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Post by katta94 on Apr 22, 2019 16:07:00 GMT
Anyone experienced with how to clean - apple and grape sticks? - so it is safe for degus to gnaw on?
Someone in my family have cut their fruit trees, and they saved some sticks for my degus... they're not been treated with pesticides..
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Post by savvy on Apr 22, 2019 16:51:28 GMT
I tend to wash them in cold water to get anything off which shouldn't be there. You can give them a rub with a clean cloth or your fingers to remove anything stubborn. Then just let them dry naturally.
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Post by winic1 on Apr 22, 2019 17:35:31 GMT
If you are concerned about more than just rinsing them off, I have cleaned sticks I use for bird perches with hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit a bit, then rinse with water and dry them completely in the sun. Peroxide will leave no residue, so it's safe.
If you want, you can dry sticks in the oven at very low temperature, like 200F max, (about 93C) for an hour or so. Oven dried wood is much harder, though, so they may not like chewing on it. Any sap cooks out of the wood when you do this, the right woods smell delicious as it does. (The wrong woods--not so much. Do you guys have Dogwood trees over there? Dogwood was named for the smell of a wet, stinky dog it gives off when burned.)
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 24, 2019 10:35:03 GMT
I just used water and a brush to remove lichen and algae, and don't bother cleaning or even rinsing any new growth that looks clean. I can recommend storing plenty for future use too.
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