Collecting from the woods?

[DadsGlasses]

I am wondering about collecting items from the woods to use in a T enclosure. What does everyone recommend in terms of insuring that I won't be bringing in bugs or other problems?

I was planning on collecting some leaf litter, twigs, bark, etc. I was planning to bag the items in freezer bags and put them in the freezer for a few days to kill off any critters.

Any advice?

 

[The Snark]

Sounds like you have a good plan. The reality is, unless you always take your outdoor shoes off before coming in the house and are a fastidious house cleaner to the point of a neurosis, the smaller outdoor life is already present indoors. Concentrate on the obvious that you might dislike crawling into your ear at night, avoid active detritus like molds, cool the mini and micro squad jets for a spell and call it good.

 

[keks]

I collect rotten wood, leaves and branches from a (water-sheltered) wood nearby. I never freeze or cook or put it in the oven. I only pick out animals like ants or ear worms or something like this over a period of a few days. Might be a little bit time-consuming, but I want to leave in the good parts of the eco-system.
I set up all my terrariums with flower and/or wood soil and things from the nature and had never any problems.

 

[Nonnack]

I clean it under shower, and if I want to be extra careful I use boiling water. Then let it dry very good, for few weeks or months. Maybe its a little bit overkill, but so far din't have any problems with mold, insects, or anything
And I have lot of space for drying, lol check out my wood collection;P
https://i.imgur.com/EVqQakG.jpg

 

[Ratmosphere]

Clean whatever you need to in water to wash the dirt off, then bake it or boil it.

 

[Venom1080]

I don't clean anything. Just maybe wash it off if it's off the beach. No need to really, I've never heard of a tarantula dying from "wild caught" wood.

 

[boina]

Why do you want to kill off kritters? You could have a natural bioactive enclosure without work by just putting the stuff in your enclosure. See @keks post.

It also works much better in preventing mites and mold by providing some competition for them.

 

[zxneon]

i`m paranoid about mold and other things . i boil and then bake in oven everything i pick from outdoors

 

[The Snark]

Why do you want to kill off kritters? You could have a natural bioactive enclosure without work by just putting the stuff in your enclosure.

But it would be an un-natural bio-active situation. Only a small slice of the natural environment without the equilibrium of natural checks and balances. Overgrowth and/or die offs are inevitable as the full spectrum of supporting, restricting and repressing biological and botanical enemies, agents, and co-bionts wouldn't be fully represented.
Only mom nature is really good at the balance thing and all too often she ends up playing tennis against herself as the balance swings between extremes.

 

[boina]

But it would be an un-natural bio-active situation. Only a small slice of the natural environment without the equilibrium of natural checks and balances. Overgrowth is inevitable as the full spectrum of restricting and repressing biological and botanical enemies, agents, and co-bionts wouldn't be fully represented.

No. Every evidence we have contradicts your statement. This is actually the standard German way to keep tarantulas. Mite infestation or fungus overgrowth doesn't happen. The competition that is there forms a balance and it works well. The experience of all tarantula keepers in Germany over decades combined will tell you that. Infestions and overgrowth happen much more often in "sterile" enclosures, where nothing is there to keep mites etc. in check. Experienced German keepers and breeders will even discourage you from using coco fiber substrate because it's 'too sterile'. It's actually a much more natural bioactive situation than anything you can achive by introducing selected species of cleaners.

 

[The Snark]

What you achieve in those isolated terrarium environments is not a true balance of nature but a synthesized homeostasis which is desirable. This is commonly referred to as the Gaia hypothesis. However this hypothesis has been supplanted by the catastrophe and chaos theories.
BTW I'm not arguing here or have any personal conclusions. I'm just paraphrasing a bio-science class I took.

 

[The Snark]

See James Lovelock - Gaia principle and Catastrophe or bifurcation theory.

 

[Venom1080]

Went for a quick walk out back to collect some leaves and bark. Similar size cork bark would probably have cost at least 50 bucks.
Largest piece is about 21".

@The Snark long as it stops that annoying slime mold and is safe, it's good enough for me.

 

[The Snark]

$50. Jaw drops. The cork bark collectors in Indonesia might make $5 a good day and it's not unheard of for someone to get assaulted horning in on someone else territory.

Did some reading up on the terrarium situations as @boina mentioned. Actually that instantly led to several tons of web pages on the effects of global warming. Various organisms are held in check, in stasis, by some often minor variation in the average humidity or temperature. This is why the global warming is of such concern to scientists. A big unknown of how far out of balance things need to get down on the rudimentary life levels like the detritus layers before the entire ecosystem goes out of whack.

 

[boina]

What you achieve in those isolated terrarium environments is not a true balance of nature but a synthesized homeostasis which is desirable.

Yes, I completely agree. It's good enough for me.

This is commonly referred to as the Gaia hypothesis. However this hypothesis has been supplanted by the catastrophe and chaos theories.

I don't care about hypotheses. They are to philosophical for my taste. I care that it works and that it does. These theories say that it will end in catastrophe and chaos? Show me practical evidence that it does, otherwise it's just mind games.

I'm not talking about the environment. Small changes can lead to a severe decrease in the number of different species that are able to survive in the ecosystem inquestion. That's not desirable. If I take stuff from nature and put it into my enclosure then a lot of species that I originally collected will not make it and die out in said enclosure. But it doesn't matter because they can still live outside and inside a still have a balance of the species that made it. Good enough.

 

[The Snark]

I don't care about hypotheses. They are to philosophical for my taste. I care that it works and that it does. These theories say that it will end in catastrophe and chaos? Show me practical evidence that it does, otherwise it's just mind games.

Actually, it would be better classified as science games. Specifically, chemistry ala Lovelock vs mathematics (René Frédéric Thom -Lyapunov functions). As my prof pointed out, the basis of this (still ongoing) debate did not have qualified micro-biologists weighing in at the beginning.
However, the vast majority of evidence is leaning heavily towards the math side.
(PS But bringing this stuff up in class is an excellent way to get on the profs bad side. Profs hate digression.)

 

[boina]

Actually, it would be better classified as science games. Specifically, chemistry ala Lovelock vs mathematics (René Frédéric Thom -Lyapunov functions). As my prof pointed out, the basis of this (still ongoing) debate did not have qualified micro-biologists weighing in at the beginning.
However, the vast majority of evidence is leaning heavily towards the math side.
(PS But bringing this stuff up in class is an excellent way to get on the profs bad side. Profs hate digression.)

Honestly - you've lost me and it's definitely too late around here for me to look up Lovelock (I've heard about that somewhere, but I can't remember any details) and I've no clue about Lyapunov functions. Maybe tomorrow after I've had at least two cups of coffee

 

[DadsGlasses]

Went for a quick walk out back to collect some leaves and bark. Similar size cork bark would probably have cost at least 50 bucks. View attachment 253421
Largest piece is about 21".

@The Snark long as it stops that annoying slime mold and is safe, it's good enough for me.

Wow. Nice find! Thanks for sharing the pic.

 

[Venom1080]

Wow. Nice find! Thanks for sharing the pic.

Yup, 20 min to save 50 bucks. That's how I get all my big arboreal hides now.

 

[The Snark]

Yup, 20 min to save 50 bucks.

Odd and sad. In the forest industries, bark is considered a nuisance, something to fuel power plants with providing it is easily hauled. Otherwise is slash and burn on the (former) forest floors or burn piles at the lumber mills.
(Bark degrades the integrity of particle, chip and flakeboard and requires extra treatments of both green and black liquor when it contaminates paper pulp. Yet due to insurance prohibitions they can't allow people to pick through the bark piles.)