Leaf litter ??

[firefly]

I have a large English Maple tree in my garden & I was wondering if it'd be okay to use a bit of the leaf litter in my FBT tank??

We have a corner of the garden solely for any wild frogs, newts etc etc to hibernate in & thats where most of the litter goes.

If you think it's ok to use - would I need sterilise it in some way or leave it un-naturale ??

[John]

Yes, that will be fine. Keep in mind though that Maple leaves are not very robust and they won't last more than a month or two in the terrarium before completely rotting away. When I know the source of the leaves or collect them myself, I generally just put them in a large shallow tray and let them dry in the house somewhere for a few weeks.

However, when I order leaf litter from people on the internet, I sterilise leaves by dunking them in a pot of water that has just been taken off the boil. Then I put them in an oven on a baking tray to dry them - temperature about 120 °C / 250 °F. Takes about half an hour to an hour, depending on how many leaves you try to dry at once.

[firefly]

I'm not contradicting what you say John, maybe I have a different Maple, but the leaves have been in that pile since the autumn and not rotted away even tho they're wet.

I collected some of the dry ones in the autumn to give to my Black Beauty stick insects to hide in & the leaves are still in their habitat albeit a little chewed round the edges.

So if I wash them and pop them in the oven they should be ok?