Natural wood/twigs/branches/logs vs store bought ?

Just wondering what people's preferences are for their insect homes- natural vs store bought (like Petco, Petsmart). Do you collect wood, branches, etc from natural areas or prefer to buy and why? Thanks!

So there are a couple of thoughts here. Store bought wood (ie. cork and mopani) hold up well with high humidity, good for any T that requires high humidity. Grapewood and manzanita (ghostwood) are better for lower humidity environments, as they tend to mold up bad and rot faster than the aforementioned woods. Now you can use any wood in a humid environment, it is just going to break down much faster. Mold can be controlled by seeding with springtails (temperate or tropical), or can be cycled. Mold will naturally disappear over time.

Wild collected wood, if you will, is going to mostly be better for lower humidity environments, as most of the US is more temperate than tropical. Obviously most of the South, and Hawaii, are going to have wood that might hold up better to higher humidity.

Either way, you should bake the wood to lessen any pathogens that may be present. I personally use locally collected oak and store-bought mopani, grape, manzanita, and cork, all work well, as long as you suit the wood to the environment.

i agree with gsa. it all depends on your area. and what type of species your using. for humid species. id only use stor bought. unless you happen to have a cork tree growing in your back yard you havnt harvested in 15ish years lol

as for with arid species like b. smithi b. boehmei etc. id use field collected. but you must be careful. if your in the country around farmland. id double check and make sure no neighbors use pesticides or anything. i personally collect from a protected area and get the fish and game's permission to pick up fallen branches. but as stated you should still bake them.

personally with store bought i bake. then weight it down in a 10% bleach solution for about 4hrs[sometimnes less depends on the piece]... rinse it off letting it dry out and repeat rinsing and drying till it no-longer smells of bleach [if it does] and then bake once more for security

pyro fiend said:

i agree with gsa. it all depends on your area. and what type of species your using.

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+1.

I have a never ending supply of driftwood 30 minutes away, so the thought of paying for cork is absurd to me. But thats a luxury of my neck of the woods.

PS. bleach eats everything, including bleach. I highly suggest you turn off the tap. Just give it a week and the smell should be gone.

I know people who use dirt, leaves and wood all from their backyard without any sort of cleaning. If you get mold just use a cleaner crew. As long as there's no pesticides it should be OK. I think the spiders are a bit more tough than we give them credit for.

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I personally prefer to collect branches and twigs from outside and bake them for about 20 min on a med-high heat , to kill any thing that might be crawling on it

I needed some bark flats for my D. diadema I was getting, the prices were absurd. I was in Georgia, found to big pieces of bark and brought them home. I made sure they weren't cedar or pine and baked them just to be safe. I stuck them in the enclosure and they work like a charm, they haven't even molded and they have been in there since August. All I have in there are a few isopods and the D. diadema.

If you're gonna use any wild sticks or branches or pieces of wood, please boil them in water for at least 1/2hr, bake them in the oven at 250F, this way the heat gets to the core of the wood. also wanna stay away from any wood that has natural oils that permeate, you dont want the T to be breathing in the fumes/scent that leech out of the wood which would be bad for the Ts lungs and cause it to die Woods like Cedar, Fir you wanna stay away from. you can definitely use store bought driftwood. mopani is a great driftwood and used for high humidity purposes. do not use grape wood in high humidity, it'll rot really fast. (personal experience).