driftwood

[thereallivinglegend]

i have driftwood in with my 4 month old, 9 1/2 inch dragon. sometimes some small loose wood pieces fall onto the ground and i clean them out of the cage so she wont eat them. but i do notice that while she's on the driftwood she will lick it from time to time...should i remove the driftwood or is this normal?

 

[GoFast]

i am sure it depends largely on what type of wood the actual driftwood is. All of mine is very smooth. You may be able to seal it somehow. I am not sure exactly if it is bad though. I would assume that it would carry similar impaction risks to having bark or crushed walnut shells as a substrate.

 

[thereallivinglegend]

Thanks. Not only am i worried about the loose pieces falling, but the crickets hide in the holes as well. does anyone know of a wood sealer that is safe to use? if not, does anyone know where to find smooth driftwood that is 45-50"? I'm having trouble finding the bigger stuff and I'm too lazy to drive to the beach...

 

[momtothreeboys]

I too got driftwood from the pet store and pieces fell off and crickets hid in it. I found a really large smooth piece at the PetSmart by my house. I eventually got a fake piece of branch that I put in his cage. I drove to about five different Petcos and PetSmarts before I found one that worked for me. Goodluck!

Jennifer

 

[wikidinc528]

You could try cutting a live tree branch, stripping off the bark, soaking it in a dilute bleach solution (10%) and then baking it. By cutting a live branch you reduce the risk of having things living inside/on versus a log/branch that has fallen and may have started to decay. Stripping the bark could help cut down on unwanted pests and the combination of the 10% bleach soak and oven heat treatment should kill anything else. This way you can trim and size it exactly how you want it; branch permitting.