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Grapevine, wood pieces, etc.

Lucille

Lucille

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I have had some pieces of grapevine as 'cage furniture' for quite some time now. I've periodically taken them outdoors, scrubbed them and let them dry in the sun, but is there anything else that should be done to make sure they are as clean as possible? I know there are products for cage cleaning but I hesitate to use those because of the porosity of wood.
What do y'all do?
 
I know some folk, myself included, bake them in the oven..seems to do the trick
 
How long, what temp? Hopefully the church ladies won't show up for a visit while I am baking reptile furniture... :hehe:
 
200 degrees for about an hour will kill anything alive within the wood. I also wet the wood first so it more or less gets steam cleaned. For pieces that are too big for the oven, you can soak them in bleach water overnight in the bathtub. I use more bleach then I probably should but it doesn't hurt anything. Just make sure you use enough to get the job done. Rinse well and your good to go!!! :)
 
Hehe, that'd take some explaining :) Typically, I bake mine on 250F for 30-45mins or so. Solid grapevines logs need a bit more to get them going, whereas thinner/branchiers ones need less. Be sure to keep an eye on it. It's obvious i know, but remember you're not trying to cook the log, just want it to get hot enough to make life uncomfortable for any bugs/bacteria that may be growing on/in it.

Alternatively, for the smaller logs you can put in a small sterilite tub and soak in boiling water.
 
Mike makes a good point of wetting the wood..the water in the wood should get to higher temps quicker than the wood will.

I would be paranoid of using bleach though..you'd have to really soak it afterwards to get rid of any bleach that has soaked deep into the wood that make leach out over time.
 
The bleach can be a pain as you have to rinse and rinse and rinse, but it kills anything and everything that may be living in the wood.
 
I scrub and wash the wood thoroughly, then wrap it in foil and bake for 45 minutes at 200 degrees. I don't like the soaking method as tiny insects can still hide and thrive in air bubbles attached to the wood's crevices. I had a tiny spider managed to crawled out from a piece of wood that had been soaked for 24 hours (boiled water)!
 
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