How do I safely clean wood from my yard for my bearded dragon tank?

Any wood stain an be used. A water based product would be safer than an oil based one. Sealing the wood after staining would be strongly recommended. Use a water based polyurethane sealant. Allow complete curing/drying before using the enclosed. The general rule is if you can still smell the paint/stain/sealant, then give it more time to dry.

Thanks for reaching out about The Girls. Driftwood needs to be soaked for prolonged periods of time in fresh water, to allow any possible accumulated toxins (heavy metals, pesticides, other organics) to leach out. Good luck.

I am so sorry about your leopard geckos. You are definitely on the right track toward prepping your vivarium safely. It sounds like you have already cleaned everything so it just needs a final sterilization. For your tank, and anything else nonporous, use a bleach solution (1 cup bleach per gallon of water) and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Then, rinse thoroughly and allow to dry. Heat and UV will also kill it, so letting it dry in the sun is ideal. Any wood can be baked in the oven at 285deg for 1 hour. You can then consider it safe.

Thanks for your question about Smaug, and thanks for the photo as well! I think that you have a good start to your set up, and that we can tweak a few items. First, your lighting situation appears adequate - I see a UVB light (please change this bulb every 4-6 months), a basking light, and a ceramic heat bulb. I would ensure that your temperatures are appropriate for this species, and that you are monitoring them using digital thermometers (I think that you see both a digital and analog thermometers currently) at the level of Smaug. Analog thermometers are inaccurate, so I don't recommend using them (also, they are high up on the sides of the enclosure, so they wouldn't be giving an accurate temperature read for Smaug). For the cage furniture that you have, I like that you have places for Smaug to climb and hide. However, I would recommend having a hide on both the warm side of the enclosure and the cool side so that Smaug has choices. Same for the climbing structures. I may have missed a food and water dish in the enclosure - I would recommend that both of these be shallow, and be large enough for Smaug's entire body to fit within them. I cannot tell what type of shavings that you have on the bottom of the enclosure, but the only wood shavings that I recommend are aspen shavings. If they are pine, these can be irritating to the respiratory system. I hope that gives you a place to start, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Bearded dragon owners can also add plants to the habitat, but take care when adding real plants. If a live plant is in the habitat, the bearded dragon might decide to use it as a snack. If the plant is toxic to bearded dragons, your pet could end up very sick, or dead. Artificial plants are the best option since they are easy to clean, never need water, and are very naturalistic. Most pet stores carry a wide variety of artificial plants to choose from. If you decide to use live plants, junipers are one of the most recommended plants to use. Junipers are slow-growing and do not require much water.

For a new tank, hot, soapy water followed by a thorough rinsing is sufficient. Steam cleaning and a dilute bleach solution (1/2 cup bleach:1 gallon water) can be used for disinfection. There are also commercial cleaners, such as Zoo Med Wipe Out, that can be purchased online or in most pet stores.

Thanks for reaching out about Juno. Regarding which type of wood to use, many wood can be toxic. The idea of driftwood is that they are dried, bleached and have soaked for extended periods of time to leach out potential toxins. As the sap leaches into the water, potential materials either toxic or dangerous to the biological filter could cause problems. The wood from fruit with pits (peach, nectarines, etc.) and applewood potential contain cyanide. Oak and other hard woods have resins that could affect fish. Good luck.