Wood Baking

[downthebeatenpath]

I know that when you take wood from outside you are suppossed to bake it to kill anything on the wood, for how long and at what temp do you bake it? Also, is there any other method besides baking? I was going to take a long piece to put in one of my snake tanks, and it wont fit in my oven, so just curious if there are any other ways to kill off the critters on it, thanks.

 

[Halley]

I think when I did it I did it at 350 for 30 minutes. don't quote me.

 

[moosassah]

Boiling it. Though if it's too large for the oven, I guess a very hot tub soak might do. You could turn your hot water heater up for a bit. Watch out though I know that if our hot water heater is too high that it will overflow. You're not looking to make a huge mess.

Don't use bleach. You'll never get the chemicals out of the wood.

Another option is to cut it into pieces that would fit in the oven. Save the sawdust to coat the glue you use to stick it back together. It will help hide the cuts. Oven 200 degrees for many hours. The core of the wood must also get hot. Any loose pieces may singe. Don't leave home while it's baking. You need to keep an eye on it just in case it manages to catch on fire. No pieces I've ever cooked have.

 

[moosassah]

Boiling it. Though if it's too large for the oven, I guess a very hot tub soak might do. You could turn your hot water heater up for a bit. Watch out though I know that if our hot water heater is too high that it will overflow. You're not looking to make a huge mess.

Don't use bleach. You'll never get the chemicals out of the wood.

Another option is to cut it into pieces that would fit in the oven. Save the sawdust to coat the glue you use to stick it back together. It will help hide the cuts. Oven 200 degrees for many hours. The core of the wood must also get hot. Any loose pieces may singe. Don't leave home while it's baking. You need to keep an eye on it just in case it manages to catch on fire. No pieces I've ever cooked have.

 

[Gecko]

Depending on what it looks like and where you live you may not need to do anything really. Northern latitudes probably don't have a huge number of lizard parasites and mites waiting in the wood.