Prepping wood items

[guidofatherof5]

I have one piece I can fit in the oven but I'll have to gut the oven it to get the job done. The other piece is about 4 feet long.

[jitami]

cardboard, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and at least one of the five kids

[ConcinusMan]

Geeze, that's big stuff. A nice piece for a 20 gallon long or a 10 gallon is easy for me to find around the local waterways. I like fir anchor roots. They are very woody, have a nice shape, little or no bark and nature has already taken care of the curing for me. This stuff has been floating in the water then bleached in the sun for who knows how long.

I use it right out of the wild and never had a problem. I give a good scrubbing but it can't hurt to boil it either. I don't like what an oven can do to the wood if it is truly to get hot enough to kill nasties. Freezer does no good. Doesn't kill a lot of things including fungus spores. Scalding takes care of that.

A piece of this safe wood can be seen on the right in this tank. Certainly, much larger naturally cured wood can be found like this in my area and it is nasties-free as long as it's old and a bit sun bleached.

This moss is great too. No nasties to speak of, it stays alive with regular misting or looks great dead too. It's just like laying a rug down. Never had ill snakes or any pests using this stuff for 25 years or so. Amy loves to hide under it when it's a bit damp. Works dry too!

[Sonya610]

Reviving an old thread instead of starting a new one. Have some yard branches that WILL fit into the oven. How high for how long? Googling seems to have a lot of different answers.

Washed them off with the hose, these branches do have some cracks in them and some lichten (sp) on the outside which I like. Should I wrap in foil for the oven? Don't want an oven fire.

Oh and what is the preferred method of binding them together? Is wire okay if the ends are well tucked and not sharp?

[guidofatherof5]

I use 200 degrees for a few hours.

[Sonya610]

I use 200 degrees for a few hours.

Thanks. I like that answer.

Some other answers that came up said 350 for 15 minutes and such, that seemed like a fire risk while NOT ensuring everything inside the wood was dead.

[ConcinusMan]

If you can fit your wood into a microwave, I prefer to do that. All the killing power with less heat/fire risk.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

I bet you could put a hot shot no pest strip and the wood in a big trash bag and seal it off for a couple of days.

[Sonya610]

If you can fit your wood into a microwave, I prefer to do that. All the killing power with less heat/fire risk.

Yeah but I don't use a microwave (and these would be too big for most microwave ovens anyways).

Any ideas on "best practices" or maybe "don'ts" regarding binding/securing them are appreciated, I am creating a basking spot and don't want them falling over. I know tape is bad.

[Charis]

Most craft stores sell plastic coated wire, that works well for what you want. Then you can put a drop of hot glue on the ends of the wire, to seal any sharp points.