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Steralizing Dirt

EsotericForest

EsotericForest

Night Shadow
So I'm trying to work with some local clay that I intend to moisten and bake to make it hard packed for my leo vivarium. What I'm wondering is how long I should bake it in the over to kill anything harmful, and what temp?

Regards,
Josh
 
Well, I know clay bursts open when there are air bubbles in there. So I would either make sure the air bubbles are all gone, or bake at a low temp. Dont know an exact tempurature. Hope someone ealse can help you more.
 
I was considering putting my oven as low as it will go (Which is 170)...but I wasn't sure if that was hot enough or if I should kick it up to 200.
 
If it's baked hard, the bacteria have been baked too! I don't know what temp will bake it hard, but 200-225F would definitely kill most bacteria, and I doubt the ones that can survive the temps are pathogenic for leos.
 
wstphal said:
If it's baked hard, the bacteria have been baked too! I don't know what temp will bake it hard, but 200-225F would definitely kill most bacteria, and I doubt the ones that can survive the temps are pathogenic for leos.
Click to expand...

Alright I'll give that a go and see what happens.
 
I know when cooking the bacteria safe zone is 40-140 so below 40* and above 140* is my general rule of thumb
 
Looks like it. I cooked it in the oven like I said, and then added water to it to soften it up again. Then I spread it out on the bottom of the vivarium and let it harden under heat lamps for a couple days. Once I did that it was basically as hard as a rock. No worries about impaction there, and it looks quite natural.
 
Pictures? I might steal your idea for my three Leo girls. Why did you decide to make an artificial ground?
 
I'll have some pictures up shortly. My camera is at my fiance's house, and I don't want to take some grainy picture you can barely see with my cell phone.

Why did I decide to make an artificial ground? By that, do you mean, why did I decide to go through so much effort to make a more naturalistic substrate, that will probably make it harder on myself? :D It comes down to me having a passion and a love for wildlife, before I had a passion for domestic animals. I try to go through the effort of making my vivariums as naturalistic as possible (Within my budget) so as to provide the best life I can for my animals. Even if that means that I'm making my life more difficult. Paper towels is much easier to keep a leo on, but would I want to spend my life on paper towels? Not to mention it just looks like crap to me anyway.
 
this is true. maybe you could put a little pseudo-litterbox in the leos poop-spot that would be easier than removing the soiled substrate.
 
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