Advice needed about cleaning driftwood

[Pegasus77]

Hi, new member here. I have a question. I just bought this magnificent piece of driftwood for my Darwin Carpet Pythons enclosure. I really wanted something she could climb on and it was perfect.
Delightfully it came with a bonus colony of cockroaches. I have forcefully evicted them with success but have noticed what appears to be mould in a few places. Do you think it is definitely mould?
After some Googling I decided vinegar might be a good option to deal with it. What I can't find out is if it's safe to just spray on and leave it to dry or should I be rinsing it off?
I have attempted to add a photo of the suspected mould, not sure if it will work or not.
Thank you, I look forward to learning more from you guys

https://ibb.co/1dNq4Ty

 

[Herpetology]

I would pour boiling water over it, give it a good scrub, let it air dry, put it in

some people wouldnt even bother with cleaning it besides giving it a good whack to get any bugs off

 

[Atlas]

A good hot salt soak will do it some good! Vinegar can sometimes smell way too strong and linger, it might irritate your python, and leaving it out long enough for the smell to go away could just lead to bugs again

 

[Bluetongue1]

It should not have had cockroaches living in it. They seek moist spots to shelter, so either the wood or the substrate it was on, or perhaps both, were quite moist. The white residue may or may not be mould. If it rubs off very easily, then it is like not mould. On the other hand, if it is difficult to remove and has a musty smell, it likely is mould. Mould also requires moisture to establish and persist. So if it is mould, your wood clearly needs to be thoroughly dried out. Put it out in the sun on some wire to allow air flow all around. Alternatively near the roof in a metal shed where heated air is trapped. Inside the house it can be placed in front of a heater or, if it will fit, dried out in the oven on low for a few hours.

I agree with Sam K. and would definitely not be using vinegar. It will soak into the wood and the acetic acid smell, which is irritating to snakes, will linger for some time. The best thing for getting rid of mould is bleach. Apply a generous coating of a 10 to 20% solution over the affected area, either painting or spraying. Allow to sink in and repeat a couple of times. Bleach solution will also penetrate the wood but is quickly used up by anything organic. A day or two in the sun and open air after trearment, and any residual odour is gone.

 

[CF Constrictor]

When i collect branchs for my enclosures , i remove all the bark , give them a good bash to remove any unwanted inhabitants, sand smooth any sharp bits and spray with a garden hose then leave them on top of my carport for a few days to dry. I always try to avoid exposing my snakes to potentialy harmful chemicals when ever possible. Im the first to admit i know next to nothing about botany , but i always go for natives.

 

[Pegasus77]

Thanks everyone. I bought the wood from an aquarium and reptile store, I got the feeling it had been in the shop quite a while, I guess there's alot of moisture in the air in an aquarium.
I noticed a cockroach on it when I first picked it up but it was so perfect for what I wanted.
Last weekend I soaked it in the bath to drown out the cockroaches, there were dozens of baby ones. Then I put it in the garage to dry. Unfortunately in Melbourne I can barely get my washing dry even on a sunny day.
Yesterday I poured boiling water on it and in all the nooks and crannies and have had it in front of the heater ever since, unfortunately it's way too big for the oven.
I did end up spraying some vinegar on the mould areas last night and scrubbed it this morning. The vinegar smell is very faint so I'm hoping it will be alright. Maybe I should soak it again to try and remove the vinegar.

Here is a link to ata photo of the whole piece (tissue box for size reference)

https://ibb.co/xqNmzLg

 

[Harpo]

That is a beautiful piece. Nice find, definately worth the effort.

 

[Pegasus77]

That is a beautiful piece. Nice find, definately worth the effort.

Thank you, she's over 6 foot long now so the piece we had previously is little more than a twig to her now. She is always wrapping herself around the light cage at night, holds on as long as she can then falls with a thud, hopefully this will satisfy her need to climb

 

[Bluetongue1]

At this stage it’s probably best to just keep it dry until the scent disappears. If it persists, you can add a solution of bicarb soda to neutralise the acetic acid. This forms a soluble salt, without any real smell, that can be easily washed out.

I agree with Harpo – a nice piece of wood. Good to see in a python enclosure.
You could also possibly add a horizontal branch with some forks in it, something like shown below, that will give her a comfortable perch to lie on once she does climb up the wood you have. Do like Cf Constrictor and remove any bark and the short, sharp bits.

 

[Allan]

Personally, I wouldn't touch anything from a petshop.
Mother Nature is full of dead trees/branches/driftwood.

 

[Pegasus77]

At this stage it’s probably best to just keep it dry until the scent disappears. If it persists, you can add a solution of bicarb soda to neutralise the acetic acid. This forms a soluble salt, without any real smell, that can be easily washed out.

I agree with Harpo – a nice piece of wood. Good to see in a python enclosure.
You could also possibly add a horizontal branch with some forks in it, something like shown below, that will give her a comfortable perch to lie on once she does climb up the wood you have. Do like Cf Constrictor and remove any bark and the short, sharp bits.

View attachment 329539

Thank you, I have used the no carb soda and rinsed it, I'll dry it out by the heater overnight.
I removed any sharp pointy bits after the initial soaking when it was nice and soft.
Unfortunately it's not a very high enclosure (120x60x60) which is why I wanted a piece like this with a branch elevated but enough weight to keep it stable when she's on it

 

[Sdaji]

As you've seen, as with most things reptile related, one question given to 10 people will give you 10 different answers.

