Best Methods to Clean & Sterilize Wood for Reptiles

Whether you need to sterilize wood for reptiles depends on the circumstances. Here are 3 instances to either clean or sterilize wood:

  1. If the wood has been obtained from outdoors, perhaps in bushlands, there may be some parasites present in which case they should be killed. Killing parasites doesn’t require sterlizing but the same process can be used.
  2. If your wood is coming from another enclosure, one of yours or someone elses, then it may require sterilizing. In this instance it is best to ensure that no parasites or pathogens are brought with the wood to your bearded dragon.
  3. If your reptile has an illness, disease or parasite infection such as mites, everything in the enclosure will need thorough cleaning. For illnesses the wood will likely need sterilizing whereas for parasites such as mites, you only need to treat the wood for that particular parasite.

There are a few methods to clean and sterilize wood for reptiles. For example, to sterlize wood for reptiles bake it in an oven at 200-250ºC (392-482°F) for 30 minutes.

1. Baking Wood to Kill Parasites and Pathogens for Reptiles

Putting rocks and wood in the oven is a fast and effective method of treating parasites and pathogens.

The AVMA (2009) recommends heating branches between 200-250ºC (392-482°F) for at least half an hour.

The thickness of the branches will determine how long they should be heated for. Wood is a great insulator so thick wood may require 3 or 4 hours of heating to get past any protective insulating layers that parasites may be hiding in.

  • The temperature to bake wood and rocks to kill mites is 55ºC (131°F) (Klingenberg, 2007).
  • The temperature to bake wood to kill Salmonella spp (in dry heat) is 160-170°C (320-338°F) for at least 1 hour (The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013).

Keep in mind that decayed wood ignites at 150ºC and various woods ignite between 190º-260ºC (374-500°F) (Cafe, 2007).

Monitor the objects in the oven to ensure everything is safe. Once you have turned the oven off, leave the objects in there to cool down. If they must be removed prior to the oven cooling down then clearly they need to be out of range of children, pets and anything else that could be injured from the heat or catch fire.

Needless to say, you will need to be vigilant in ensuring mishaps do not occur such as the wood catching fire.

2. Cleaning Wood for Reptiles to Kill Parasites by Soaking

Soaking rocks or wood for reptiles is really only suitable to kill parasites. It is not the most effective wasy, heat is, but for items that are too large for the oven, soaking works. A bath tub works well for soaking however you may be limited in how long the branches and rocks can be soaked for if you have a busy household.

If possible, soak the wood in hot water to eradicate pests like mites. Mites can be killed at 55ºC (131°F) (Klingenberg, 2007). Chances are that the water from your tap is hotter than this, however you will need to check with a thermometer.

Regardless of whether you use the bath tub or a pond, immerse the branches (in hot water preferably) for as long as possible. Keep the entire wood submerged, don’t let it float. You want to ensure that no pockets for air are available within the wood for parasites to hide and survive in.

Mites are true survivalists. If there are any air bubbles or pockets they can hide in until the soaking is over, they will find it. Make sure the branches and rocks are totally submerged, turning at times to fill any air pockets with water. This could potentially take days depending on how porous the wood is.

woood branches soaking in a pond to kill parasites that may harm reptiles to prepare the wood for going into a bearded dragons enclosure
Large branches of wood being soaked in a pond to ensure any mites or ticks are killed. These branches were turned every few days and soaked for 1 week in the pond to reduce the chance of any parasite surviving in an air bubble.

3. How to Disinfect Wood for Reptiles

Disinfecting wood and rocks is a similar process to soaking in water, but this time with the addition of a disinfectant. Disinfecting wasn’t included as part of the soaking procedure because overuse or improper use of disinfectants can lead to bacteria developing resistance (Rozman et al., 2021). If you’re trying to clean wood for mites, soaking or baking is effective. Disinfectants are only necessary when you’re specifically targeting pathogens​ and cannot use an oven.

Here is how to disinfect wood for reptiles:

  1. Using a container, or bath for large items, add sufficient water and the recommended dosage (see manufacters instructions) of disinfectant.
  2. Submerge the wood or rocks ensuring no pockets of air are left for parasites and pathogens to survive the treatment.

Use a veterinary grade disinfectant such as F10. Leave the disinfectant in contact with the surface for as per the instructions, likely to be at least 15 minutes. Rinse off thoroughly and dry in the sun for extra protection. See the post on cleaning your bearded dragons tank for more on UV and drying in the sun. Keep in mind that any porous surfaces may require additional treatment and the sun can only be effective if the sunshine can touch the surface directly.

