Using palm tree bark in a terrarium?

[Scuttlebutt]

I'm visiting California this week and all of this palm bark seems like it would make great climbing surfaces, hides, or even just decorations. My main plans are to use it for my A. versicolor and an amblypygid enclosure I'm planning. I of course plan to sterilize it thoroughly in the oven, but how well do you think it will hold up against mold and decay, particularly in these humid enclosures?

 

[Kazaam]

I wouldn't bake it if I were you, palm burns pretty fast, your tarantula will be fine if you don't treat it.

It'll rot like any other wood in a humid enclosure, but avicularias don't NEED a humid enclosure.

 

[xTimx]

if anything. boil it for at least a hr. or soak it in hot water with a 10% bleach mixture and then let it off to dry afterwards

 

[Kazaam]

Read this.

 

[telepatella]

Welcome to California! Were you at? The palm tree does not have bark as such, it's just got the outer surface. There are parts of the palm that can be used like fronds or the seedpod casings. But I live in palmtreetown and I use coco fibre and cork bark...

I've used palm frond parts for mantises and it was just fine but I think it takes too much work than it's worth and it can have a prickly or rough texture. I see you're from New Jersey and it may seem exotic and novel so give it a whack, just follow the simple methods of treating it. Oh, and mine never had mold.

 

[Scuttlebutt]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm staying in Riverside. I took a few pieces of the loose crisscrossing plates from the trunk that some palms seem to get. Each is 12-16 inches long and around 4-6 inches wide so I think they'll be great for climbing.. I'll be certain to boil instead of bake or nuke them, I didn't know palm burned so easily.