# wood from outside...with bugs :/



## NeeDeeAhh

I recently found some beautiful pieces of wood that I could use in my T tanks but I'm pretty sure they have some sort of parasites on them :/. 
Right now, I cannot afford to pay a boatload of cash for a little piece of cork bark, so I'm looking at other options. I've done the boil and bake thing on decorative cork bark, so I know it works.

I was wondering if I could spray pesticide on the infected wood, let it sit for a few days...then boil it and bake it. :unsure:
I know, I know! I should COMPLETELY avoid pesticide or anything like that but I don't want parasites on my Ts or at least in my house.

Any suggestions on how to "clean" it?
Thanks in advanced!


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## BiGpDaMoNsTa

I don't see any reason why boiling and baking it wouldn't kill any parasites the wood brought with it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## NeeDeeAhh

True, I guess I just want to make sure they die for sure lol


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## poisoned

That's the only reason why I bake my wood.


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## PrettyHate

Put it on a cookie sheet and bake it at 350*F. Length of time in there will depend on how big/thick the wood is. The heat will kill any unwanted critters living in the wood. 
Also, and this may seem obvious, but stick around and keep an eye on that while it is baking.


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## SamuraiSid

Ive done the bleach, boil, bake method in the past, and also just boil, bake. Whatever your feeling will be fine.


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## hydrophyte

I sure wouldn't put anything with bug killer on it in my oven.

Baking in an oven at 350F should kill any kinds of bugs in there.

Also try bagging the whole thing in a trash bag, then leaving on the dashboard of a car parked in the sun for a day or two.


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## ZergFront

+1 for hydro's idea. Cook the wood, DO NOT use any pesticide. I guarantee a spider will be doing the twitches and die from pesticide.


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## catfishrod69

Put it straight on the oven rack, bake it at 400 for 50 minutes. This is what i started doing with my corkbark to keep the mold from growing on it. When it smells like it is on fire, bake a little longer. Just keep a eye on it.


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## Stan Schultz

NeeDeeAhh said:


> I recently found some beautiful pieces of wood that I could use in my T tanks but I'm pretty sure they have some sort of parasites on them :/. ...


What makes you say this? Is there something you're not telling us, like the conditions where you found the wood or something else?




NeeDeeAhh said:


> ... I've done the boil and bake thing on decorative cork bark, so I know it works. ...


Actually, not as well as you might think. After you've gone through that ordeal you put the wood into a decidedly "unclean" cage on a pad of *dirt*, with a decidedly "unclean" tarantula, and dump in a bunch of decidedly filthy crickets. And, while you're doing this, all sorts of spores and eggs are raining down out of the sky into the cage. 

The bottom line is that any effort to sterilize or sanitize a tarantula cage or its contents is a waste of effort. (Note that there is a big difference between sanitization and simply good cleaning.) GOOD HUSBANDRY is much more effective. For instance, keep the cage relatively dry for most species. Most diseases and "bugs" can't live or reproduce in a dry cage. Both the tarantula and we *can live* in those circumstances (look carefully at the room around you!) because we're both large enough to get to a watering hole before we die of thirst, have impervious enough skins to retard water loss until we get there, and contain enough water in our tissues to easily carry us over between drinks at the aforementioned water hole. Not so with infections and infestations that either can't move at all or can't march that far before they mummify and die.



NeeDeeAhh said:


> ... I was wondering if I could spray pesticide on the infected wood, let it sit for a few days...then boil it and bake it. :unsure: ..


Of course you can.  But, it would almost surely result in the deaths of your tarantulas. Obviously, that's not a good plan.



NeeDeeAhh said:


> ... I know, I know! I should COMPLETELY avoid pesticide or anything like that ...


Then, why do you ask?



NeeDeeAhh said:


> ... but I don't want parasites on my Ts or at least in my house. ...


*Hot flash:* *THEY'RE ALREADY THERE! Welcome to life on planet Earth.* Remember that nearly all the veggies you eat grow in dirt, and the meat you eat lives out there in the great outdoors its entire life. And they're all harvested and processed by other humans who are just as likely to carry a compliment of little nasties as you are (and in some cases even more so).

"Then why am I not getting sick or parasitized?" you cry. Assuming that in a general sort of way you really aren't getting sick or parasitized (not a proven fact, though!), the answer is that you're living in an artificial environment that's kept both relatively clean and quite dry. (You're also cooking your food.) The cleaning reduces the infectors'/infesters'/parasites' numbers markedly, and the overwhelming majority of the survivors sicken and die of dessication or starvation before they have a chance to work their morbid ways. Lastly, we and the tarantulas have evolved ways of dealing with any bad things (our immune systems) that do manage to survive. (Tarantulas' immune systems don't resemble ours very closely, but both accomplish the same thing.)

Take heart. There is good news. While the possibility is always present that a tarantula could carry some noxious organism that would also grow on us, tarantulas are so different from us that the probability is exceedingly minute. As evidence, witness that in spite of the fact that literally hundreds of thousands to several million tarantulas have been kept as pets by tens of thousands of enthusiasts over a span of at least 60 years, there is not one instance on record where a human contracted a disease from a tarantula. (Here I'm conveniently ignoring a very few cases where a tarantula bite became infected or similar trivial issues.)

*NO ONE DIES FROM THEIR TARANTULA!*​


NeeDeeAhh said:


> ... Any suggestions on how to "clean" it? ...


Scrub it off well with very weak dish soap. *DON'T USE BLEACH, LYSOL, OR ANY OTHER DISINFECTANT!* (We're not trying to stamp out smallpox here!) Rinse it well. Twice! Let it set in the hot sun until it's quite dry. Make sure the cage you're putting it into is equally dry. Or, buy plastic ornaments from a pet shop instead.

Enjoy your little 8-legged survivors!

Reactions: Like 1


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## madamoisele

If you have access to Palm Trees (luckily, I do), I wait until the maintenance men trim them and then take the long branches and cut them into hides.  I'm going to have to make a video on this one day.

Reactions: Like 1


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## poisoned

Baking it at anything more than 180°F (80°C) will actually promote mold growth. I however like to bake it (at 80°C for 1/2 hour), just to kill bugs that are sometimes living inside.

---------- Post added 06-15-2012 at 10:15 AM ----------

Oh, and one cool experiment about molds. Put one piece of bread outdoors and one piece indoors. Now observe the mold growth.


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## Greentriple

just stick them in the microwave, that is sure to kill anything you're concerned about.


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## Ambly

dashboard of the car is a good idea.  However you choose to "sterilize it," I suggest setting up the enclosure, introducing the piece of wood, and treat the enclosure as if the T was in it for a while... atleast a couple days.  It will likely mold over (depending on the kind of wood).  From my experience, there is no way all foreign matter can be eliminated from the wood.


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## ArachnidSentinl

catfishrod69 said:


> When it smells like it is on fire, bake a little longer.


:laugh:

OP: the only suggestion that I can add to this thread is to not use the microwave. I tried that and it...let's just say it didn't work.


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