I personally rarely use wood, but if I do I generally leave it in a freezer for about 48 hours which kills pretty much everything.

Vinegar (acetic acid is the active ingredient) is volatile and evaporates just like water, but you'll need to let it completely dry before all the acetic acid is gone. In a wet Melbourne winter this may be a bit of a challenge. There are various methods which can help - you can use a strategically positioned aquarium in direct sunlight, or leaving stuff on the dashboard of a car works well, but for a large piece of wood may take a fair while.

If I suspect anything nastier than cockroaches, termites, etc, I would use a fire, but if for some strange reason I was going to sterilise a piece of wood I got from a potentially contaminated place (such as a pet shop) I would give it a long soak it in a bleach solution, which would then require a thorough drying, which would be a tedious process, which is part of why I'd never use such a thing. Or, hey, you could just throw caution to the wind and shove it straight in the enclosure, figuring there's about a 99% chance it'll be fine anyway, and honestly, if you're buying stuff from pet shops you're already taking the risk on board (if you're buying contaminated stuff, it doesn't matter how perfectly you sterilise half of it if you don't bother sterilising the other half).

If I was in your shoes right now and I wasn't going to sterilise it using fire, I'd bleach it then stick it on the roof of the house and mark the calendar in summer to remind myself to fetch it after a hot, dry spell.

Haha, have fun with whatever you choose!

 

[Pegasus77]

She likes it

https://ibb.co/6Xft3J1

https://ibb.co/yQqm16M

 

[Bluetongue1]

@ Pegasus77 Thanks for posting the pics. The wood looks great and the snake seems quite comfortable on it.
I see what you mean about the dimension of the cage and how you have positioned the wood horizontally. When I mentioned using the branch I had imagined your driftwood standing vertically.

Good job. Enjoy!

 

[Benno87]

Spins me out the amount of set ups I see with no cage on the heat globe. Seen some pretty horrific burns from globes.

 

[Sdaji]

Spins me out the amount of set ups I see with no cage on the heat globe. Seen some pretty horrific burns from globes.

Have you seen them first hand or just on the internet? Back in the 90s heat globes were the primary way we heated out snakes and few people used cages over them. Of the literally thousands of snakes I've seen first hand in friends' collections kept with uncovered globes, I've seen perhaps two or three very mild burns, and that's it. Online I've seen more, but hey, I've seen a higher number of snakes killed by the cages, either getting stuck in them then cooked, or getting stuck in them and just dying because of the constriction on their bodies.

These days I don't use globes for snakes, but if I do (it would only be a daytime visible basking spotlight) I probably won't use cages. I don't use cages for lizard basking lights. I used globes for snakes for about 20 years, never a problem.
[doublepost=1594735312,1594735265][/doublepost]

She likes it

https://ibb.co/6Xft3J1

https://ibb.co/yQqm16M

Looks great

 

[Benno87]

Have you seen them first hand or just on the internet? Back in the 90s heat globes were the primary way we heated out snakes and few people used cages over them. Of the literally thousands of snakes I've seen first hand in friends' collections kept with uncovered globes, I've seen perhaps two or three very mild burns, and that's it. Online I've seen more, but hey, I've seen a higher number of snakes killed by the cages, either getting stuck in them then cooked, or getting stuck in them and just dying because of the constriction on their bodies.

These days I don't use globes for snakes, but if I do (it would only be a daytime visible basking spotlight) I probably won't use cages. I don't use cages for lizard basking lights. I used globes for snakes for about 20 years, never a problem.
[doublepost=1594735312,1594735265][/doublepost]

Looks great

An old high school mate has owned a reptile store for the past 7 or so years. I’ve spent a fair bit of time at his shop and have seen first hand some of the customers pythons that have received horrific burns from uncovered globes and get bought into his shop for care.

 

[Sdaji]

An old high school mate has owned a reptile store for the past 7 or so years. I’ve spent a fair bit of time at his shop and have seen first hand some of the customers pythons that have received horrific burns from uncovered globes and get bought into his shop for care.

Amazing. How many? I've literally never seen one in the flesh I'd describe as 'horrific' after literally decades of observing literally thousands of snakes (not each one closely of course, but I have friends in multiple continents cumulatively keeping many thousands of snakes under globes with no cages).

The people who deal with pet shops are definitely the newbie crowd and they definitely do the most strange and stupid things, so maybe there's some way they're setting them up in a bad way which encourages the snake to wrap around the globes and for some reason not get off when they're being burned. I remember over 20 years ago having Carpet Pythons which would wrap around the base of globes when they were off (back then I was using those crappy old IMIT TA2 thermostats) and when the globes came on they'd quickly leap off when they got too hot. Never a burn though and they learned soon enough and lived in that same enclosure for about the next 10 years.

 

[Ajar5]

All what sradji said
[doublepost=1594823116,1594822934][/doublepost]Sdaji
[doublepost=1594823284][/doublepost]Understand the fundamentals of reptiles before the acquisition..
[doublepost=1594823827][/doublepost]Light)heat cages are a controversial topic. I've personally kept /bred snakes and lizards for decades with great success.
[doublepost=1594823887][/doublepost]Sorry with uncaged heat lights ...