heating stuff to kill parasites-how hot?

[GP212]

Hello
As you may have read I plan on putting real animal skulls and other bones in my tank. As well we will be getting drift wood from the lake. How hot do I need to cook this stuff to sterilize it?

Glenn

[Leviathan]

You need to cook it at 500 degrees F for at least 5 min.

Alecia

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Cook it way longer...I would suggest at least an hour. The temp should be at ~275. The high temps are not necessarily needed. Nothing should survive that. This is basically the same time and temp as autoclaves. (As used by Vets to sterilize their equipment) Let whatever you cook cool down for about 20 minutes.

Do not bleach the bones! That is a mistake many a person will do with them. Simply leaving them in a bucket of water in the sun does the trick to remove any of the big pieces of stuff that may be stuck on them also. If you want to sterilize any of this, use vinegar and rinse it off well before you use it. Any vinegar remaining will eat away at the bone and eventually destroy it...actually rubberize it.

[tHeGiNo]

Boil the bones like crazy, is all I do. The drift wood, I throw in the oven for a few minutes, clean with bleach, rise thoroughly, then let them dry in the sun for a few days.

[V.hb]

Theres no reason to do anything with branches etc other than give it a rinse with a hose and toss it in the tank...... Get it from a remote area of a forest.. No reason to do much treating.. As far as bones, let them sit in bleach for 24 hours, then rinse them off.. DOnt put them in until the bleach smell is gone.

[beardiedragon]

branches/wood can harbour termites, wood mites, ticks, mites, fungus, bacteria, mold... and should be treated by either soaking in a 5% bleach solution overnight or baked in the oven @ 250 for 2 hours. I also use Nolvasan/hexasol to disinfect and sterilize instead of bleach as there is no oder and it is safe for all animals.