i live in new orleans and have a big magnolia tree in my front yard, and oaks are everywhere. the problem is that on top of all the random pollutants here, they also spray really noxious shit all the time to fight mosquitoes because of the west nile virus scare here. i haven't dared to use stuff from near town in my viv's, but it seems silly to buy leaves online when they are piling up in my yard. is there any way to safely clean them, or do i just have to buck up and pay?
on a similar note, i just paid (only $2) for spanish moss at nwff. if i admitted to paying for spanish moss to folks who live around here they would no doubt call in the guys in the white jackets. but i got a bad case of chiggers trying to collect some a few years back(not for vivs), so learned the hard way not to try that again. if you don't know, chiggers are little bugs which burrow into your skin and itch like crazy for a long time...i found out later that "everyone knows" chiggers and mites hang out in spanish moss in the swamps.
Yeah, but you know how many boiled chiggers it takes to fill ya up. It's hardly worth it.
:lol:
fishinmagician Wrote:Yeah, but you know how many boiled chiggers it takes to fill ya up. It's hardly worth it.
:lol:
I always add some Ramen noodles and then they fill me up
Bump and still asking the same question
Frogs, fish and soon to be ferrets!
First thing I do is to place all the leaves in a box and shake them to get all the small bits and assorted stuff to the bottom of the box. I then pick out all the big leaves, examine for obvious 'odd stuff' / bugs ect and if none, place it right into a sealable or zippered plastic baggie - done.
If the litter appears to have mold or odd stuff on it, I just do not select it, otherwise no washing, no streaming, no microwaving for me.
Philsuma Wrote:First thing I do is to place all the leaves in a box and shake them to get all the small bits and assorted stuff to the bottom of the box. I then pick out all the big leaves, examine for obvious 'odd stuff' / bugs ect and if none, place it right into a sealable or zippered plastic baggie - done.
If the litter appears to have mold or odd stuff on it, I just do not select it, otherwise no washing, no streaming, no microwaving for me.
Seriously?
You don't worry about anything making it in?
I Microwave steam all my leaves and then let the container form a vacuum and leave it for about an hour.
-Byron
I have a pile of oak leaves that I picked off the tree. Should I pick through the leaves choose the best, boil it for an hour then bake for half?
Frogs, fish and soon to be ferrets!
seriously.
the only 'nasties' that ever kicked my ass that I now worry about are those little brown millipedes with the cyanide gas weapons(defensive only) and only then - large wood features.
If some little hitchhiker critters ride in, more a' natural food for the frogs. I think people worry too much.
Every viv I have built from the ground up and seeded is crawling with Micro Fauna. The viv's that I have acquired, require constant seeding and still don't hold up.
I am just worried about that something like a nemertean slipping in and ruining the microfauna. I know I have them in at least one viv.
-Byron
I always just bake my leaves in the oven before they go into the vivarium, just in case.
(Plus, it makes the house smell like fall)
yeah those nemerteans are bad...slugs too. I think leaves that are freshly collected, well sorted and bagged for a while should be good to go. It's the big bark and wood features that people collect in the woods that I would be a little more cautious of.