties in them.