Wood From Outdoors

[Jeffree]

So on my walk with my dog today I came across some wood that I thought would look cool in Jeffree's tank. The problem is I'm not sure how to "treat" it before adding it to the tank.

It's too big to boil and my mom would flip if I baked it. Will freezing it be ok? If so how long should it be frozen?

I brought it home anyways and washed it well getting all the dirt and loose bark off of it. Right now it's in the spare freezer in our garage and has been there for the last 7 hours.

Jeffree is a wild caught Squirrel Tree Frog so this is wood I'm sure he's come across plenty of times in his life since he and this wood was taken from my neighborhood. The wood was found in an area behind the neighborhood/in the woods where no chemicals have been used on or near the area.

[SludgeMunkey]

Freezing is not a viable alternative. While this may kill off some ride along insects, it will not affect fungi and bacteria, unless you can get the temperature quite far below zero, say liquid nitrogen temperatures.

For everything you never wanted to know about wood for vivaria, try here.

[Ebony]

Hi Johnny, Thanks for that information. I was told that Cypress wood was ok. I never put it in the water but it sat on the Moss and it would develope a white mould on it which always bothered me,so I scrubed and boiled it offen. But now Ive taken it out. I spent alot of time on the computor trying to find this sort of info.
Thanks again Johnny

[SludgeMunkey]

Cypress is confusing. All true cypress is toxic, but as usual, the common name here in the US is applied to two very different species.


But, as you figured out, better to be safe than sorry!

[Tom Highum]

What about american cotton wood?