Bleach is another disinfectant which is useful on a range of viruses and bacteria. However, bleach is quite toxic and must be washed off thoroughly with any residue removed. The sun can deactivate bleach so again it will be useful to dry in the sun.

4. Can Freezing Wood Kill Parasites?

Another method of kill parasites and some pathogens is by freezing them. If your freezer is large enough then place the wood or rocks in there for a few days and allow the freezing temperature to penetrate the entire object. Soaking wood before freezing may add to its effectiveness.

However, there are many pathogens that can survive freezing temperatures and some for months which includes coccidia. In addition, the risk of introducing pathogens like salmonella and coccidia into your freezer is far too high. So freezing is not a suitable way to sterilize wood for reptiles.

How to Sterilize Wood for Reptiles: Targetting Specific Pathogens

If your wood or rocks are contaminated with pathogens, it’s likely that anything they come into contact with will be contaminated as well. This means there is a risk in taking the items to your kitchen for the oven. The safest approach is to completely replace the items rather than risk bringing them into areas like the kitchen or use a steam wand. However, if you choose to sterilize the wood, here are the steps to follow.

Simple Steps to Remove Salmonella

To kill Salmonella on wood for reptiles, use the oven method.

Salmonella can be killed by:

  1. Baking the wood at 160-170°C (320-338°F) for one hour (The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013).
  2. Exposing it to moist heat at 121ºC (250°F) for at least 15 minutes (The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013).

So you see that boiling water is not enough to kill salmonella since water boils at 100ºC (212°F). However, a steam cleaner will do the trick. Research has shown that Salmonella can survive in water for extended periods—up to 115 days in pond water and 89 days in tap water—especially when trapped in reptile feces (The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013).

Disinfecting Wood for Reptiles: Safeguard Against Coccidia

Cleaning wood for reptiles that have coccidia is difficult. For more information see the post on effectively cleaning for coccidia.

In short, use heat to sterilize wood for reptiles with coccidia. Steam cleaning is a good option and baking in the oven will also kill coccidia.

Best Method to Clean Wood for Bearded Dragons

It is not necessary to sterilize wood for reptiles for many instance, since sterilizing means to kill all forms of micobial life on a surface. Depending on the reason for wanting to sterilize wood for reptiles, baking is an alround non toxic and effective treatment. Here is a post for ways to clean the bearded dragons enclosure.

Parasites can generally be treated by baking in the oven, submerging in water, freezing or using chemicals.

Pathogens will generally be treated by baking, steam cleaning and disinfectant chemicals.

References and further reading

  • AVMA (2009) Salmonella: Amphibians and Reptiles American Veterinary Medical Association (Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians)
  • Cafe, T. (2007) Physical Constants for Investigators. T.C. Forensic Pty Ltd Forensic and Scientific Services. Data reproduced from “Firepoint” magazine – Journal of Australian Fire Investigators.
  • Klingenberg, R. J. DVM, (2007) Understanding Reptile Parasites. The Herpetocultural Library. California
  • Rozman, U., Pusnik, M., Kmetec, S., Duh, D., & Sostar Turk, S. (2021). Reduced Susceptibility and Increased Resistance of Bacteria against Disinfectants: A Systematic Review. Microorganisms, 9, 2550.
  • The Center for Food Security and Public Health. (2013) Reptile Associated Salmonellosis. Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics. Iowa State University. College of Veterinary Medicine.
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Kate

I’m new to the whole dragon world and so far I’m loving every minute of it. Thank you so so much for all the information.
I’ve got bark and branches from garden and so the soaking thing froze them for 4 days and then baked for half hour.
Draco (name from dragonheart film) is loving it. Especially when he is shedding and he rubs himself up on the branch then climes it to rub his head.
Again thank you so so much for the helpful information

Tina Nairn

That sounds so wonderful Kate. Love to see some pictures. Thank you for your kinds words.

Lesley Darwen

I ave boiled bleached and scrubbed my rock then put in oven for 10 the will these be ok for my beareded dragon

Tina Nairn

Sounds like you gave it the whole gambit. You clearly love your bearded dragon to go to so much trouble. It should be fine. Really you are just trying to prevent introducing unwanted pathogens and parasites like mites.

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