Things from the outdoors ??

Has anyone ever used things that they have found outside,,like rocks,or branches ??.I have done it in the past with no problems,,but this was after the item was boiled,or run through the dish washer,,or baked in the oven for a few hours @350.Just wanted to know if there are some "penny pincher's" out there like me ??.

hehe. I used a couple of rocks I found. I cleaned with bleach. Then I rinsed them like there would never be a chance to rinse again. Then I washed with dish soap. Repeated the rinsing madness. Then I boiled them. You know, just in case they were dirty. It worked out fine, but I ended up replacing them because I wanted more hides.

I have done it for rocks and limbs for anoles I used to have.Both of our bearded dragons have basking rocks from the outdoors.
I'm thinking maybe for the 10 gal.starter setup,this could be a good way go.
Then as the snake get larger and moves into a bigger tank,I could splurge on the pet shop woods,,the $25.00 a pop pieces.
The Garter snake I had for a short while loved the cinder block hide I made for her .

I used to use branches/rocks etc from outside, after boiling them, but I no longer do that after I mysteriously contracted parasites in my vivariums! Now I only buy from petshops, and I sterilise petshop buys as well. It makes you paranoid.

Well aged driftwood and slate are the only things I've used from outside, and have yet to have a problem (fingers crossed)

Living on an island, I'm able to go out in the wintertime, and pick nice, bleached out pieces when the beaches are empty. I would not use anything from a freshwater or woodland environment for my snakes that couldn't be sterilized, like the slate...