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want rocks in viv. can i take some from outside?

chesterthecorn

chesterthecorn

New member
we have extra stone laying around from building a walkway and was wondering if i could use a piece in my viv .i have heard about mites and other bacteria being on wood from nature but what about rocks. is there a way to treat it?
 
Yes it's o.k. to use. Just put it in boiling water and scrub with a liberal amount of bleach. Make sure you give it a good rinse to get the excess bleach off and you should be o.k. Avoid rocks that are pitted or with holes as things can escape the slaughter. Never put them in the oven as they can explode if the temp. is too high.
And always choose cool looking rocks...LOL
MIKE
 
I once used a piece of Yorkshire stone in Connor's tank when he was a baby, soaked first in boiling water. It looked great and I never had any problems with cleanliness. He liked squeezing under it to hide. I took it out the tank though after accidentally nearly crushing the poor dear's tail with it. It made me nervous after that. But as long as you choose carefully and make sure it can't fall and harm your snake you should be fine.
 
I have used a few stones from the rubish English beaches before and they turned out to be fine. To kill any harmful bacteria or mites i put them in boiling water 2 or 3 times and left them in normal clean water for about 3 days to drown any living mites. Make sure they havent got any sharp points or anything and your snakes will do fine.
 
I'll probably take a bunch of crap for this but whatever. Either here or at work I use stuff from outside ALL the time. Rocks, logs, sticks, moss, leaves, mud, you name it. How much of it have I sterilized beyond picking off obvious insects or clumps of dirt? Not very much. I've yet to have an explosion of nesting beetles, wasps, lice, mites, rodents, or anthrax come out of "dirty" nature. Maybe it'll come back and bite me someday, but I'm not going to be paranoid. Personally I think if I had to boil or bake everything I put on vivs for either snakes or frogs or whatever, most of it would be dead (moss) or burned.
 
Oh and one other thing, if you do decide you want to actually pay money for rocks, let me know. I live out in the country and have a few lying around. I'd personally never actually go to a store and ask if I could purchase rocks, but again, if you're in the market I can help. Heck I'd even boil it for you.
 
TrpnBils said:
Oh and one other thing, if you do decide you want to actually pay money for rocks, let me know. I live out in the country and have a few lying around. I'd personally never actually go to a store and ask if I could purchase rocks, but again, if you're in the market I can help. Heck I'd even boil it for you.
Click to expand...

Your probably going to think I'm sad, but, I have bought rocks for our Tegu because they were blue and looked interesting:shrugs:
MIKE
 
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