couple questions about cooking decor in stove..

[DeesBalls]

I have a big bag of multch (for outside) and i was going to use that for my ball pythons, instread of paper towel, but knowing its for gardening use, im sure there something int here that isnt good for snakes, ...

1. if i cook that in the stove, to kill off all potential nasties, would it be then safe to use? Its prolly about 2 yrs old (the bag of multch) and was just curious, not a huge deal, just wanted to be safe before i used it, if i did....

2. when baking outside sticks/limbs, how long at at what temp do you usually do it? i have nice sticks outside iw ant to put in bearded dragon enclosure, and then some in my sullys tub for some decor.

thanks in advance

[Zoo Nanny]

So long as the mulch is untreated with herbicides, insecticides or dyes spread out in a flat pan. Do you know what type of wood the mulch is made from? You need to avoid pine and cedar. Set oven to 200 and bake for an hour. Some branches depending on the thickness will need up to 2 hours

[DeesBalls]

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

So long as the mulch is untreated with herbicides, insecticides or dyes spread out in a flat pan. Do you know what type of wood the mulch is made from? You need to avoid pine and cedar. Set oven to 200 and bake for an hour. Some branches depending on the thickness will need up to 2 hours

okay thank you, i will have to go look at it, im sure its not cedar or pine, because i do now those are bad for snakes, but ill check it out and see what excactly the bag says then go from there.

thank you!

[jarich]

There is nothing in your mulch that baking will alleviate, or need to. As said above, the things you need to be careful of are the extra bits that sometimes get added to it like dyes, herbicides, pesticides, etc. They arent all too careful with what they add to the stuff for flower gardens.

[IW17]

I use cypress mulch and it works great. As said above chemicals are one thing to watch out for. Another thing to remember is many cypress mulch brands at home Depot, Lowe's, etc are a cypress blend. They contain small amounts of cedar and pine because it's a deterrent for bugs in your garden. Whether or not the small amounts are harmful is debated and I've yet to find a solid answer either way. I go to nurseries and buy a slightly more expensive all organic cypress mulch that's got no chemicals and no other types of plant material.

[DeesBalls]

Thank youall for the answers, but i am just going to use it for outside multch and buy some cypress multch (organtic) for the snakes,


or ill just go back to aspen, like i always do . lol.

thanks again.