decontaminating outside objects/substrate?

[stinax182]

i find a lot of stumps and pieces of bark and other suck things in the woods by my house that would be great in my torts enclosures. i obviously shake off any bugs i can see, but i cannot get everything. a yellow fungus recently popped up on my indoor tortoise enclosure...I've removed it and the dirt around it, but it keeps coming back. i believe it came from the piece of bark i have in there. i would also like to collect some leaf litter so use as bedding, what is the best way to be sure it won't bring any fungus', eggs or bugs into my house? i know there's freezing and heating it, but the amount and size sometimes will not fit in either. anyone have ant genus ideas? thanks for reading!

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sorry about the typos

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[ascott]

I got nothing....I usually don't use the stuff I don't know about....I know, no darn help at all huh?

 

[nate.mann]

I got nothing....I usually don't use the stuff I don't know about....I know, no darn help at all huh?

haha not uncommon. sorry about the issues youre dealing with, and sorry again as i dont have any suggestions. one thing i guess you could try is maybe go to a local nursery and ask for (if it exists) organic fungus killer or anti-fungus treatments.


Chive On!

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i guess i did have a suggestion, forgot to edit the first half of my post after i thought of one. haha


Chive On!

 

[peasinapod]

I heard that pouring hot water over it a few times and then letting it "bake" in the sun can help.

 

[Len B]

You can put it in a (closed) large black trash bag and leave it to bake in the hot sun for a few days, then dump it out and let it dry completely. shouldn't be any bugs or fungus still alive after it dries out.

 

[stinax182]

thanks for the replies! i might try the trash bag idea...I'm changing the substrate soon so that should take care of the fungus. i had a colony of gnats and a few centipedes that I'm sure came from the bark that i would like to prevent next time

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[Tom]

In the days when I kept a lot of large iguanids and monitors, I was constantly on the look out for XL cage furniture. Sometimes I would thoroughly rinse it and then sink it in a chlorinated pool for a couple of weeks and then let it air dry in the sun for another couple of weeks. That worked pretty well for me, but obviously it doesn't completely "sterilize" the object.

 

[stinax182]

thank you tom! the pool is another good idea. i think I'll combine all of these methods, ha.

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