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Husbandry and Basic Care General stuff about keeping and maintaining cornsnakes in captivity.

Cleaning Wood/Ornaments
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Old 03-13-2018, 01:53 PM   #1
GRIMJIM
Cleaning Wood/Ornaments

I have 3 questions for anyone who wouldn't mind giving me some advice.

1) I have some driftwood that I was given for free. It was originally purchased from an arts and craft shop for decoration purposes and was bleached before being sold.
It sat doing nothing in their house for some time and now I have it.
I'm just wondering whether it's going to be okay to go straight in my corns enclosure or if I should spray it down with reptile Disinfectant, rinse it and leave it to dry.
Someone suggested putting it in the oven for a bit but it won't fit in my oven and I'm not sure I need to go all out with it, as it's been bleached before it's original sale and has never been used.

2) I have a half log hide that was previously used for a leopard gecko. Is that best going in the oven? If so, how long and what temperature? Do I need to do out else with it other than bake it?

3) When I clean out my corns enclosure I use reptile Disinfectant on her enclosure, her water bowl, skull ornament, leaves etc.
Might seem like a stupid question but I'm just wondering whether other people clean bits of cork Bark and coconut Hides?

If you've made it this far then thanks for reading.
Any help is much appreciated.

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Old 03-13-2018, 10:10 PM   #2
pretends2bnormal
I'm far from an expert, but I would at the very least thoroughly rinse the wood that was treated with bleach. From what I've heard, that's a no-no to leave residue of in a snake cage.

I know more about aquariums, and usually what's safe for fish is ok for reptiles from what I've seen so far, so the usual go-to for making driftwood safe for aquariums that won't fit in an oven is to pour boiling hot water over it. (A few passes with water on all exposed surfaces is typically considered enough for safety, although not enough to make it sink, which is irrelevant here.)

So, for those big pieces, I'd make sure to thoroughly hose them down to make sure the bleach is gone, then do the boiling water.

As far as other wood pieces, I'd do baking to sanitize. If it had poop/pee, I'm not sure.. haven't needed to yet *knocks on wood* I would probably thoroughly rinse and then boil if I could.. or a vinegar rinse and thoroughly rinse it off after and leave until fully dry.


Anyone who has more reptile experience can feel free to chime in with corrections as most of mine comes from past aquarium experience.

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Old 03-13-2018, 10:26 PM   #3
GRIMJIM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal View Post
I'm far from an expert, but I would at the very least thoroughly rinse the wood that was treated with bleach. From what I've heard, that's a no-no to leave residue of in a snake cage.

I know more about aquariums, and usually what's safe for fish is ok for reptiles from what I've seen so far, so the usual go-to for making driftwood safe for aquariums that won't fit in an oven is to pour boiling hot water over it. (A few passes with water on all exposed surfaces is typically considered enough for safety, although not enough to make it sink, which is irrelevant here.)

So, for those big pieces, I'd make sure to thoroughly hose them down to make sure the bleach is gone, then do the boiling water.

As far as other wood pieces, I'd do baking to sanitize. If it had poop/pee, I'm not sure.. haven't needed to yet *knocks on wood* I would probably thoroughly rinse and then boil if I could.. or a vinegar rinse and thoroughly rinse it off after and leave until fully dry.


Anyone who has more reptile experience can feel free to chime in with corrections as most of mine comes from past aquarium experience.

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Thanks for the response.
I wouldn't of thought there would be any bleach left on them. I just meant they'd been "bleached" (which is how the donator put it) prior to going on sale, just like wood you would buy from a reptile/pet shop.
However, I've no problem with hosing them down anyway, and the boiling water sounds a good idea!
I suppose I may as well spray them with some reptile disinfectant before rinsing them too.
Leaving them to dry on the other hand.....
Airing cupboard maybe
Thanks a lot


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Old 03-13-2018, 10:32 PM   #4
Seaweedthesnake
Pretends2bnormal has some pretty good thoughts I think! Although I’m not an expert either.

A note on the disinfectant: I have some flukers reptile cleaning stuff I use to clean enclosures and it works pretty great. Sometimes if I notice one snake isn’t interested in something in their enclosure I will clean it with that stuff, rinse with hot water, dry and then pass it along to another snake for use. I’ve had no issues with doing it that way. If it’s soiled I’d use a bleach solution.

If parasites or possible infection by other such dangerous living or breeding/multiplying entities isn’t a concern I wouldn’t think you’d need to boil or bake but if you’re not sure then better safe than sorry!
 
Old 03-13-2018, 10:32 PM   #5
pretends2bnormal
When you said bleached, I was thinking someone at home rinsing with a bleach mixture.. I imagine that if it were a manufacturer thing rather than just a random person, it may not matter. Though for aquariums, you just assume manufacturers didn't make it fish safe and do it anyway.

The disinfectant shouldn't hurt, so if you have some and it'll help peace of mind, I don't see why not.

For drying, if you have any sort of shop fan or box fan, you could turn one on them for a few hours to help speed it up after patting dry with towels.

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Old 03-13-2018, 10:53 PM   #6
GRIMJIM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal View Post
When you said bleached, I was thinking someone at home rinsing with a bleach mixture.. I imagine that if it were a manufacturer thing rather than just a random person, it may not matter. Though for aquariums, you just assume manufacturers didn't make it fish safe and do it anyway.

The disinfectant shouldn't hurt, so if you have some and it'll help peace of mind, I don't see why not.

For drying, if you have any sort of shop fan or box fan, you could turn one on them for a few hours to help speed it up after patting dry with towels.

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Lol
Yeah I know what you mean there, whenever I have bought any kind of Ornaments from a pet shop, be it for a snake, hamster, rat etc, I always think, well its been sat on a shelf collecting dust and I don't really know for definite where its been prior to that, so I'll just go ahead and disinfect and rinse it off anyway.
But with branches, I didn't really know what to do with them, and with snakes being susceptible to parasites and what not, I'm a bit wary.
My original thinking was that I'll just buy some from my local reptile shop (a reputable place) and put them straight in, as that's what I've done with cork Bark from there before, but obviously branches are quite expensive and so when I was offered four big pieces for free, I didn't want to pass them up.
I've got a big fan. Another good idea, thanks again!

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Old 03-13-2018, 10:55 PM   #7
GRIMJIM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seaweedthesnake View Post
Pretends2bnormal has some pretty good thoughts I think! Although I’m not an expert either.

A note on the disinfectant: I have some flukers reptile cleaning stuff I use to clean enclosures and it works pretty great. Sometimes if I notice one snake isn’t interested in something in their enclosure I will clean it with that stuff, rinse with hot water, dry and then pass it along to another snake for use. I’ve had no issues with doing it that way. If it’s soiled I’d use a bleach solution.

If parasites or possible infection by other such dangerous living or breeding/multiplying entities isn’t a concern I wouldn’t think you’d need to boil or bake but if you’re not sure then better safe than sorry!
Thanks for the reply

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