Climbing materials

[Tropicok]

Very proud of myself....simple minds like simple things. A friend gave me about 20 bamboo poles he cut from his backyard. I finally got around to cutting them into smaller pieces. I washed the dirt off and lay them atop the pan of slate rock from my backyard (smashed finger with hammer breaking it up) and baked it all for 1 hr. at 200 deg. Wow, the bamboo came out very golden and nice and I saved myself money I might have spent otherwise. Easiest thing to do ever. I can't say the same thing for the D*MN tank I'm working on. Spent an hour trying to silicone rocks, spent another hr. letting silicone dry on my hands, and a fun hr. picking the stuff off. Almost better than peeling a sunburn.

[Kurt]

Yeah, with a sunburn you don't get that nice vinegary odor.

[SludgeMunkey]

Here is some more in depth on wood for vivaria. While written with caudates in mind, this information is perfectly suitable for anura too.

Caudata Culture Articles - Wood in Vivaria

[Tropicok]

I didn't notice any vinegary smell. I did four pieces from 12" to 18" and can't recall any odor at all. I keep five tortoises in the house for winter and maybe I'm used to strange smells. I put one piece in with my White's, thinking he would love to grasp it but he pushed it aside and latched onto his favorite spot of glass next to it.

[Kurt]

Last time I used silicone, I remember a vinegary smell.

[Tropicok]

Duh! see what I said about simple minds....I thought you meant the vinegar smell came from the bamboo baking. Now that I think of it the silicone does have an odor but I'm not bothered by it. Back to the original question, in my juvenile Dumpy's tank I have the sturdiest plants I could find at the nursery, two short, horizontal grapevine pieces and a bamboo piece. He still likes to cling to the glass to sleep, but likes one of the gnarly vines to lurk and wait for an unlucky cricket to hop near him. If I put in the small dish with mealworms and sits in it to eat. He also likes to perch on the large water dish and sit in low water. I think it depends on their size.